2014 Six Nations: England vs Ireland (Round 3)

[lynam1104]

Absolutely. Had Ireland won here today it would have ranked along the 2004 win. This England are a bloody good side, much more so than in 2006 and 2010.

EDIT - congrats to Jordi Murphy on a first cap.

Yep I was just sat there nervously awaiting Shaggy or Bowe to turn up and seal it. I thought that when Kearney made that break down the side it could have been it but alas not to be.

 

[Big Ewis]

The worst part is I believed we could win it right at the bitter end.

it's good to be optimistic. I really wanted Ireland to win at the last second just like France did so England would develop a late game complex didn't happen...
The game itself was really cool. Lancaster's reaction at the end was the most excited I'd ever seen him. And did anyone catch Jonny May's bitcch scream there at a point when England won a ruck or smt towards the end ?! :lol:

Boy, I'm glad England's out of the way for us, but for Ireland, man, France better mother - fukking - show up. We need to play with heart like we did England.

So no Grand Slam this year, and 4 nations very much in contention...

 

[Feicarsinn]

England were superb, I can't have any complaints with the game really. I do feel that we made a few silly decisions regarding when to maul and when to go wide hurt us, but their defense was so tight that I guess the guys just ran out of options.


I will say that this game has exposed something that this Ireland side really lacks - guys that can get over the game line. A Sean O'Brien or Stephen Ferris type who could have smashed their way up the middle would have made a massive difference, while someone like Luke Fitz out wide could have had a similar impact.

In any case, I think we have the beatings of the Italians at home and are well capable of beating the French away. Our points differential is good, so the championship is very much still there for us. Should be a cracking 2 rounds of rugby across the championship.

 

[Peat]

Unlucky Ireland.

Thought you guys tried to play a bit too much rugby and were a little short on composure/accuracy, which surprised me.

As for England - feel we got out of jail a bit after turning down a lot of try scoring opportunities, but we won the territorial battle and it came from that.

Mike Brown the difference. On such a high at the moment, he is.

 

[Big Ewis]

oh and big props to England for their defense. Definitely. Suffocating defense, just frustrating to watch if you're for Ireland.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Best two teams in the tournament I think, the standard of rugby was so high today.

I think so too. If Ireland win in Paris, the championship is their's. If not, England will take it. Ireland don't win in Paris!

England will be an awesome team by the World Cup. They need to find a backup 10 and especially a backup 3 though.

 

[big ginger 8]

The All Blacks and now this, Sexton really isn't doing enough when push comes to shove which isn't good.

Stop it.

 

[lynam1104]

Stop it.

unfortunately he's right, Sextons kicking was just a little off and then some of his decisions were poor.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Stop it.

Stop speaking my mind? God, thanks Obama, you've made jerks like this.

In all seriousness though, was Johnny Sexton good enough today? No. Was he good enough against the All Blacks? No. What have been the two biggest games in Johnny Sexton's international career? All Blacks 2013 and England 2014.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Stop speaking my mind? God, thanks Obama, you've made jerks like this.

In all seriousness though, was Johnny Sexton good enough today? No. Was he good enough against the All Blacks? No. What have been the two biggest games in Johnny Sexton's international career? All Blacks 2013 and England 2014.

Well, the Oz game in the World Cup was rather important.

 

[McTallshort]

No Nails left after that, what a ****ing game

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

What was wrong with Sextons play, generally? I know his kicking was 10% off which made a difference.

It all comes down to the high expectations/standards he has set. He still ran the backline like clock work and I have no doubt he would have led the team to finish off certain chances England missed. His execution/small margins made a difference, e.g the restart which went straight out on the full - but he was far, far from terrible imo.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Well, the Oz game in the World Cup was rather important.

We had to bring RO'G on to finish that game and I'd still say it ranks third! I really hope the pattern stops but you can't deny that it's there and that it's worrying.

 

[Rumpi]

Sorry Ireland, it could have gone the other way.
I can't sày how delighted I am that some players stood up like that. No one let anyone else down.
It's amazing to see new players on both sides such as Atwood,Henderson, Thomas and Moore stand up on this stage

Well done to England, better team won, by about the right margin I'd say.

Huge win for such an inexperienced English team, could be building something special there with your first choice front row back.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

What was wrong with Sextons play, generally? I know his kicking was 10% off which made a difference.

It all comes down to the high expectations/standards he has set. He still ran the backline like clock work and I have no doubt he would have led the team to finish off certain chances England missed. His execution/small margins made a difference, e.g the restart which went straight out on the full - but he was far, far from terrible imo.

Spot on. Sexton was okay. His tactical kicking was a little bit too far but it wasn't the reason Ireland lost the game.

 

[big ginger 8]

unfortunately he's right, Sextons kicking was just a little off and then some of his decisions were poor.

He's not right he say Sexton isn't performing in big matches which is really wide of the mark.

Stop speaking my mind? God, thanks Obama, you've made jerks like this.

In all seriousness though, was Johnny Sexton good enough today? No. Was he good enough against the All Blacks? No. What have been the two biggest games in Johnny Sexton's international career? All Blacks 2013 and England 2014.

Wow you actually used the word jerk.

Ever since he's left for Racing you've had a real problem with him.

If you think those two are the biggest matches of his international career you're kidding yourself. That Australia, that English one, last week and those three lions tests were fairly big as was that other NZ match. You're changing things to suit your agenda. Sexton missed a kick against New Zealand that doesn't mean he had a bad match, without him we wouldn't have been in touch. Other players made stupid errors but you've placed the blame for that match firmly at his feet.

He was undoubtedly poor today especially with his kicking. However his defense was pretty huge with about three chokes coming from him. Do you really believe Jackson would have made a huge difference?

Last week was a huge match and he was in the top two players on the pitch.

 

[profitius]

Impossible for Ireland to win with their 10 playing like that. Typical of Sexton. Farrell was much better without doing alot.


It was a good excercise for Ireland going forward though. Schmidt will have seen that the backs were a bit small and slow vs the England backs. One or two bigger men would make things more balanced.

 

[Peat]

Have to say, Sexton made a couple of costly errors and a lot of his tactical kicks went a bit too far. Possibly the worst game I've seen him have in some time.

Him and Rory Best - too slow to plug the defensive gaps a couple of times, although maybe that's a systems failing - were Ireland's biggest underperformers. Mindyou, I thought a lot of the old guard were underwhelming.

edit: I'd like to change the conversation and say that for Joe Launchbury, a tired looking second row in the 70th minute, to get across and tap tackle a wing, is ******* phenomenal and potentially a game saver. Just the most conspicuous part of a huge performance.

Pretty embarrassing for the winger mind!

 

[Big Ewis]

if England continue progressing at the same rate they have so far in the last couple of years, being at home for the WC they could actually win it. The thing is, I think they're reaching their peak and if they do continue progressing it'll be a lot less voluminously and a lot more gradual and with much smaller steps. They're almost done building. But the fact that they were THIS happy to beat Ireland at home is a little talking too. They looked like they'd won the final of something.

The scrum is a bit of a concern though, but their backs are adding so much compared to the stereotypical English game they proposed just a little while ago. What a dramatic change to have Mike Brown at 15 and those two new wingers and no Chris Ashton, paid immediate dividends. And Burrell is a fantastic find at midfield, with 12T a little meh recently...Danny Care is working out a lot better than Youngs in light of this early 2014, and Farrell is really showing his versatility at the 10 position. The guy wins fkn turnover balls off rucks with locks like Paul O'Connell contesting....
Backline lookin fierce and USEFUL, finally, for England.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

if England continue progressing at the same rate they have so far in the last couple of years, being at home for the WC they could actually win it. The thing is, I think they're reaching their peak and if they do continue progressing it'll be a lot less voluminously and a lot more gradual and with much smaller steps. They're almost done building. But the fact that they were THIS happy to beat Ireland at home is a little talking too. They looked like they'd won the final of something.

The scrum is a bit of a concern though, but their backs are adding so much compared to the stereotypical English game they proposed just a little while ago. What a dramatic change to have Mike Brown at 15 and those two new wingers and no Chris Ashton, paid immediate dividends. And Burrell is a fantastic find at midfield, with 12T a little meh recently...Danny Care is working out a lot better than Youngs in light of this early 2014, and Farrell is really showing his versatility at the 10 position. The guy wins fkn turnover balls off rucks with locks like Paul O'Connell contesting....
Backline lookin fierce and USEFUL, finally, for England.

Nonsense. Its not about home or away - we were playing an exceptionally high-class team playing exceptionally well with ten times our experience in certain areas. We were out of the tournament with a loss today. By your token, why were France so overjoyed to beat England in Paris by such a tiny margin. Christ, you were at home!