[2015 Six Nations] Ireland vs France (Round 2)

[Ragey Erasmus]

This was just incredible
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153112417203308

Three players at once!

Beast mode activated

EDIT can someone fix this? It keeps doing this weird double quote even after I edit it.

 

[bw245]

I just had a thought. If I had thought about both Italy and France matches before they were played, I would never expect a lot of tries, especially against France. We did what we needed to do, so I'm hoping we see some more exciting matches to come.
Also - people seem certain England, if they beat us, will win the Grandslam. But what about France? I think France could give England a run for their money. Especially on the last day of the tournament.

 

[Jockstap]

The game should have been put to bed when Sexton butchered a certain try, apparently he couldn't see out of his left eye due to the swelling. The momentum of the game turned once the French brought on their replacement front row, started winning penalties and keeping us locked in our own 22.

If we want to win when England come to town we really have to man up in the scrum, when is Corbisero back?

 

[munstermuffin]

Really?

Obviously not based on the 5 or 6 times he didn't pass when it was the blindingly correct option. In fact, can you name an instance when did Zebo get the ball in the wide channels and actually pass it?

If JS hadn't named Jones on the bench, I'd have been screaming to get Earls or Fitz on.

Well according to a lot of pundits he was 1 of our best defensive backs yesterday and made good metres.
And having watched it sparingly due to being on duty in Musgrave Park I think there was a lot of instances he didn't pass but that others were exact same.

Having had quick look at opta stats. It must've been defensively positioning etc Zebo was good as simply he didn't make a lot of tackles and well himself and Bowe it has butchered a lot of 'possibles' in fact Zebo 5 and Bowe 3. Kearney had 3 'possibles' in missed tackles. But well wow didn't realise the work Payne and Henshaw got through defensively. And up front POM was involved in most rucks for Ireland. Sexton thought made big contribution defensively too.

Just on stats database too it has Kearney, Zebo and Henshaw all lowest rating all equal on 54% for decision making per possession. Don't know how this is marked just looking on opta stats from IRFU database.

And wow our pack only had 44metres the whole game between them all.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

Well, we didn't expect a thrilling encounter, given both team's performances in week 1, and we unfortunately didn't get any surprises. 18-11 to the Irish, again not setting the world alight, but that is 2 wins out of 2. A gritty performance that saw the return of Sexton, Heaslip and O'Brien, who were crucial in the victory in the end, in what was a game showing off little flair and was a brutal contest at the breakdown. The back rowers were very influential in this area, and Sexton was crucial not only with the boot but also in defence, taking the game to the giant Basteraud and making some important tackles.

There is little to say about this physical match, the only real excitement was the end when France pushed for a draw, but truth be told it was a dull match that is boring to even think about. If Teddy Thomas had stayed fit for the whole game we could have seen a bit more from Les Bleus, but I doubt it. Two uninspiring teams fought it out for 80 minutes and it was the men in green that took the victory. They will be wary of the English, even though they have home advantage, and will have to show more than they have so far in order to beat the high-flyers.

http://fourballsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/ireland-vs-france-review.html

 

[The Jones Boy]

I wouldn't think so it's a bit eccentric but I'd argue it is accurate if you break it down.

Best game - to watch? No but in terms of quality it was, two sides who made few mistakes while constantly nullifying the opposing team's attack. It also had the best individual performance of the tournament so far from Johnny Sexton and was the most physically demanding of the tournament.
Great game for neutrals - Depends what you like, similar to England Ireland last year but not quite at the same level. If accurate and structured rugby is your thing that would be your type of game.
France showing they're better than their results - player wise they are but for a team who always up their game vs Ireland it shows how much they struggle with their coach.
Ireland being the real deal - beating Wales, Argentina x2, Australia, South Africa and France x2 in 12 months would certainly suggest so, you can't really fluke those results even if the gameplan is ugly.
England v Ireland shaping up nicely - well yes, it could be a grand slam decider.

Strange gel to call him out on that post really, a lot worse has been posted in this thread alone!

Henry is just having a bad hair day, he'll be alright with some brylcream.

- - - Updated - - -

Can't disagree and my apologies to Heaslip.

Fair play and good one Tony.

 

[tituslechmakus]

Well, we didn't expect a thrilling encounter, given both team's performances in week 1, and we unfortunately didn't get any surprises. 18-11 to the Irish, again not setting the world alight, but that is 2 wins out of 2. A gritty performance that saw the return of Sexton, Heaslip and O'Brien, who were crucial in the victory in the end, in what was a game showing off little flair and was a brutal contest at the breakdown. The back rowers were very influential in this area, and Sexton was crucial not only with the boot but also in defence, taking the game to the giant Basteraud and making some important tackles.

There is little to say about this physical match, the only real excitement was the end when France pushed for a draw, but truth be told it was a dull match that is boring to even think about. If Teddy Thomas had stayed fit for the whole game we could have seen a bit more from Les Bleus, but I doubt it. Two uninspiring teams fought it out for 80 minutes and it was the men in green that took the victory. They will be wary of the English, even though they have home advantage, and will have to show more than they have so far in order to beat the high-flyers.

http://fourballsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/ireland-vs-france-review.html

Ya totaly right mate, we played a poor game. And again, same as usually these last 3 years, we wait till 60-70' to start playing and, as we are always loosing at this time of the matches, we run after the score, desperatly trying to come back. It worked once against England, but it also lead us to no better than 4th in the 3 last editions. PSA is really a poor coach ! I mean, we have players coming from some of the best clubs in Europe, how can they become bad so quickly (Lopez for example) ? Because of the coach !

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Henry is just having a bad hair day, he'll be alright with some brylcream.

- - - Updated - - -

You may have stumbled upon an important truth, actually!

 

[Jockstap]

Heaslip is out for 4 weeks with fractured vertebrae, huge loss, when is Ruddock back?

 

[Feicarsinn]

****.

Jamie gets a lot of flak from certain quarters, but he's a class above anyone else we have in the 8 role. This is a massive loss. Options are to play one of Murphy, O'Brien or O'Mahony at 8, bring one of Henderson or O'Donnell into the back row and pray that the English don't murder us.

Ruddock may be able to get back fit, but 2 weeks is cutting it very close.

 

[munstermuffin]

Heaslip gained a lot of respect as he did play on too for 10mins or so. The pain must've been unreal.

Regards replacements I think TOD will return to bench and Jordi starts. Simply because that's what Schmidt will do. I do like Henderson but just think coaches see him as lock cover and an impact off bench. Like we've to remember rugby is more a 23 man game now than ever before

 

[collace]

Seriously hoping its 6: Henderson 7: O'Brien 8: O'Mahoney against England. It's very unlikely but that's a seriously competitive back row.

 

[big ginger 8]

Analysis of the defense for anyone interested.

http://www.the42.ie/analysis-ireland-defence-france-1943808-Feb2015/

 

[Every Time Ref]

Great analysis, as ever. I wish there was an English Kinsella

 

[goodNumber10]

Great analysis, as ever. I wish there was an English Kinsella

the guy is simply a brilliant analyst, i struggle to think of anyone who writes as well as him and also leads you through to the same conclusions as him, normally there is always room for interpretation but seldom so with Kinsella.

It's a cracking article on defence, fair old wallop of a piece as well.

 

[Amiga500]

Great analysis, as ever. I wish there was an English Kinsella

Just shows you how poor most of the so-called "experts" are.

 

[Every Time Ref]

Just shows you how poor most of the so-called "experts" are.

I wish they had more coaches on TV and the papers - not like Woodward, but the technical coaches, people whose names you wouldn't know unless you were really properly into rugby, defence or scrum coaches etc.

 

[goodNumber10]

Just shows you how poor most of the so-called "experts" are.

does it?

I speak from experience when i say analysis takes a lot of time. Kinsella delivered his piece on Tuesday when the game was on Saturday - that's well over 72 hours later to digest analysis and write a piece, most TV pundits have less than a minute to formulate their opinion/analysis.

 

[ncurd]

I wish they had more coaches on TV and the papers - not like Woodward, but the technical coaches, people whose names you wouldn't know unless you were really properly into rugby, defence or scrum coaches etc.

I always find it interesting on BT Sport when during the match they speak to the forwards coach or some such. Sometimes they provide real insight to someone like myself about how they perceive the game is going.

 

[Every Time Ref]

I always find it interesting on BT Sport when during the match they speak to the forwards coach or some such. Sometimes they provide real insight to someone like myself about how they perceive the game is going.

Yeah that's one of the best things about BT's coverage for me, that and Ben Kay