[2015 Six Nations] Wales vs Ireland (Round 4)

[munstermuffin]

@UlsterRugby Earls and Fitzgearld have been by far the 2 form players never mind centres in the club scene over past 2 months. As much as I'm a fan of Olding he's yet to convince me in same mould as those 2 have. Add in both are proven.

 

[wayevs]

I never have disrespected Ireland if we fell short today I would of wanted an irish grands lam th as ts a she you feel that way boyo

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Thats a shame × bloody predictive!!

 

[Amobokoboko]

Was'n really impressed with the High ball kicking game of Ireland. Wales is the deserved winner.

 

[bw245]

I feel for Sexton. Already seeing talk of him on Twitter being talked up too much and he's not as good as people think and people mentioning O'Gara. What absolute bull. Hate that the O'Gara/Sexton rivalry is still a thing.

 

[ruggabee]

Harsh on Zebo but 11. Earls 12. Henshaw 13. Fitzgerald would be my preference.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

@UlsterRugby Earls and Fitzgearld have been by far the 2 form players never mind centres in the club scene over past 2 months. As much as I'm a fan of Olding he's yet to convince me in same mould as those 2 have. Add in both are proven.

I don't know how much you've watched on Olding so I won't comment on that..
Fitzgerald.. my point was he is far too injury prone to be a consistent starter. Schmidt clearly wants a robust partnership which he probably won't get with Fitzgerald
Earls.. I'm sorry how is he a proven international centre? Wing yes, but every time I've watched him at centre for Ireland his defence has been absolutely shocking.

 

[bw245]

Interesting to see player ratings. Payne second highest behind O'Comnell.

 

[Jbobo]

A bit bias but O'Connell has had an excellent shift today.[/QUOTE

He was fantastic.

In order of performers of the day for me -

1. Sam Warburton
2. Heligh Halfpenny
3. Paul O'Connell
4. Alun Wyn Jones

What a game. Much more to come.

Condolences Ireland.

 

[bw245]

A bit bias but O'Connell has had an excellent shift today.[/QUOTE

He was fantastic.

In order of performers of the day for me -

1. Sam Warburton
2. Heligh Halfpenny
3. Paul O'Connell
4. Alun Wyn Jones

What a game. Much more to come.

Condolences Ireland.

With the way this game is going against England and Scotland, it's ireland and Wales battling it out next week.

 

[corny]

Interesting to see player ratings. Payne second highest behind O'Comnell.

That doesn't surprise me. He was the only Irish player not looking for contact. Picked some decent lines too.

The problem is people are always looking for scapegoat and because he's a NZ'er, an outsider so to speak, he's an easy target.

Ireland's problems behind the scrum centred around Sexton today. He attacked the line with no purpose and the Welsh defenders just drifted off to nail us in midfield. Its what they and the English do well and it always inconveniences us. We've dangerous players out wide but our ability to create space for them remains a problem. I'm of the opinion its a matter of structure more than personnel.

 

[Thingimubob]

But laws are team who bring it in are responsible. If they gamble bringing it in its effectively use it or loose it. And if they can't use it they deserve to loose it. The defense gets its reward. When bodies from both sides collapse all over its hard to blame just defense.

If the defensive team have the upper hand and drive the attacking team back - fair enough that should be a turnover.

The only real choke tackle in this match went like this -

Roberts drives in, held up for a few seconds by two Irish players, Barnes calls maul. Welsh players drive on , gaining 3 or so metres. Ball goes dead as Irish players fall over on the Welsh side and stop the ball coming out. - scrum to Ireland...

Seems silly to me is all. All perfectly legal, just I don't like that it gives teams the legal option to negatively kill the ball.
Should be changed to the attacking team getting the put in if they're clearly going forward, and would win the ball if the defensive players weren't in the way.

 

[SelimNiai]

Over the moon I am.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Wales beat Ireland at their own game. It was a terrific defensive performance, they took Ireland's lineout apart, won the aerial battles and crucially took their chances.

I'm not too disheartened by that Ireland performance. They showed more in attack than during the earlier games. A few smarter decisions and those line breaks would have been turned into tries.

I feel Jared Payne's lack of pace lets him down. If he could hit the line with more pace, he'd have broken through on a couple of occasions. I'd pick him next time out but at fullback. Rob Kearney never beats the first defender when returning with the ball. Payne may give Ireland more penetration from 15 which is crucial when Ireland play such a limited game. In turn maybe a centre partnership of Madigan/Henshaw should be tried.

 

[bw245]

I agree with post above. In a way this isn't the worst thing. Relieves pressure, gives room for improvement and shows that we can't lose the run of ourselves. I think in a way, we needed this. It was going to happen at some stage, better now than the World Cup.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

If the defensive team have the upper hand and drive the attacking team back - fair enough that should be a turnover.

The only real choke tackle in this match went like this -

Roberts drives in, held up for a few seconds by two Irish players, Barnes calls maul. Welsh players drive on , gaining 3 or so metres. Ball goes dead as Irish players fall over on the Welsh side and stop the ball coming out. - scrum to Ireland...

Seems silly to me is all. All perfectly legal, just I don't like that it gives teams the legal option to negatively kill the ball.
Should be changed to the attacking team getting the put in if they're clearly going forward, and would win the ball if the defensive players weren't in the way.

There was one instance today which showed the rule at its worst.. Wales would have had no problem getting the ball out, even though the maul was called, but when that happened, O'Mahony, who hadn't been part of the phase at all and wasn't one of the players holding Alun-Wyn off the ground, just jumped on top of him and lay there It was quite hilarious in a farcical way. For me it suggests the possibility of a middle-ground, whereby only the original players holding the guy off the floor don't have to move - new players shouldn't be able to suddenly flop on top. I'm aware this is virtually impossible to implement in real life.

 

[Rich Taff]

I was waiting for an 80th minute interception try by Wayne Barnes.

 

[dullonien]

I'm a little worse for ware, but thought wales fully deserved their win. POC was massive today. Ireland's most threatening player, and that says something in itself !

 

[goodNumber10]

That doesn't surprise me. He was the only Irish player not looking for contact. Picked some decent lines too.

The problem is people are always looking for scapegoat and because he's a NZ'er, an outsider so to speak, he's an easy target.

Ireland's problems behind the scrum centred around Sexton today. He attacked the line with no purpose and the Welsh defenders just drifted off to nail us in midfield. Its what they and the English do well and it always inconveniences us. We've dangerous players out wide but our ability to create space for them remains a problem. I'm of the opinion its a matter of structure more than personnel.

sextons problems started with the pack struggling to generate effective ruck Ball,complete opposite of last week... there was little go forward and the Welsh were abel to get off the line early and fast and that shut down Irelands passing game pretty well.

 

[Rich Taff]

I think the Irish gameplan of 'kick it up in the air' (that they did vs England) came undone vs possibly the best 'catchers' in the game.
Unfortunately for them, they had no plan 'b' afterwards.......

 

[bw245]

I'm a little worse for ware, but thought wales fully deserved their win. POC was massive today. Ireland's most threatening player, and that says something in itself !

Fair play to him lasting 80 mins every game, such a warrior.