[2018 November Tests] Ireland vs New Zealand (17/11/18)

[big ginger 8]

I'm amazed at people jumping straight to Aki at 12. If you thought a little you'd realise the obvious answer is Noel 'the GOAT' Reid. New Zealand thought they were safe with him not in the squad but it was just to lull them into a false sense of security. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Henshaw's 'injury' was planned all along!

 

[Oliver Madden]

i'm not really sure about this game. losing Murray and Henshaw is a blow but Ireland have good depth now and Schmidt is a terrific coach. this is the highlight of the Autumn on paper, lets hope it lives up to its billing. Ireland by 5 points!! (never thought i'd go against the mighty AB's).

 

[mania]

How do you think the scrum battle will go given the All Blacks had parity at best with England? I don't really know how that injury plagued english scrum would compare to what's available for Ireland.

I'll be interested to see the selections as Scott Barrett to me is good enough at 6, despite his inexperience in that position, to warrant selection over squire. While squire hasn't really improved during his time with the ABs Scott Barrett has improved markedly. Squire off the bench could be useful though.

squires fine. sBarret has had a meteoric rise and i def rate him, but he doesnt have squires running game. admittedly squire didnt have an effective running game vs the english but to his credit he was busy in the tight work.
anyway we have bigger problems in aaronSmith has lost his mojo and is killing our backline with his slow service.
kinda glad SBW got injured as i thought he was a liability in the last game. crotty and goohue are a safe bet but i like dynamism of laumape and crotty

 

[All Black]

This game is killed by Murray and Henshaw not playing. When (and if) we win, thats what we'll be hearing..."oh but Henshaw and Murray wasnt playing". Buzz kill.

 

[Leinster Fan]

This game is killed by Murray and Henshaw not playing. When (and if) we win, thats what we'll be hearing..."oh but Henshaw and Murray wasnt playing". Buzz kill.

In fairness when anyone loses a rugby game these days by less than 20 points the first thing out is the list of excuses. Conor Murray will be top obviously but Wayne Barnes won't be winning a popularity contest in either country as well (not entirely fairly).

Not worth getting stressed about in any case. I'd expect to see something like the following Ireland team: Healy, Best, Furlong, Toner, Ryan, O'Mahony, Leavy, Stander, Marmion, Sexton, Stockdale, Aki, Ringrose, Earls, Kearney. The entire media has decided Toner and Leavy will start and they're probably right but Joe Schmidt has consistently shown over the last number of years that he's easily better at picking teams than anyone else in the country/(maybe world) so I'm not even bothered to try second guessing his decisions anymore.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

No way!

We have a strong scrum, it was dominant against Argentina but I don't think it will be v NZ who are stronger there. One place where I do think we'll be stronger is the back row, without Cane I don't fear your flankers too much and while Read is still world class he is only one man.

A big factor as well will be how Ryan fares against Retallick, it's the best lock in world rugby against the lad who will eventually take that ***le off him imo. There's so many tasty individual battles and battles between different combos that we'd be robbed if this game doesn't stand up to the previous three between the sides.

Argentina has had a pretty poor scrum the last few years, so dominating them doesn't mean much. I'll definitely be watching this Ryan fellow. But individuals in the Irish pack have never stood out to me, they just all work so well as a unit, have done for at least the last ten years. That's not to say there aren't brilliant individuals of course, just that they aren't noticeable unless you are really concentrating. O'Connell stood out when I was concentrating. Keith Wood would of course be the exception, he stood out when I wasn't concentrating, but that was probably just prior to Ireland's pack becoming so unified.

Our back 3 certainly doesn't compare to some we've had in the past, even with cane. Ardie Savea is a pretty good player though, i'm looking forward to seeing how he goes against the Irish guys.

it's a pity conor murray is injured

 

[munstermuffin]

Interesting that IRFU have basically confirmed Farrell and Lancaster have job if Schmidt goes

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

A pic of Tana and BOD having a cuddle just went up on Irish rugby's insta. We just call the game off and have a BBQ instead bros?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Interesting that IRFU have basically confirmed Farrell and Lancaster have job if Schmidt goes

Not content with raiding our player base, you're now raiding our coaches.
Shameful

 

[Amiga500]

Not content with raiding our player base, you're now raiding our coaches.
Shameful

Well... since the IRFU would want any leader to be of the gentry, they were left with two choices:
(i) A West Brit.
(ii) A full fat Brit.

Deciding that real butter tastes better than even Lurpak, they went chasing some Englishmen*.

*The Welsh and Scottish hordes are obviously not of the gentry so were immediately discounted. Hadrian's wall was built for a reason (some old sheep wire kept the Welsh fenced safely away).

 

[unrated]

Its outrageous how low you guys rate Argentina, you clearly have not watched a lot of Super rugby and the Arg national team. They are a much better side than they used to be and Ireland had to be on a high level to beat them. Also lets not forget the home advantage.


The winner of this game should give us an indication whether its the RC or the 6 nations as the top international competition based on the strenght of the sides for the year 2018.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Why wouldn't we?
NH sides routinely beat Argentina home and away with B/C level sides.

I'd say Argentina are significantly worse than they used to be, considering they were 3rd in the world a few world cups ago and now get white washed at home.

 

[corny]

A big factor as well will be how Ryan fares against Retallick, it's the best lock in world rugby against the lad who will eventually take that ***le off him imo. There's so many tasty individual battles and battles between different combos that we'd be robbed if this game doesn't stand up to the previous three between the sides.

Retallick is the best lock in the world but i feel he was flattered by England at the lineout last week. The England management (everyone really!) have wanted George to take Hartleys jersey for an age now but each time he gets a chance his throwing goes to ****. He came on last week and just threw to 2 all the time. The NZ'ers to a man are clever on their feet. Retallick knew where the ball was going and he knew who they were throwing to (Itoje) at every lineout. It was made easy for him in fairness. I'd hope we're a tiny bit smarter in our variation and in POM and Toner we have two of the best jumpers in the world. We should be alright.

I think we have it in us to win but i can't ignore the injury problems. Murray, SOB and Henshaw missing. Kearney coming back from injury. Big handicaps. Sexton hasn't been flying as yet this season either. One thing i hope we do is take the game to them. The English were fine when their tails were up but as soon as NZ hit a purple patch they wilted. Kicked away possession, took wrong options, generally panicked that they'd be caught. It was only when they were caught that they tried to play again. The psychological battle is a battle too many teams lose against NZ. I hope we're better than that.

I heard Sexton making comments about Wayne Barnes. We've gotten the wrong side of him before but i'm delighted he's reffing. The NZ'ers like to push the envelope when the chips are down. He won't be taking a back seat if they're up for making 'dominant tackles' etc.

 

[Thingimubob]

Well... since the IRFU would want any leader to be of the gentry, they were left with two choices:
(i) A West Brit.
(ii) A full fat Brit.

Deciding that real butter tastes better than even Lurpak, they went chasing some Englishmen*.

*The Welsh and Scottish hordes are obviously not of the gentry so were immediately discounted. Hadrian's wall was built for a reason (some old sheep wire kept the Welsh fenced safely away).

Ahem. Tell that to King Offa and his great big dyke.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offa's_Dyke

 

[MikeTheNative]

Retallick is the best lock in the world but i feel he was flattered by England at the lineout last week. The England management (everyone really!) have wanted George to take Hartleys jersey for an age now but each time he gets a chance his throwing goes to ****. He came on last week and just threw to 2 all the time. The NZ'ers to a man are clever on their feet. Retallick knew where the ball was going and he knew who they were throwing to (Itoje) at every lineout. It was made easy for him in fairness. I'd hope we're a tiny bit smarter in our variation and in POM and Toner we have two of the best jumpers in the world. We should be alright.
.

George doesn't call the lineout, apparently that was Ewels at the time, so he dodges the flak for poor calls and George gets it instead.

 

[munstermuffin]

I think the best result for Ireland wi pl be a narrow loss. Enough to show we are good enough but a loss to just keep the fire in the belly. Because 1 thing we don't deal with too well as a nation is being top dog. And by that I mean we won't meet NZ before next RWC again. I do think we can beat them but if we loose tight game minus the injuries and come in next year really fired up I really believe we can beat them. New Zealand are still top top class bit this is the worst New Zealand team I think of the last 8 years. And that isn't an insult more a story of how hood they've been

 

[Pom in Exile]

I fancy Ireland for this game.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

squires fine. sBarret has had a meteoric rise and i def rate him, but he doesn't have squires running game. admittedly squire didnt have an effective running game vs the english but to his credit he was busy in the tight work.
anyway we have bigger problems in aaronSmith has lost his mojo and is killing our backline with his slow service.
kinda glad SBW got injured as i thought he was a liability in the last game. crotty and goohue are a safe bet but i like dynamism of laumape and crotty

I think with Retallick back and Savea in the starting lineup Squire's ball carrying is less important. ( I don't like the term running game for Squire, to me that means you can run, pass/offload, and catch. ball carrying just means running it up, seems more fitting) Read can also take on a bigger role as a runner, as he has done at times in the past. Without savea and Retallick, Squire's ball carrying would be more critical.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I fancy Ireland for this game.

Sexton in particular, right? But who do you think will win

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I think the best result for Ireland wi pl be a narrow loss. Enough to show we are good enough but a loss to just keep the fire in the belly. Because 1 thing we don't deal with too well as a nation is being top dog. And by that I mean we won't meet NZ before next RWC again. I do think we can beat them but if we loose tight game minus the injuries and come in next year really fired up I really believe we can beat them. New Zealand are still top top class bit this is the worst New Zealand team I think of the last 8 years. And that isn't an insult more a story of how hood they've been

This is why I think the world cup should be disbanded, swapped out with a best of 3 series between the world ranked 1 and 2 once every four years. Or maybe the world cup just becomes a pure knockout tournament right from the start, with seedings based on world rankings at the time the tournament starts, such that if the ranked 1 and 2 teams win all their games they end up meeting in the final.

Only caring about the results in 1 every 4 years is just sad, but the fact so many people seem to feel this way also makes me sad for myself for bothering to follow the game.

I hope you win now, that'll teach ya. It'll be best for NZ anyway, to taste another loss will really humble them, thus ensuring they play with more focus come world cup time. Then we'll win the world cup and you'll have to wait another 4 years to care about the result of a game again.

Sorry for the antagonistic sounding post.