England Saxons vs Ireland Wolfhounds 4:30 Jan 28

[irelandfan123]

What was the deal with the last kick, it that took ages

 

[King_D'Arcy]

Terrible match...

The only real positive from an irish perspective was Dave Kearney. What a player he is becoming

 

[psychic duck]

Just home from work to see Loughney and Archer get destroyed in a scrum. Shock horror

From what I've seen of Loughney he is Buckley-esque in the scrum, luckily for Ireland they haven't been stupid enough to pick him for 25 caps though

 

[Jockstap]

From what I've seen of Loughney he is Buckley-esque in the scrum, luckily for Ireland they haven't been stupid enough to pick him for 25 caps though

I wouldn't put it past us, it's early days yet.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Terrible match...

The only real positive from an irish perspective was Dave Kearney. What a player he is becoming

He was pretty awesome today alright. I though Madigan was fairly tasty too, but he saw bugger all of the ball in the second half. The real surprise package imo was Tomas O'Leary. Came on and got himself a try, gave fairly sharpish delivery and didn't do most of the things that make him such an infuriating player ie. no terrible grubbers, not as ponderous as usual, etc.

 

[o'concrete]

I think the hounds were on the sauce last night...what the hell was that? pathetic

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Neither team looked great - They looked like sides who have been together for a few days, which is what they are.
It's a shame the Scotland 'A' match couldn't have been played first so that we saw a full strength/fully prepared game.

 

[Peat]

.......and Spence can't pass. Shock horror

Nope. Although he's trying bless him! In fairness, it's his first game in ages.

Dave Kearney impressed. Zorro showed well enough. Henry, Ruddock and Tuohy the pick of the Irish pack for me. Madigan looked good when he came on.

My man-crush on Matt Garvey grows.

 

[Saintjay]

I missed the game The Irish times are saying the Irish scrum lacked bite. Was that the case?
Did any of Englands players do well? BBC seem to suggest Burns did ok. Might just be because of his kicking though.

 

[coonor]

I thought O'Malley looked very sharp in defence often hitting the English ball carriers before the gain line. Both Madigan and O'Leary were really good coming on and I thought our wingers had good games. The pack was pretty poor although the backrow put in a good shift even though they were behind a tight 5 being dominated.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I missed the game The Irish times are saying the Irish scrum lacked bite. Was that the case?
Did any of Englands players do well? BBC seem to suggest Burns did ok. Might just be because of his kicking though.

Burns' goal kicking wasn't that great. It wasn't bad by a long way, but I don't think he was getting the plaudits for it. He had a good game though, took the ball very flat and distributed well.
Garvey and Robson both good, as was Saull.
Monye and Armitage had decent games too. Spencer all right too. Everyone else was pretty forgettable though.

Irish scrum didn't lack bite, it lacked props.

 

[Jockstap]

I thought O'Malley looked very sharp in defence often hitting the English ball carriers before the gain line. Both Madigan and O'Leary were really good coming on and I thought our wingers had good games. The pack was pretty poor although the backrow put in a good shift even though they were behind a tight 5 being dominated.

Ya, he made an excellent tackle on Banahan at one stage, knocked him back on his arse he did, he took many a lump but twas all in good fun.

 

[Luimneach18]

1 thing i have to say about the game how sad are english fans chanting easy, easy, easy are they sick of getting beat by ireland and irish clubs all the time quite funny, was like watching football hooligans and at the end of the day ireland will not lose to england with their full team in the six nations so not to boverd about this result dave kearney pick of the lot for me.

 

[big ginger 8]

Ok what did we learn:

For anyone who says otherwise despite his stature O'Malley is at the least a capable tackler put in a real nice hit on Banahan as well which is nice to see.

Henry showed glimpses that he can be an international standard 7.

Dave Kearney is progressing very nicely

and finally if Kidney stays as coach Stephen Archer will have a long and unfruitful international career Munster tighthead who can't scrummage 3.0

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

1 thing i have to say about the game how sad are english fans chanting easy, easy, easy

Why tar everyone with the same brush? If some people want to chant that, let them. It's hardly offensive especially when compared to some of the clowns in the crowd at Anfield today booing Patrice Evra.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Were they chanting easy?
I admit it did sound like but:
a) Exeter fans are good fans, in my experience. Can't imagine them doing it.
b) When the chants were going round England were only about 5pts ahead, hardly 30+ points in the lead.

 

[Luimneach18]

Were they chanting easy?
I admit it did sound like but:
a) Exeter fans are good fans, in my experience. Can't imagine them doing it.
b) When the chants were going round England were only about 5pts ahead, hardly 30+ points in the lead.

ok i just thought it was quite insulting tbh and kinda pi**ed me off. And it sounded to me like all the fans were singing it

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Maybe I expected too much but the quality of this game disappointed me. Personally I thought the Irish backs used the space that they had much more effectively and looked more likely to score. I was disappointed with our midfield. I don't think Hopper is ready for this level, and although many of the passes to him were unhelpful and made him stop in order to gather the ball, he also just didn't seem to have the feet to get out of difficulties and many times was getting held up with a maul forming. Spencers awareness and distribution was strong, but the use of space by twelvetrees and hopper was not good; for the front-five dominance we had, our midfield should be disappointed with what they achieved. Banahan seems to have nothing to offer at saxon-level either.

Has anyone else noticed how good Monye is at the breakdown? Beast.

 

[j'nuh]

Burns kicking wasn't great, but he can do better and if he played for England, another option is 10. Burns 12. Farrell with Farrell taking the kicks.

Maybe I expected too much but the quality of this game disappointed me. Personally I thought the Irish backs used the space that they had much more effectively and looked more likely to score. I was disappointed with our midfield. I don't think Hopper is ready for this level, and although many of the passes to him were unhelpful and made him stop in order to gather the ball, he also just didn't seem to have the feet to get out of difficulties and many times was getting held up with a maul forming. Spencers awareness and distribution was strong, but the use of space by twelvetrees and hopper was not good; for the front-five dominance we had, our midfield should be disappointed with what they achieved. Banahan seems to have nothing to offer at saxon-level either.

Yeah, I felt this. It just seemed like another case of England using a strong pack to bully their opposition. Easy to do at this level, since England have the player depth to field stronger A teams, but it doesn't exactly prime players wanting to make the main squad with the talents needed to make the step up. We still have issues at the breakdown.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Ok what did we learn:

For anyone who says otherwise despite his stature O'Malley is at the least a capable tackler put in a real nice hit on Banahan as well which is nice to see.

Henry showed glimpses that he can be an international standard 7.

Dave Kearney is progressing very nicely

and finally if Kidney stays as coach Stephen Archer will have a long and unfruitful international career Munster tighthead who can't scrummage 3.0

I don't see it happening tbh. While Kidney has his faults, and lots of them, I don't think he is that incompetent. Ross will have the 3 jersey for the next 2 years, then hopefully Jamie Hagan will be good enough to take it off him.