Ireland - England @ New Landsdowne Road, Dublin (27-08-2011, 14:30 GMT)

[dangandan]

My god how many times do they have to keep passing laterally to end up being tackled into touch. No matter how many times you do it it isn't going to work unless the nearest spectator is going to join in the play!! Zero penetration as usual. No one running on the inside shoulder or even changing direction for that matter. When they do it's straight at guys like Tuilagi. ****. And where were the forwards? I know we lost Wallace and Heaslip but someone jump into the ****ing ruck! The scrumhalf doesn't have the force and it isn't going to magically appear in his hands. After seeing the Wallabies today there is a very very very very good chance we aren't going to end up top of our pool going by our warm up performances. Anyone know how bad is Wallace's injury? Also i know this wasn't a starting team but come on, that was absolutely dire.

 

[Irishflanker]

I declare a national state of self-loathing.
I can't believe I allowed myself to think that we would at least play well today.

 

[irelandfan123]

two questions because I didnt get a chance to watch it :

1) How did Ferris play?

2) is there any point in me watching this match?

 

[Irishflanker]

BOD wouldn't have made a difference today, maybe he would have stopped Tualagi's try but that's irrelevant, we were incapable of getting over the gain line, Sean O'Brien is who we missed.

He would have been fired up and tackled like a demon, He's the type of guy who would use something like the Wallace incident as an extra incentive to destroy Tuilagi IMO. We Desperately missed Wallace and Heaslip, Wallace actually looked quite good when he was on, once Heaslip was gone Ferris' performance dropped also.

 

[roscommon guy]

A really awfull match. Paul O' Connel, Trimble and Earls at moments were the only positives of this match. I think that Ferris as lost abit of his spark or Sean O'Brien is just way better. I think that there is a clear difference in the Physical quality of teams of the 3N + France, England compared to the ones of Ireland, Sotland and Wales who just seem to bet bullied in the breakdowns and scrums. :/

 

[Irishflanker]

two questions because I didnt get a chance to watch it :

1) How did Ferris play?

2) is there any point in me watching this match?

1) Showed a good deal of aggression, as did Flannery, which was good to see. He was the 7 in a backrow of Leamy and Ryan quite early into the game, however he was one of the few to front up to the English pack (to little avail).

2) If you have time on your hands, you can then form your own opinions/impressions, was a dreadful performance though so I wouldn't go out of my way if I were you.

 

[Peat]

two questions because I didnt get a chance to watch it :

1) How did Ferris play?

2) is there any point in me watching this match?

1) Ferris played well. Jumped well, carried well, looked for the offloads, made his tackles, and survived 80 minutes. A good effort in a fair beaten pack.

2) This depends. Are you a masochist?

Right just tuned in to the game, and was greeted by the commentary line "Tuilagi and Tindall for WC Centre partnership" (or something to that effect). Now I haven't seen the match, but that to me sounds like two battering rams at 12/13???

Ireland look very poor from what I've seen, can't break down that English defense

You have missed the rebirth of Mike Tindall, playmaking inside centre.

Tuilagi always was more than a battering ram, in that he has pace and quick feet. And can pass.

Not a half-bad centre partnership if they keep this up.

Cracking stuff. Ok, Ireland were poor, but we made that happen. Jolly good sporting weekend allround.

p.s. Tomas O'Leary will be feeling really hard done by.

 

[dangandan]

Does anyone think this is a tactical ploy to fool our opposition? The lack of backline or forward play was actually outstanding. We didn't show any hint of tactics! We all know our strike players were Bowe and Earls but they weren't exactly utilised that well. Hmm... I think we may win the world cup. Kidney is being very sly.

 

[Irishflanker]

Here is a fun statistic Wallace carried the second highest amount of meters in our entire pack; he saw the ball about 3/4 times in 20 minutes on the field.

 

[Peat]

Today, Gordon D'Arcy made 8 carries, for a total of 2 metres.

 

[coonor]

this shows the importance of Heaslip, SOB and Wallace while having a balanced backrow!!! PS I wish Wallace a speedy recovery as he is a true Irish legend and I hope Heaslip is ok.

 

[irelandfan123]

This depends. Are you a masochist?

Thats a no then :lol:

 

[Irishflanker]

Today, Gordon D'Arcy made 8 carries, for a total of 2 metres.

Tuilagi also made 8 carries for... wait for it... a grand total of 115 meters.

 

[dangandan]

Today, Gordon D'Arcy made 8 carries, for a total of 2 metres.

Yea it seems he still hasn't found his hands either. It's sad when you see an end of an era like D'Arcy/BOD. At least BOD has his leadership and defensive qualities but some players like D'Arcy need to know when to retire. He's been playing badly for a long while now so it's about time someone else fills in. Sexton has looked pretty decent there. I like how he mixes it up and keeps the defence guessing or we could have McFadden, not a fan but he's more solid than D'Arcy.

 

[Peat]

Yea it seems he still hasn't found his hands either. It's sad when you see an end of an era like D'Arcy/BOD. At least BOD has his leadership and defensive qualities but some players like D'Arcy need to know when to retire. He's been playing badly for a long while now so it's about time someone else fills in. Sexton has looked pretty decent there. I like how he mixes it up and keeps the defence guessing or we could have McFadden, not a fan but he's more solid than D'Arcy.

He's been playing well for Leinster in fairness but I'm struggling to remember D'Arcy's last good game for Ireland.

I'm almost tempted to suggest Bowe into centre now. I'd expect one of McFadden/Spence/Marshall to be wearing 12 after the World Cup.

In fairness to D'Arcy, Earls, Wallace, McFadden - even BOD - asking small fellows like to take the ball very flat time after time against set defences with bugger all time to jink is never going to work. They need to hit the ball from depth. Gaffney is a fool, and I feel sorry for the Irish, as he's a ruining a fine set of players. If he wanted to do that, why not play Downey? Didn't help that of Ireland's top carriers, only Ferris and Healy were available and made the distance.

Anyway, back to gloating. It's not a great coincidence though that England finally score tries when they finally have centres playing well... just as well as Ashton was not at the races, and the ball did get fair slow at time. Also, absolutely have to improve discipline.

 

[dangandan]

He's been playing well for Leinster in fairness but I'm struggling to remember D'Arcy's last good game for Ireland.

I'm almost tempted to suggest Bowe into centre now. I'd expect one of McFadden/Spence/Marshall to be wearing 12 after the World Cup.

In fairness to D'Arcy, Earls, Wallace, McFadden - even BOD - asking small fellows like to take the ball very flat time after time against set defences with bugger all time to jink is never going to work. They need to hit the ball from depth. Gaffney is a fool, and I feel sorry for the Irish, as he's a ruining a fine set of players. If he wanted to do that, why not play Downey? Didn't help that of Ireland's top carriers, only Ferris and Healy were available and made the distance.

Anyway, back to gloating. It's not a great coincidence though that England finally score tries when they finally have centres playing well... just as well as Ashton was not at the races, and the ball did get fair slow at time. Also, absolutely have to improve discipline.

Yea that's the thing. He seems to have lost it at international level. The speed and intensity is very different from club rugby.

I'm not convinced by putting a world class winger into the centre. I say keep Bowe in out on the wing and try out up n comers in the centre. For the moment i'd say have Sexton or McFadden at 12. I've been impressed by Luke Marshall but he needs to cement a place in the Ulster team before he plays for Ireland.

I know Gaffney is completely useless but as a rugby player they should know what they feel has been going wrong and then express it to the coaches. If lowly spectators such as ourselves can see the problems why can't they? I do think a lot of it comes down to the players.

I've gotta say, England didn't win pretty but they outmuscled us and got the result. I wish Manu's family moved to Ireland instead of England.

 

[Peat]

Yea that's the thing. He seems to have lost it at international level. The speed and intensity is very different from club rugby.

I'm not convinced by putting a world class winger into the centre. I say keep Bowe in out on the wing and try out up n comers in the centre. For the moment i'd say have Sexton or McFadden at 12. I've been impressed by Luke Marshall but he needs to cement a place in the Ulster team before he plays for Ireland.

I know Gaffney is completely useless but as a rugby player they should know what they feel has been going wrong and then express it to the coaches. If lowly spectators such as ourselves can see the problems why can't they? I do think a lot of it comes down to the players.

I've gotta say, England didn't win pretty but they outmuscled us and got the result. I wish Manu's family moved to Ireland instead of England.

I'll agree with all of that - save to say that Trimble and Earls are very good wingers. You wouldn't lose an awful lot out wide. You might well gain out of the move, nonsensical as it does seem.

Oh yeah.I also don't agree with the bid in bold. Go poach your own South Seas Islanders!

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I'm almost tempted to suggest Bowe into centre now. I'd expect one of McFadden/Spence/Marshall to be wearing 12 after the World Cup.

I think you're right. I think we'll see Fergus McFadden at 12 with Brian O'Driscoll at 13 in the 6 Nations.

After the world cup a bunch of players will be put out to pasture. These include Gordon D'arcy, Geordan Murphy, David and Paddy Wallace, Tony Buckle, Jerry Flannery, Shane Jennings and Leo Cullen. Donncha O'Callaghan will survive the cull simply because there's not many second row options while the same goes for Eoin Reddan and Isaac Boss at scrum half. I'd also give serious consideration to throwing Ian Keatley into the setup ahead of Ronan O'Gara. The likes of Jamie Hagan, Dan Tuohy, Rhys Ruddock, Ian Keatley, Luke Marshall and Craig Gilroy must be blooded before 2012 is over.

 

[dangandan]

I'll agree with all of that - save to say that Trimble and Earls are very good wingers. You wouldn't lose an awful lot out wide. You might well gain out of the move, nonsensical as it does seem.

Oh yeah.I also don't agree with the bid in bold. Go poach your own South Seas Islanders!

Haha you guys hafta play fair though. You've had Hape, Vanikolo, Flutey and now Manu, it's only fair!

Gotta agree with Trimble and Earls though. They have been very in form wingers. However having all the best backs on the field wouldn't be such a great idea. Lomu at his best wouldn't have been a great centre. He had no hands. It's good competition for back three though.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Help yourself to Hape, if you want him



Manu Tuilagi - 100% win rate, 1.0 try:game ratio