Ireland, not Wales, are now the main Celtic power of rugby (if we didn't know that already)

[WaterboySA]

South Africa have NEVER beaten Ireland in a world cup, something Japan has. Fraudulent champions.

YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

In 18 months once we appoint Robinson and Rassie as water boy it'll be

1. Wales
2. France
3. NZ
4. Ireland

This is how to fan

 

[WaterboySA]

Rassie is the next England coach....they gonna get silver at the WC again lol....

 

[ncurd]

Should add Ireland have a nasty habit of being the reverse Argentina by peaking between world cups. And are bang on target of doing the exact same. But that doesn't mean we just dismiss their results because of it.

 

[ncurd]

Rassie is the next England coach....they gonna get silver at the WC again lol....

I suppose it'll be an upgrade on Gatland rumours we use to get all the time.

I don't think it will be either.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Yeah that's a fair point and I'm sure most of the Irish are wary of this. It does feel different this time, though. As said, however, 18 months is still a long time. I think the worrying thing about Ireland and France is that they don't look like they're peaking yet so should be nicely timed.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I suppose it'll be an upgrade on Gatland rumours we use to get all the time.

I don't think it will be either.

Those Gats rumours are still going today even. Apparently he's the bookies favourite to take over although with that statement from the RFU it doesn't look like Eddie is going anywhere so probably just a load of media ******

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I hope this isn't our peak. Don't think we've produced a full performance yet.

We looked like a good team not really hitting our stride for all but about 120 minutes of this championship, I definitely don't see a recipe for 2019s malaise creeping in. We still have a lot to focus on. Saying that, we could be the third best team at the next world cup and still go out in the QF.

 

[WaterboySA]

Rassie was quoted in SA as saying he would coach England IF the SA fans don't hate him for it.....

 

[ncurd]

Rassie was quoted in SA as saying he would coach England IF the SA fans don't hate him for it.....

For better or for worse we are keeping EJ until the RWC the time to jettison him was last year.

I'd say silver was a long stretch but honestly getting to the final isn't as hard as it should be on our side of the draw.

 

[WP-stormer]

Agreed with all of the above. BUT when a poster has a go at someone's grammar adding a personal insult, it'll gain this sort of attention.

WP-stormer has come in here, added very little to the discussion, derailed the thread, been nasty and was the first to mention grammar. So fair game in my opinion.

It had been an interesting, and barely touched topic on these boards of comparing two neighbors with a lot of similarities and as many differences in terms of rugby culture and why one has seemingly caught and surpassed the other in the last 10 to 20 years.

Actually u mentioned grammar first I just replied to it

 

[WP-stormer]

An

Actually yeah, I looked back and he didn't mention grammar first, so I'll retract that.

His post history suggest a strong anti-Irish sentiment, I realised yesterday and haven't properly engaged since.

Maybe I've come on abit strong in my replies,but I just find it funny this far out from a World Cup every World Cup the Irish talk themselves up.that's not me being anti Irish at all,I might be from SA but my family are all Irish.people tend to forget what all Sa has to do to field a team,it's not a case of the best 15.it's keeping the politicians happy before the fans happy which says a lot.

Anyway yes we all have our opinion but I really do think u can't put in other team in the top three other than SA NZ and France.do u honest think if England or France or ireland went to Sa now to play a 3 test series they would win?i don't think so.plenty better teams than the current have tried and not succeeded

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Actually u mentioned grammar first I just replied to it

I didn't mention grammar but I corrected myself on the point on the last page.

An

Maybe I've come on abit strong in my replies,but I just find it funny this far out from a World Cup every World Cup the Irish talk themselves up.that's not me being anti Irish at all,I might be from SA but my family are all Irish.people tend to forget what all Sa has to do to field a team,it's not a case of the best 15.it's keeping the politicians happy before the fans happy which says a lot.

Anyway yes we all have our opinion but I really do think u can't put in other team in the top three other than SA NZ and France.do u honest think if England or France or ireland went to Sa now to play a 3 test series they would win?i don't think so.plenty better teams than the current have tried and not succeeded

Ok, that's more reasoned and I agree we've been over enthusiastic before. To be fair, we often do look strong before the world cup, hence the peaking too early reputation.

We've also brought good teams to world cups before, 2015 injuries killed us, 2011 we made selection mistakes in the QF and 2003 we were a bit wet behind the ears but really could have beaten Australia in that group stage match otherwise. We choked big time in 2007 and 2019 and then were just a poor team before the turn of the millennium.

I think we'll bring a good team next year, unfortunately out of the other top 4 teams right now* I think SA are the one we're most likely to beat and that doesn't get us to the semis. We've always matched up well to their power game and moved them about, France and NZ have both had long periods of dominance over us in the last 20 years as a contrast.

As for the test series, probably not but I don't think SA or NZ win a three test series in Dublin or Paris either. The four teams look quite close to me.

*I know the rankings aren't the best indicator but when 4th is separated from 5th by over 3 points and less than 2 points behind 1st I think it's fair to group the top four as NZ, SA, France and Ireland.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Love the optimism but I think NZ and France are in a league of their own right now. Ireland right behind them with the other giants trying to remember how to count to 15.

I would like to think NZ will always gave the basic skill levels to be up there but definitely dont think we're miles from the pack

I think all the arguing about who's better than whom based of one result is pretty stupid...but what we can say is NZ lost to five separate teams in the last 18 months (first time in living memory?) so its nots just "we had a bad game" or something, there is a template for beating the All Blacks and we're struggling to counter it

I'm not quite on the france are miles better than everyone bandwagon, the second string side they sent to aussie last year was pretty rough/green in some areas so they might only be a couple of injuries off the rest

Thats why i feel there might just be a real mix of 4-5 all very close to each other

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I'm always pretty comfortable with the rugby rankings being a reasonable reflection of where a side is (as long as they aren't disproportionately playing sides that are better than them, like Italy and Argentina). So I'd say the top 4 (including Ireland) are very close and England can bridge that gap a bit if their coaching team can get more out of the available talent. Oz, Scotland, Wales and Pumas are a significant step below those 4+1. The rankings would be consistent with this interpretation other than my subjective opinion on England.

Women's and Men's Rankings | World Rugby

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Covid seems to have reduced the number of games that the SH have hosted more than the NH, which would likely skew the rankings a bit, but that should be fixed a bit in July. However, I dont think I could be persuaded by an argument that NZ and SA would be significant favourites over Ireland or France in neutral territory. Or that anyone inside that top 5 has no chance of winning the RWC. Or that anyone outside that top 5 is a realistic ***le contender (despite the slightly skewed draw). If anyone in that top 4 was hosting the RWC I'd make rhem favourite.

Ireland really need to be thinking about major game time for other 10s though. And I don't mean Carty sadly. I'd be giving 30-60 mins per game over to any non-Sexton 10 between now and the RWC, including in the next 6N in games where it was considered that this wouldn't jeopardise the result.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Wow this thread escalated. Enjoyed reading these posts, made me laugh.

To move the topic along slightly, is a team peaking for a World Cup a real thing compared to a team being consistently there if there abouts?

If there is no sudden change of coaches etc. surely being consistent is a real thing, where as I don't see teams so focussed on the World Cup that lose before and then suddenly get better for the WC?

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Wow this thread escalated. Enjoyed reading these posts, made me laugh.

To move the topic along slightly, is a team peaking for a World Cup a real thing compared to a team being consistently there if there abouts?

If there is no sudden change of coaches etc. surely being consistent is a real thing, where as I don't see teams so focussed on the World Cup that lose before and then suddenly get better for the WC?

it does happen the other way though, the AB's got real good at it for more than 20 years, champagne rugby in between RWC's and either players go off the boil or the rest of the world catches up come the big show

and now i think about it Japan for example have definitely stepped up for the last couple of world cups

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

it does happen the other way though, the AB's got real good at it for more than 20 years, champagne rugby in between RWC's and either players go off the boil or the rest of the world catches up come the big show

and now i think about it Japan for example have definitely stepped up for the last couple of world cups

I think the ABs was more mental really with the pressure. Still think they were the better teams (if not for the pressure).

I guess there should always be a 'raise your game' type scenario for the WC by all teams but I don't see how a team can peak for a WC and be poor the rest of the time.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Love the optimism but I think NZ and France are in a league of their own right now. Ireland right behind them with the other giants trying to remember how to count to 15.

How do you conclude NZ are above everyone except france? We lost big time to Ireland without threatening to look like we were a chance of winning at any point. We won one lost one against a tired South African team. The year before we lost to Argentina and Australia. And we have pretty much not managed to deal with rush defence since 2017.

 

[ncurd]

How do you conclude NZ are above everyone except france? We lost big time to Ireland without threatening to look like we were a chance of winning at any point. We won one lost one against a tired South African team. The year before we lost to Argentina and Australia. And we have pretty much not managed to deal with rush defence since 2017.

I think the 2008-2015 era ABs live rent free in many fans heads (especially their own). People still expect them to turn up and win and its been far from the case for a while now. They're still a good side but against the top end of Tier 1 its very much a case of most teams will fancy their chances. If Wales weren't in such dire straights and Scotland got up for a home match both would fancy breaking their winless streaks.