Ireland v England, 10/02/13

[Maverick1987]

I thought you said paper?

Haha sorry I meant rag talk

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Haha sorry I meant rag talk

Well cool anyway, its perhaps the first time in years I can say I don't mind who starts in the centres, as I think all 3 guys have something to bring to the party. What I don't want, though, is the experience Leinster pair exploiting Twelvetrees' inexperience and giving him a shocker.

 

[Big Ewis]

Can't say I am that interested at all. I think I will have a nap and maybe go for a walk! (Joking I hope to see some big hits and a cracking game). But still not interested!

mmmm hmmm, ok.

 

[Teh Mite]

Am I to assume that Jockstap sees this fixture as his cup final for the year.


...Because his club won't be getting one!

 

[Atco]

I believe England will win. Forget the first half between Wales and Ireland last week. Wales had travel difficulties and only turned up at half-time. The second half was, in many ways, won by Wales with Ireland desperately hanging on. Sexton was far from imperious.
Selection: interesting. I believe he'll have the same staring line up as last week except Haskell for Morgan. I think Manu will be on the bench and Strettle will drop. I think Billy V will also be on the bench (for Haskell). I think a dynamic Billy V may well make a name for himself against tired Irishmen in the last 20 minutes.
That's what I think he'll do and I'm fairly comfortable with that. I don't like not having two out and out wingers but....

 

[Tony Manx]

I believe England will win. Forget the first half between Wales and Ireland last week. Wales had travel difficulties and only turned up at half-time. The second half was, in many ways, won by Wales with Ireland desperately hanging on. Sexton was far from imperious.
Selection: interesting. I believe he'll have the same staring line up as last week except Haskell for Morgan. I think Manu will be on the bench and Strettle will drop. I think Billy V will also be on the bench (for Haskell). I think a dynamic Billy V may well make a name for himself against tired Irishmen in the last 20 minutes.
That's what I think he'll do and I'm fairly comfortable with that. I don't like not having two out and out wingers but....

I think the composure and confidence that England showed last week, the power off the bench and their organisation will overcome the usual wonderfully disruptive defence but lack of equivalent reinforcements available to the Irish and that BOD will be shown up as having just gone over the hill as I do not go overboard on his supposed magic of last week!.....I do not say that with any malice and sincerely hope, if only for the Lions' sake, that I am wrong in that as we seem to be short of a form 13 in the Britsh Isles at the moment!!

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

I believe England will win. Forget the first half between Wales and Ireland last week. Wales had travel difficulties and only turned up at half-time. The second half was, in many ways, won by Wales with Ireland desperately hanging on. Sexton was far from imperious.
Selection: interesting. I believe he'll have the same staring line up as last week except Haskell for Morgan. I think Manu will be on the bench and Strettle will drop. I think Billy V will also be on the bench (for Haskell). I think a dynamic Billy V may well make a name for himself against tired Irishmen in the last 20 minutes.
That's what I think he'll do and I'm fairly comfortable with that. I don't like not having two out and out wingers but....

Of course you believe England will win, you're English - you need some of the outside posters, the Welsh and French mainly, to call this.
You can't just 'forget' a 20 point lead against a strong Welsh side at home.
Arrogance like this gets on my nerves.

 

[Thingimubob]

Of course you believe England will win, you're English - you need some of the outside posters, the Welsh and French mainly, to call this.
You can't just 'forget' a 20 point lead against a strong Welsh side at home.
Arrogance like this gets on my nerves.

Gotta agree with you here, while it was far from an inspiring Welsh display in the first half, but Ireland were simply outstanding. Smashed us to bits in the contact area, and showed lovely pieces of skill in all of their tries. However on the other hand, Ireland need to tighten up the ship, as they certainly don't want England getting through as much as we did in the 2nd half last week.
Back row battle is gonna be very interesting in my opinion!

 

[Saintjay]

Of course you believe England will win, you're English - you need some of the outside posters, the Welsh and French mainly, to call this.
You can't just 'forget' a 20 point lead against a strong Welsh side at home.
Arrogance like this gets on my nerves.

I fail to see the arrogance in his post just an opinion you don't agree with. Not all english people expect them to win. I don't just because of last year and home advantage.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Of course you believe England will win, you're English - you need some of the outside posters, the Welsh and French mainly, to call this.
You can't just 'forget' a 20 point lead against a strong Welsh side at home.
Arrogance like this gets on my nerves.

Yeah what you on about? Jockstap just said he believes Ireland will win by 10+, can you go call him arrogant please, because by your logic he went way further than Atco

That said, I agree you certainyl can't forget the first half in which Ireland put Wales to the sword. Thats the only reason Wales were able to come back into it, as Ireland just defended what was a huge lead

 

[Feicarsinn]

If England start with Marler I will literally jizz everywhere.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

If England start with Marler I will literally jizz everywhere.

I know...I'm quite scared by the idea of Marler against Ross. By the way, you may as well get *that* over and done with now seeng as Marler is guaranteed to keep his place, and rightly so. He's just an odd one Marler, he's not a bad scrummager just inconsistent, and can dominate and be dominated in equal measure. To be honest, the only two looseheads who I think could do a significantly better job against Ross, are Alex Corbisiero and Nick Wood, and we won't be seeing either. I don't know about Mako Vunipola, scrums have wobbled somewhat when he's come on recently. However, in general tis more about the 8 man shove, and I think we can at least hold our own.

 

[Feicarsinn]

I know...I'm quite scared by the idea of Marler against Ross. By the way, you may as well get *that* over and done with now seeng as Marler is guaranteed to keep his place, and rightly so. He's just an odd one Marler, he's not a bad scrummager just inconsistent, and can dominate and be dominated in equal measure. To be honest, the only two looseheads who I think could do a significantly better job against Ross, are Alex Corbisiero and Nick Wood, and we won't be seeing either. I don't know about Mako Vunipola, scrums have wobbled somewhat when he's come on recently. However, in general tis more about the 8 man shove, and I think we can at least hold our own.

Oh, don't get me wrong, Marler isn't a bad player by any means. He just doesn't threaten in the scrum, which is very good for us. He's essentially Cian Healy lite. Less dynamic, probably less sturdy in the scrum, but of a similar mould.

An issue that rarely gets discussed when it comes to the Irish scrum is the role of Paul O'Connell. Personally I think he's pretty ineffective there, but it's a part of his game that's often been glossed over by the Irish media because OMGZ YOU CAN@T CRITICIZE POC!!!11!1!ONE!!. I expect that with Ryan and McCarthy in the engine room we'll be more sturdy.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

I fail to see the arrogance in his post just an opinion you don't agree with. Not all english people expect them to win. I don't just because of last year and home advantage.

Its absolutely nothing to do with if I agree with it or not. Dismissing a huge lead and putting it down to Wales 'not showing up' is just being arrogant, and trying to make it look like Ireland didn't do anything.

& Henry I didn't see Jockstraps post.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Its absolutely nothing to do with if I agree with it or not. Dismissing a huge lead and putting it down to Wales 'not showing up' is just being arrogant, and trying to make it look like Ireland didn't do anything.

& Henry I didn't see Jockstraps post.

I'd be worried that we only played against Wales for 45 minutes. That wont be near good enough this weekend.

 

[big ginger 8]

Can't wait for this. Going to the legends match the day before and get to go back and meet the players hopefully a great weekend.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Its absolutely nothing to do with if I agree with it or not. Dismissing a huge lead and putting it down to Wales 'not showing up' is just being arrogant, and trying to make it look like Ireland didn't do anything.

& Henry I didn't see Jockstraps post.

There was nothing wrong with it, just saying in theory they said similarish things, although I don't agree with Atco's logic at all.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Can't wait for this. Going to the legends match the day before and get to go back and meet the players hopefully a great weekend.

Enjoy. The legend games are fantastic craic.

 

[Peat]

Of course you believe England will win, you're English - you need some of the outside posters, the Welsh and French mainly, to call this.
You can't just 'forget' a 20 point lead against a strong Welsh side at home.
Arrogance like this gets on my nerves.

Strong Welsh side?!

Their form player was left out, their second row stocks were scraping the barrel, and they started with a lot of guys who were only just back from injury due to paucity of options, all topped off with Rob Howley. Rees is a busted flush as well.

Besides, we have a Jim Telfer sealed mandate of Insufferable Arrogance to live up to. So there. In fact, saying our side will win isn't arrogant enough. There will be a 30 point manshaming and Joe Marler will finish the match with Mike Ross on a lead in a gimp mask.

You heard it here first.

 

[Jbobo]

I was at the millennium for the match and Ireland absolutely smashed us up front in the first half and displayed some great skill when attacking, they took every chance that was given to them and rarely left our 22 without points on the board. Everyone in the crowd, including the Irish supporters were stunned by just how easy it was from Ireland to put points on the board. To be honest I was prepared for a real hammering in the second half up despite a small Welsh resurgence late in the first half giving a glimmer of hope to salvage some pride . However, i think it is difficult to assess Ireland's overall game when you consider that Wales dominated Ireland in almost every aspect of the second half. It was like two completely different teams came arrived for the second 40. In the end i don't think you can put Ireland's dominance down to Welsh inferiority as their skill levels and precision was brilliant. But you also can't dismiss the Welsh comeback as Ireland just sitting back and defending, Ireland were worried at the end and had to work damn hard to keep the victory. I feel Ireland's superb but desperate defence on their 5m saved them from an embarrassing comeback, the threat of which was very real.

Really hard to call this one. I don't see Ireland steam rolling England during the first half regardless of how well they start, but i also can't see England dominating up front like some people could suggest. Whatever happens, i see this game going to the wire and reckon the difference will be made in the breakdown. England to win by up to 4 points. However, i'm excited to see whether this will prove to be an open free scoring game or a tense low scoring battle to the end. Looking forward to it!