Ireland v Samoa

[munstermuffin]

May I also add lads BOD has to be moved to 12 it not a wish now it a fact.
Sean O'Brien I think didn't take his chance and well Leamy disappeared to.

 

[Jockstap]

Torrid stuff again, its the bloody scrum, as well as its obvious problems its physcologically destroying the team.

 

[coonor]

The scrum is a worry. If the scrum was solid I think we would have at least an extra seven points and samoa 3-7 points less. Court has shown he is much better at tighthead and Healy worked well coming on a loosehead. Hayes has shown that he really is getting worse. I can see no reason why Ross can not be selected. He is our best scrumaging and at the moment we need a good scrum.

Player Verdicts

1) Tom Court-4/10 (Played well in the scrum when moved to tighthead and hit rucks well his open play is improving)
2) Sean Cronin-6/10 (threw well in the lineout and made the gainline well in open play)
3) John Hayes-1/10 (Poor in the scrum and in open play. made one fair tackle)
4) Donncha O'callaghan-4/10 (didn't do anything wrong but didn't anything great either once again quite annonamous)
5) Devin Toner-7/10 (good fist cap. worked well in the line out and cleared up well in opn play)
6) Denis Leamy-6/10 (made the gain line well and beat players well)
7) Sean O'Brien-6/10 (was perhaps our most physical player)
8) Jamie Heaslip-6/10 (Solid)
9) Peter Stringer-6/10 (controlled the game well and provided good ball for O'Gara)
10) Ronan O'Gara-6/10 (kicked well and kept the backs organised)
11) Andrew Trimble-5/10 (Was good in defence but lacks ball skills)
12) Paddy Wallace-5/10 (Didn't create as much as he could have)
13) Brian O'driscoll-5/10 (Wasn't great in attack but he defened well)
14) Tommy Bowe-6/10 (defended well and was one of the few Irish Players to try and create oppourtunities but he was used poorly today)
15) Luke Fitzgerald-8/10 (His positioning was great and he always manages to beat players)

16) Rory Best-5/10 (Didn't weaken the lineout and improved the scrum)
17) Cian Healy-6/10 (A good impact player)
18) Donncha Ryan-5/10 (added some phsicallity and did well in the lneout)
19) Stehen Ferris-7/10 (came on and added some needed physicallity he has some serious speed as well.)
20) Issac-N/A (didn't play enough to be really analysed)
21) Jonny Sexton-N/A (not used)
22) Keith Earls-N/A (not used)

 

[munstermuffin]

My only realistic guess is Earls and Sexton are starting next week. If Earls isn't I hope Kidney doesn't be stubborn and allows Keith to play Austrailia on Tuesday.

 

[coonor]

I think the best option would be to take some risks. Play Ross and Court together and see how our scum fairs and how it effects us. lets bring in Leo Cullen and see if he can add some leadership to the team. lets see Stringer and Sexton playing together. Put BOD at 12 and Earls at 13 this could prove to be a turning point. Basically as I see it we could play an old and predictable team that doen't use our best players well and lose. Or we can change things round and see what happens.

 

[Sam Owen]

Havent seen the game (gutted) but oh well I really didnt expect us to win. Was hoping for a upset though, bigtime...ahhh

 

[profitius]

I think its fair to say it wasn't Irelands best performance. A new injection of players is needed as well as a new backs coach but neither of those will happen until after the world cup at the earliest.

Havent seen the game (gutted) but oh well I really didnt expect us to win. Was hoping for a upset though, bigtime...ahhh

It was there for the taking. Samoa were the better team and the scoreline flattered Ireland. Ireland got a late breakaway try.

 

[Peat]

I didn't see the game and from the sounds of it I got the better end of the deal, so I'll just add a little bit to Snoopy's post about scrum halves..

Ian Porter of Ulster has talent and beyond those there are 2 or 3 guys aged 18-19 in Leinster and Ulster who could develop if they get proper coaching (Peter Du Toit, Luke McGrath, Conor Spence).

Frank Murphy had a strong start to the season but he's faded a bit. He's in his late 20s so perhaps his time has passed.

Porter has talented but is 22 with limited opportunities ahead and I think won't make it unless he gambles abroad and Spence didn't even reach the academy (I suspect wrongly). I don't think Ulster are about to produce an international scrum-half any time soon, never mind an outstanding one.

 

[lynam1104]

Positives
Luke Fitzgerald played well

Negatives
Everything else (in particular the scrum)

 

[coonor]

At the moment fitzgerald has been our most threatning back and is very mature for his age. The tight five is failing to secure good ball and create a platform for the backs. Ross neds to play, what have we really got to lose if he plays. Yesterday showed that from a good lineout we can make alot of ground and score tries but we havn't got a scrrum to do that aswell. I really think if the scrum was sorted out the whole teams performance would be 100% better.

 

[nickdnz]

Havent seen the game (gutted) but oh well I really didnt expect us to win. Was hoping for a upset though, bigtime...ahhh

I'd recommend subscribing to Tonytai2017, he usully has highlights of the match out, within several hours of it being played.

 

[Sam Owen]

I'd recommend subscribing to Tonytai2017, he usully has highlights of the match out, within several hours of it being played.

Cool. Ill definately subscribe, thanks nick.

 

[King_D'Arcy]

I hate that highlights video. It doesn't reflect Samoa's dominance at all.

Did anyone else notice how many times Ireland went 10 - 20 yards backwards when they had posession yesterday? It was embarrassing

 

[coonor]

I think we missed Ferris for much of the game. We needed more phsicallity and we didn't make any breaks by busting through tackles.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Samoas try was quality

O'Garas was what we call a "gay try" in training - scoring from a quicktap before the other side realises there's even been a penalty or anything


It's a shame Samoa have England next week, I'd like to see them come away from the tour with a couple of wins under their belts, but i'll obviously be cheering on England. Ah well, lets hope that they smash Scotland the week after (who beat SA next week so they don't lose everything )

 

[coonor]

Samoas try was quality

O'Garas was what we call a "gay try" in training - scoring from a quicktap before the other side realises there's even been a penalty or anything

Exactly it was basically a cheap shot that didn't really use any skill.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well ye can call it a 'gay try' or whatever but it was excellent quick-thinking and well you need that in a game too. Other teams would do it against us

 

[munstermuffin]

Sam - Just a quick question, what is Samoa's preperation plan for the World Cup from here in because I think they surely strong enough to be a threat if they get more game time together.
The IRB should surely look at getting these nations more involved (all the time) and make rugby even more competitive.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Well ye can call it a 'gay try' or whatever but it was excellent quick-thinking and well you need that in a game too. Other teams would do it against us

Don't get me wrong, fair play to him for taking it, i'd expect anyone to do the same

Just that he should have to sprint to his own try line and back after touching the ball down :lol:

 

[munstermuffin]

Well that is something even Munster do in training

But I think that is what Sexton still is learning is that he has to be thinking all the time and ROG showed experience yesterday. But I feel in the last 2/3 years ROG has developed this ruthless streak in Munster that between himself and Paulie that instead of turning down an easy 3 points at important time of games they go for broke and try for the 7. The most recent example was against Toulon after going 7points down early.