Ireland vs England

[best_fullback]

Inexperience was a key factor in the game yesterday. In such a ferocious atmosphere sometimes if things are not going right, experience can guide you through. There were some many instances of bad decision making: Youngs sniping when he should have just given the ball, Flood standing very deep (for his standards) and getting clearly rattled resulting in the missed penalty, Ashton rising to the O'Gara scuffle (very clever by O'Gara) and trying to smash him late afterwards, Foden and Hape insisting on taking contact when presented with a counter attacking overlap etc. It is examples like this that would set the experienced players apart, who would probably take an alternative option or rise above the atmosphere.

That being said though we were 2nd best in pretty much every area of the pitch and Ireland deserved the win. As Johnson said after the game though, it is experiences like this that make you a better team. Hopefully we will learn and become an even better team because of it.

 

[Duckdee]

I don't understand why he isn't =/ (playing for Tigers, that is) - He was getting more game time, and looking better and better, then nothing
If they're not careful he'll move somewhere he'll get decent game time

He has recently signed an extension.

 

[coonor]

I think this will be some of England's players biggest challenges yet. Many of them will need to keep their confidence up and not allow themselves to decline in form. Flood and Youngs are the 2 players that need to really work hard with Leicester to keep confidence and form up. Youngs had possibly his worst ever game and he will have to put that behind him because he has the talent to become the best fly half in the world.

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads just on a side note I think we have to applaud Johnson. He was very humble and gracious in defeat and spoke alot of truth and sense in post match interview. But also for the fact that he startedwith England and with no experience and linked with a poor team and patchy start he has built an impressive team and is simply 1 or 2 backs short of having a fine squad

 

[Logorrhea]

The scrum reffing was shocking. 1st scrum aside, Ireland were wheeling and going backwards or up, especially after Ross came off.

Mike Ross absolutely destroyed Corbawhatsit. He literally picked him up and turned him whichever way he wanted. You said before that we only had one decent prop, Olly said we had the weakest scrum in the competition and Bullitt suggested Ross would have his head pushed back through his own arse in one of the games. I swear I ****** myself laughing watching that England scrum buckle.

Oh and given how you dismissed Irelands complaints about scrum refereeing (I believe you said "swings and roundabouts") why are you complaining about the final 25 minutes of the game when you guys were so far out of it it made no difference?

 

[DorceOutSide]

i noticed that flood and youngs crack under pressure eg vs nz and yesterdays match

 

[gingergenius]

Mike Ross absolutely destroyed Corbawhatsit. He literally picked him up and turned him whichever way he wanted. You said before that we only had one decent prop, Olly said we had the weakest scrum in the competition and Bullitt suggested Ross would have his head pushed back through his own arse in one of the games. I swear I ****** myself laughing watching that England scrum buckle.

Oh and given how you dismissed Irelands complaints about scrum refereeing (I believe you said "swings and roundabouts") why are you complaining about the final 25 minutes of the game when you guys were so far out of it it made no difference?

Erm, you were shoved around by Argentina in the autumn and weren't penalised sufficiently. You were shoved around by South Africa, shoved around by Italy, shoved around by Wales. Shoved around by France and again, weren't penalised enough. And yes, you were shoved around by England. First scrum aside when the Irish deservedly got a pen for pushing us through our backsides. Every other time it was either even, or Ireland were going backwards/ up/ round/ down. Ross vs Corbisiero was pretty even; Cole happily beat Healy and when Court came on England should have had a penalty at every scrum, but Lawrence had clearly made his mind up that the scrum was merely a way of restarting the game.

Whatever you say, there's a big trend there. And no I don't think a succession of scrum penalties would have changed the result, England were thoroughly outplayed, fair and square. But the scrum is a big part of rugby union, it's one of the reasons I prefer it to the flarier 13 man version. And seeing it negated by a supposedly top-class referree who simply can't be arsed to sort it out really ****** me off, whether it hurts England in a Grand Slam match or if it hurts any other team who deserve more than they're getting.

If a hooker can't throw straight, or there's interfering with the jumpers, then the lineout is not an effective contest for posession and we might as well have RL throw ins. I don't see why the same attitude is not taken with the scrum - it is simply lazy referreeing.

 

[DorceOutSide]

ireland kicked ass in the scrum yesterday

 

[durbutter]

Erm, you were shoved around by Argentina in the autumn and weren't penalised sufficiently. You were shoved around by South Africa, shoved around by Italy, shoved around by Wales. Shoved around by France and again, weren't penalised enough. And yes, you were shoved around by England. First scrum aside when the Irish deservedly got a pen for pushing us through our backsides. Every other time it was either even, or Ireland were going backwards/ up/ round/ down. Ross vs Corbisiero was pretty even; Cole happily beat Healy and when Court came on England should have had a penalty at every scrum, but Lawrence had clearly made his mind up that the scrum was merely a way of restarting the game.

Whatever you say, there's a big trend there. And no I don't think a succession of scrum penalties would have changed the result, England were thoroughly outplayed, fair and square. But the scrum is a big part of rugby union, it's one of the reasons I prefer it to the flarier 13 man version. And seeing it negated by a supposedly top-class referree who simply can't be arsed to sort it out really ****** me off, whether it hurts England in a Grand Slam match or if it hurts any other team who deserve more than they're getting.

If a hooker can't throw straight, or there's interfering with the jumpers, then the lineout is not an effective contest for posession and we might as well have RL throw ins. I don't see why the same attitude is not taken with the scrum - it is simply lazy referreeing.

Bullshit watch the game again.
You'll find that it was Ross who was in trouble with Corbs. Ross was being twisted and pushed up occasionally, but he did manage to keep from popping up. The difference was Court couldn't do that when he came on and the scrum fell apart, and i agree that you didnt get what you deserved towards the end of the game.
Healy and Cole had a great battle, with Healy shading it.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

On Cian Healy:

People say Joe Marler has terrible hair, but Healy should be beheaded for that monstrosity he's sporting - I've never seen a bigger chav on a rugby pitch. Looked like he should be outside the post office mugging grannies for their pensions

 

[Teh Mite]

The only mugging that went on was sir constantly pinging Cole (and then PDJ) when Healey was on his knees at every flipping scrum.

 

[Conal]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/irish/9430658.stm

trimble lauds o'connell as the motivator

anyone know of anyway to find o'connell's pre game speech?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Just put "f**king" "the fear of God" and "give 110%" into any other pre-game speech and you've got it

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/irish/9430658.stm

trimble lauds o'connell as the motivator

anyone know of anyway to find o'connell's pre game speech?

It was something like this:

 

[DorceOutSide]

chav cian healy ? he went to my school and he's from clontarf or the torf as the posh ******** from around there say

 

[Teh Mite]

Clearly that was a school of excellent standards in language and grammar ...

 

[B10]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12333_6824936,00.html

Haskell saying he may extend his contract at Stade so could be his last six nations game <_<

 

[Teh Mite]

Typical that he'd do that right when people start believing he's worth a place in the team.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Could be a chance to get Robshaw in the mix (though it's pretty much set in stone it'll be Moody with Fourie on the bench)

Bring back Magnus Lund, I say

 

[Teh Mite]

What a class act Irish 2nd rows are..