RWC: Australia - Ireland (17-09-2011 20:30)

[Mr.cyclopede]

How can people say the scrum was lucky, Irelands props dominated and Kefu was tearing Ross down constanty and well I surprised no card was issued.

Agree. A yellow could have been given in one or two cases, but ref was always on the wrong side (don't know why he kept on staying on the close side of the scrum whereas he could be have been on the open, and been helped by the line out judge for the other).

CONGRATS IRELAND !! Great and clean defense

 

[JW.]

Would rather play Oz than Ireland to be honest.

Agree. Both Wales and England can dominate Australia upfront. And create a solid platform that doesn't happen very often against the Irish.

 

[profitius]

Great to get the win. Delighted for the team.

Deccie Kidney does it again.

 

[munstermuffin]

Can I ask an honest question: how many scrum experts on here really know what's going on in the scrum? If you've a weak scrum, you blame the opposition for boring in, if you've a strong scrum, you blame the opposition for dropping their bind. IMO the powerful scrum is the better scrum and should be rewarded. I know nothing beyond that.

Ha Ha ask 50 people that and you will get 50 different answers

 

[Ostrayian]

Bad calls were made by the ref both ways.
Irish pack was dominant and won. Plain and simple.
Wallabies pack just didnt appear very committed like they thought they could win without putting in a hard slog.
Deans left the use of the bench way too late. Things clearly werent working and persisted with the same plan and players. So much for the aussie media criticizing NZ's inability to change strategies throught the game.
The other thing that annoyed me was we hardly put any phases together to biuld some rythm because we kept giving the ball back to them. Keep it simple. Hang on to the ball and biuld pressure. Too many chip kicks and wannabe SBW offloads.
Great win for Ireland.

 

[Shane@JPN]

Congratulations to Ireland!!

 

[dangandan]

First of all, absolutely ecstatic after the win!! I didn't think we could do it which made it so much better. What's with the hate on Ireland? The Aussie prop was dropping non-stop. Like Olyy said not all the calls were right but most of them were. Kepu was continuously dropping and it was obvious with his knees always dropping to the ground. Australia had calls go their way too when it shouldn't have, the one that springs to mind was when Reddan was trying to pass in Aussie 22 and the ref got in the way followed by Horwill (lazy runner) getting up from an offside position to put in a tackle that made Reddan knock on. That should have been a simple 3 points for Ireland. This happens in nearly every test match where people dissect every mistake made against their team but somehow ignore the ones that went their way when it shouldn't have. Be good sports men and just accept that Ireland got their tactics right more so than Aussie on the day . On another note, having Sexton at 12 really gives Ireland are more varied dimension to their game and i'd like to see O'Gara/Sexton/BOD from now on. It's a pity this combo won't be possible after the world cup with O'Gara and BOD coming to the end of their careers..

 

[james5000]

This is what an average winger in NZ looks like at a similar age: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmFCrrm3uvE haha pretty easy for these guys to stand out at school.

TBH Savea's HL's are terrible compared to Beales haha. Beales show's true skill, Savea just runs over little boys that can't tackle.

Well done Ireland, solid victory

 

[shtove]

I always knew Ireland would win this.

LOOOL!

I meant to put money on them to reach the semis, but slipped my mind on the way back from work yesterday.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Fine, i'll upload a video of the scrums during the week for a second look.

You won't be happy with what you see. Upload every scrum penalty and we will see. Either Kepu was just hinging and collapsing, or he was slipping his bind and falling inwards. Maybe some were iffy but when one scrum is under a lot more pressure it's hard to blame the ref for pinging the weak scrum. The irish victory was built on the pressure at scrum and lineout time. Polota Nau threw about 4 not straights.

 

[profitius]

What's with the hate on Ireland?

I think its more to do with bruised egos. Some people don't like admitting they were wrong. Did you see George Hook on tele after the match? He'd a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp! lol

 

[Teh Mite]

Who was the comedian that proclaimed earlier this week that Oussie have the 2nd best pack in the world?

 

[madflyhalf]

Awkward result. Really awkward for us. Now we need two bonus point wins against USA and Russia to have a chance against Ireland, otherwise would be wasted time...

I was sitting beside a prop, and he was saying Lawrence always blowed the opposite of what was happening.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

On another note, having Sexton at 12 really gives Ireland are more varied dimension to their game and i'd like to see O'Gara/Sexton/BOD from now on.

I'd strongly consider picking O'Gara at 10 and Sexton at 12 against Russia and giving them 40 or 50 minutes together. Give them time to get used to that lineup.

 

[SelimNiai]

I'd strongly consider picking O'Gara at 10 and Sexton at 12 against Russia and giving them 40 or 50 minutes together. Give them time to get used to that lineup.

Especially seeing that D'Arcy hasn't done much for the last few games.

 

[Rhyer]

Pocock was injured, Ioane and Moore. Three key players for Australia so I doubt this win really means anything. It'd be like Ireland losing O'Driscoll, Bowe and O'Brien.

 

[Jer1cho]

Well done Ireland. Typical Austrlia, they never seem to know how to close out close games. Their scrum was abysmal though.

Now it looks like an SA vs Aus QF... sigh...

New Zealand's prospects of winning this tournament just doubled.

 

[Teh Mite]

Pocock was injured, Ioane and Moore. Three key players for Australia so I doubt this win really means anything. It'd be like Ireland losing O'Driscoll, Bowe and O'Brien.

Apart from it being a world cup group stage and Ireland have won their toughest games.

Oussie will finish 2nd and then get hammered by the boks or NZ before the final.

Yeah, actiually that means quite a lot.

I think Australia has the best pack. Pocock is clearly the best openside in the world, Radike Samo and Wycliff Palu would be a very dangerous loose trio combination. They have an incredible front row who are the most mobile front row in rugby and some very good depth in the locks with; Nathan Sharpe, James Horwill, Dan Vickerman and Rob Simmons. Definitely Australia.

lol

 

[munstermuffin]

I'd strongly consider picking O'Gara at 10 and Sexton at 12 against Russia and giving them 40 or 50 minutes together. Give them time to get used to that lineup.

While I'd agree with this in some areas management have to be smart too in terms of not over playing guys. Sexton needs a break so maybe try it for 1st half or last 30.
But we have to try beat Russia but also rest guys.

My team against Russia would be:
Court
Cronin
Buckley
D. Ryan
Cullen (C)
O'Brien
Jennings
Leamy
Murray
ROG
Trimble
Wallace
McFadden
Earls
Murphy

Varley
Healy
DOC
Heaslip
Boss
Sexton
Kearney/Bowe

But I wonder will Sexton even make the bench as he could possibly use Wallace as the option of backup 10

 

[Quadecooper#1]

Good **** Ireland. You executed a very good game plan that utilized your strengths and our weaknesses. We really struggled and looked far from the side that beat the ab's which is disappointing as I thought we were starting to get some consistency. I guess having qc at 10 means that consistency is unachievable for us though. Maybe barnes would be a better wc option. Can't really blame quade though because the forwards didn't really turn up. Anyway goodluck and well played ireland, this wc just got more interesting.