[RWC2019][Quarter-Final 2] New Zealand vs. Ireland (19/10/2019)

[Yoshimitsu]

Hansen saying Foster is "reinvented it (the attack) coaching the best I've ever seen him coach"
interesting to give such a shining endorsement, Foster doesn't get the credit he deserves from the NZ public. Attack is tricky because even a year from out the attack becomes predictable and kinda stops evolving then all of a sudden you have to unwrap a whole new style of attack once the finals arrive. All due to the All Blacks being the most analyzed team in the world. Some great plays looking tailor made to break open the Irish defense.

side note, put Sam Canes first half in perspective, he got credited for 12 tackles, Ardie Got Credited for 14 over 80 minutes. Hope His wrist injury is only minor

Indeed. Again in the arms race it's interesting to watch. Sean Edwards and Farrell have to a degree perfected the rush defence. It has borne dividends. England do something a bit different, but I suspect it won't phase the All Blacks.

It's like an evolution of the loop play that Ireland used to deploy (that has now been largely worked out). It absolutely requires 9 / 10 (possibly opposite wing) to get behind the line and slide wide at full pace. The centres then fix their opposite number but have an option of a further outside pass. The thing that impressed me was the timing. The 1 or 2 on the loop are coming into gaps that effectively cannot be defended as the numbers are "wrong". Very very hard to do anything about.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Ireland straight up choked today... Again. Like, we would not have won at our best but we were so so bad.

At least we have Scotland... Ugh

 

[yanchi51]

I had been thinking that the only team might beat ABs was SA, but
After this match I found this was not probably true.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Our forwards won that for us. A couple of tries was just relentless smashing through the middle. Good to see. Cane was especially brutal on defence. Read on both sides of the ball, one of his better games this year.

Our wingers were very good too, made plenty of metres and good decisions.

One thing I'm worried about from a NZ perspective is Ta'avao and his non-existent scrummaging. He came on and gave away 2 penalties, lucky to not give another at a scrum.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Well I can't see Sexton doing a Best and still being there at the next world cup. He needs to step aside and give the younger players as much game time as possible.

I had no idea Sexton was 34! For some strange reason I had him down as about 30. He's done a reverse AWJ on me with his boyish looks. Explains a lot about his inability to shake injury and general performance level. Probably is an appropriate time to hand over the baton, if he feels like it.

 

[Leinster Fan]

I had no idea Sexton was 34! For some strange reason I had him down as about 30. He's done a reverse AWJ on me with his boyish looks. Explains a lot about his inability to shake injury and general performance level. Probably is an appropriate time to hand over the baton, if he feels like it.

He broke through really late, was a 'young' player at the 2011 world cup at 26. Mot really sure if it was a case of late bloomer or just Cheika not trusting him at Leinster (bit of both probably).

 

[Reiser99]

NZ played very well, but I don't see Eng or SA playing as badly as Ireland. Ireland made some mistakes and then just imploded and continued to compound error after error, especially in the first half. Scoring two tries at the end when the game is over is nothing to shout home about. Even if you argue they didn't give up, it's a knockout game. Can't take that attitude any further.

NZ are definitely favourites still, but I still don't think they have really been put under any pressure yet. Only challenge they've had is from SA and they let NZ build too big a lead. Key to beating them is not to let them score early points and put pressure on their attack. Easier said than done, but as Ireland showed last year a good defence can force them into mistakes.

 

[Reiser99]

I had no idea Sexton was 34! For some strange reason I had him down as about 30. He's done a reverse AWJ on me with his boyish looks. Explains a lot about his inability to shake injury and general performance level. Probably is an appropriate time to hand over the baton, if he feels like it.

Well he looks about 12 in AlphaBro's picture and apparently that's his early twenties.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Well he looks about 12 in AlphaBro's picture and apparently that's his early twenties.

To be fair, most of the Irish players today looked like schoolboys...

And NZ looked like preachers of a certain faith that goes under the Spotlight...

 

[Leinster Fan]

Well, that was just super deflating. I actually just feel pretty empty about it all. It's not like the Wales game in the Six Nations or the Japan game where I was really angry, this is just so disappointing.

I remember growing up and watching England in the 2003 and 2007 (Cueto wasn't in touch) world cup finals and being really jealous. Much like Heineken Cups with Munster while Leinster failed year after year, I kind of just assumed that winning, or even competing, at the highest level was something my teams didn't do. Leinster eventually got there (and stayed there) but over a decade on and Ireland still haven't gotten any closer to the promised land. Like surely at some point I'm going to be able to watch a semi-final or a final as something other than an interested neutral but every four years I lose another bit of hope. Ffs this is easily the best team the island has ever produced (both in terms of player quality and when you compare them to other teams around the world) and the best they can come up with is a 32 point loss in the quarter final having lost to Japan in the pool stages. There's a bucket load of young talent at the provinces right now but what's to say they won't suffer the same fate in 4/8 years.

Don't get me wrong, I'm amazed and delighted by the improvement over the last decade, winning grand slams and being consistently competitive against the SH teams was fantasy not too long ago, both it is left feeling slightly hollow when we consistently fail badly at the top level. This is the fourth world cup in a row where we've come in with justifiable optimism and a team capable of making a difference, and the results have been a pool stage exit, followed by three quarter final defeats by a total of 12, 23 and now 32 points. It's just hard to take.

Won't stop me going through the exact same process in 2023 though.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Lads, I know you're hurting but at least you're not England in 2015.

Perspective!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Lads, I know you're hurting but at least you're not England in 2015.

Perspective!

At the same time... You beat Fiji four years ago, we beat Scotland

And you got rid of your coaches!

Wish the typhoon done us!

 

[TRF_heineken]

Lads, I know you're hurting but at least you're not England in 2015.

Perspective!

in hindsight. Why is Andy Farrel then still getting gigs?

 

[Amiga500]

The horror show I was expecting.

We are way off the pace - and have been for 12 months.

3 big problems as I see it.

1. We don't build a squad - or have a strong enough pool of players to build a squad. By that I mean your first 15 does not pick itself and there is a substantial drop off from that. NZ could have any of 30 fellas play today and it wouldn't have dropped their overall performance much. We can't do that.
2. We are too loyal to players. POM has been brutal for ages. Ruddock and then Beirne have consecutive MoMs at 6, yet don't get a look in for the crunch game. Wouldn't have made a difference today, but symptomatic of the mindset.
3. Because of the IRFU's careful management of players, we punch above our weight at 6N and autumn international/summer tour time. At the world cup, everyone else gets their long training camps too so we lose that advantage and take a relative step backward.

 

[ncurd]

in hindsight. Why is Andy Farrel then still getting gigs?

The Irish thought he was super sexy and we were stupid. Now who's laughing?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

The horror show I was expecting.

We are way off the pace - and have been for 12 months.

3 big problems as I see it.

1. We don't build a squad - or have a strong enough pool of players to build a squad. By that I mean your first 15 does not pick itself and there is a substantial drop off from that. NZ could have any of 30 fellas play today and it wouldn't have dropped their overall performance much. We can't do that.
2. We are too loyal to players. POM has been brutal for ages. Ruddock and then Beirne have consecutive MoMs at 6, yet don't get a look in for the crunch game. Wouldn't have made a difference today, but symptomatic of the mindset.
3. Because of the IRFU's careful management of players, we punch above our weight at 6N and autumn international/summer tour time. At the world cup, everyone else gets their long training camps too so we lose that advantage and take a relative step backward.

Earls was our centre cover today. Dead, buried and resting peacefully in the grave on that alone....

We gained a lot in the last six years but we're still firmly in the 5-8 bracket when it matters.

 

[Leinster Fan]

The Irish thought he was super sexy and we were stupid. Now who's laughing?

We got Lancaster though and he's great. His talents are wasted at international level though.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Has anyone's stock fallen quite so quickly as Stockdale's? At this level being smart and doing the right thing is the key attribute.

 

[Chief Pete]

There's a bucket load of young talent at the provinces right now but what's to say they won't suffer the same fate in 4/8 years.

With all due respect fella, previous failings should not be their cross to bare, if you constantly remind your next generation and future generations of failure then you will breed and produce failure's, new regime, new players, new gameplan, SAME mindset won't work, your setting yourself up for failure, let your next generation create their own history/legacy rather than chain them to the past...

When I say you and your I don't mean you personally BTW.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Has anyone's stock fallen quite so quickly as Stockdale's? At this level being smart and doing the right thing is the key attribute.

His confidence seems to have fallen off a cliff ever since he dropped that ball over the line against Leinster in the Heineken Cup quarter final. He was the best player on the pitch that day though and in all my years watching Leinster games I've seen very very few players in person that scared me as much as he did that day. He's got all the talent and the attributes to be an all time great (he's in a different category to any other winger to play for Ireland for me in terms of potential) but he's had a poor world cup.

Just hope he can bounce back because he is genuinely special.