Ireland v England: You point out that Ireland left 10+ points in the dressing room, which they did, but you neglect to mention the gift-horses handed over in that match - 5 kickable penalties, umpteen indigestions which allowed the Irish defence off the hook and 25% of the match down to 14 men. The writing should have been on the wall for an Irish cakewalk like 2 years ago... Despite all that, Ireland
DIDN'T take their chances and squeaked a narrow 1 point win when the usual indiscipline meant England panicked and threw away the win instead of keeping it tight after winning the restart and slotting a simple DG. Rightfully or not, Ireland allowed England back into that game and barely squeaked it.
Scotland: 1 moment summed that game up; O'Driscolls tackle. Ireland never looked particularly dominant and Chris Patterson put the Scots in a good position to nick a win, but that one tackle on Evans, after he'd made nigh on all of the defence look dumb, was enough to save their game -
IF Ireland do pull of a win, it'll be due to O'Driscoll dragging them by their ankles, kicking and screaming. Then again, if Scotland had shown some discipline and organisation by keeping the ball for the final 20 minutes, Ronan O'fakepassport would never have pinged the final DG and who knows?
Italy: Well, have Italy done anything at all right this year up until last week against Wales?
France: A good game from the Irish as their tournament opener, both teams chucked the ball around a bit and played an open game that was good to watch. Also featured 3 of the best trys of the tournament so far (2 Irish and one French) , which I still am as adamant as when the game happened were due just as much to sloppy defence as good attacking play. A great game as a neutral, but suicidal performances interspersed with moments of genius from both teams.
Tarbah's non-existent point: Nobody is criticising Ireland for keeping it tight, Munster have been using the same boring technique for years and Kidney got them winning an awful lot with it. What people are criticising is the forced opinion that Ireland are actually any good at using the 10-player game - The comparison he used that "
England hardly set the world on fire when they won the world cup but nobody gave a damn" isn't "Why are you talking us down, England played the same way", he's saying "England in 2003 weren't any better at it then we are now". You and I both know that is clearly untrue.
The comparison between a team which was rightfully the worlds number 1 because they could mix between tight, attritional games and open 7s play at the drop of a hat and the current 6-nations favourites who have one game plan which they're not very good at it is ridiculous. He didn't say they play the same style, he implied they're just as good/better then SCWs mob when his other argument was falling apart to evade losing it.
It's the same story as when Bokke went all fanboy in the Killzone 2 thread - Dare imply that something the passionate ones like isn't quite god like and they turn all irrational and begin throwing the toys out the pram.
Wheich is when I pick up a big stick and start prodding them!
