well done Ireland, O’Connel was MASSIVE.
congrats Ireland. England by no means stuffed, but definately second best. Lets see France-Wales now.
Brilliant play by Ireland. And, as I thought, England’s pack didn’t perform up to expectations once again. Now, GO WALES!!
[quote]m0dd3r wrote:
Brilliant play by Ireland. And, as I thought, England’s pack didn’t perform up to expectations once again. Now, GO WALES!![/quote]
Disagree - to say Englands pack didnt perform takes credit away from Ireland. They out played England. O’connell was a monster.
GO FRANCE!!!
[quote]supermick wrote:
m0dd3r wrote:
Brilliant play by Ireland. And, as I thought, England’s pack didn’t perform up to expectations once again. Now, GO WALES!!
Disagree - to say Englands pack didnt perform takes credit away from Ireland. They out played England. O’connell was a monster.
GO FRANCE!!!
[/quote]
All I can say was having been to many Irish Internationals over the years, that was by far and away the most enjoyable 80 minutes I have ever experienced. Wonderful Irish and English crowd, and our boys did us very proud.
But what the hell did O’Sullivan say to them before the match, did anyone else notice Flannery and Hayes completely choked up during the anthems? Talk about a charged atmosphere.
And we’ll be watching that try from O’Gara’s kick to Horgan for months on tv…
A well deserved win.
Unbelievable, Ireland were in a different class. Why can’t we play like that every match arghh.
BLOW OUT.
Did U2s “sunday bloody sunday” get played?
[quote]supermick wrote:
m0dd3r wrote:
Brilliant play by Ireland. And, as I thought, England’s pack didn’t perform up to expectations once again. Now, GO WALES!!
Disagree - to say Englands pack didnt perform takes credit away from Ireland. They out played England. O’connell was a monster.
GO FRANCE!!!
[/quote]
I certainly wasn’t trying to take anything away from Ireland, they played a superb game. It’s just been mentioned several times in this thread how England’s scrum is so dominant, yet so far in the tournament, they really haven’t performed that well.
Overall, I think Ireland had a good solid idea of what they needed to do to win, a good plan for how to do it, and executed it to the letter. England seemed to spend much of the game on the back foot. They almost looked surprised by the level of play displayed by the Irish.
England: outplayed, outthought and outfought.
This is not a team that will defend the World Cup…
On top of that France is still building…
I suspect they will be the top NH team come September. Ireland is the only alternative.
TQB
Oh well, my predictions sucked! I almost got the France one right I suppose.
Respect to Ireland, the better team won. O’Connell was formidable, Leamy is a great young talent as well.
Italy also deserved their win, its good to see the improvements they’ve made.
I can’t see anything stopping a French slam now.
One hell of a match, respectful played at pace and a tough physical encounter a very good advertisement for the game.
For my money Wallace was the best player on the field the man is everywhere. O’Connel is a beast, O’Gara is finally matured and O’Driscol, D’Arcy and Horgan just showed the class acts that they are.
England played well enough they went through the phases their lineouts worked well they just lacked pace and finishing ability at the back.
Farrel needs to be benched, England need to pull it out of the bag to stop a French grand slam.
[quote]IrishMarc wrote:
One hell of a match, respectful played at pace and a tough physical encounter a very good advertisement for the game.
For my money Wallace was the best player on the field the man is everywhere. O’Connel is a beast, O’Gara is finally matured and O’Driscol, D’Arcy and Horgan just showed the class acts that they are.
England played well enough they went through the phases their lineouts worked well they just lacked pace and finishing ability at the back.
Farrel needs to be benched, England need to pull it out of the bag to stop a French grand slam.
[/quote]
Nice picture keybag. Clean saving that in my pictures sir lol.
[quote]g’em wrote:
supermick wrote:
m0dd3r wrote:
Brilliant play by Ireland. And, as I thought, England’s pack didn’t perform up to expectations once again. Now, GO WALES!!
Disagree - to say Englands pack didnt perform takes credit away from Ireland. They out played England. O’connell was a monster.
GO FRANCE!!!
All I can say was having been to many Irish Internationals over the years, that was by far and away the most enjoyable 80 minutes I have ever experienced. Wonderful Irish and English crowd, and our boys did us very proud.
But what the hell did O’Sullivan say to them before the match, did anyone else notice Flannery and Hayes completely choked up during the anthems? Talk about a charged atmosphere.
And we’ll be watching that try from O’Gara’s kick to Horgan for months on tv…
A well deserved win. [/quote]
Great game - I watched it on Sky+ later in the evening after turning off every source of media that would betray the scoreline.
Ireland played extremely well. Shane Horgan should watch some of the cheap shots - the camera’s clearly picked him up giving strettle a cheeky elbow across his jaw line after a chip ahead.
Referees need to be much more consistent with their policing of the scrum. You cannot penalise one prop for incorrect binding and then allow others to do exactly the same.
I was very impressed with the way ireland played though.
Is it enough to see off the AB’s come autumn ??
[quote]bluebear wrote:
Ireland played extremely well. Shane Horgan should watch some of the cheap shots - the camera’s clearly picked him up giving strettle a cheeky elbow across his jaw line after a chip ahead.
[/quote]
there was a bit of talk about this in the media here and there’s a divide as to whether or not that elbow was legal or not. But really it was a testament to the mindset that the Irish players had on the day - they were going to win and there was no argument about it!!
[quote]bluebear wrote:
Is it enough to see off the AB’s come autumn ??[/quote]
I think so. That game was a culmination of all the “if only’s” that has surrounded the team in the last couple of years. They stepped up to the occasion and, with the exception of the first couple of minutes in the first half, and opening few minutes of the second, played to their full potential. They were organised, controlled and never gave the English defense a chance to repsond to their tactics by changing play all the time.
That Irish team were well capable of beating the French, but they let their guard down for the last five minutes, and paid a heavy price for it. The same will happen if the ABs expose our weaknesses. Any holes in the Irish team will be fully taken advantage on.
[quote]bluebear wrote:
Referees need to be much more consistent with their policing of the scrum. You cannot penalise one prop for incorrect binding and then allow others to do exactly the same.[/quote]
The Front row has always been a mystery to referees and it always will be there will always be a blind spot in the front row and props being props there will always be some sort of shenanigans.
[quote]
I was very impressed with the way ireland played though.
Is it enough to see off the AB’s come autumn ??[/quote]
In a word No. Whilst I do seriously think we can compete the kiwis are just far too big and athletic.
[quote]bluebear wrote:
Ireland played extremely well. Shane Horgan should watch some of the cheap shots - the camera’s clearly picked him up giving strettle a cheeky elbow across his jaw line after a chip ahead.[/quote]
True but it’s a professional game, so he’s likely to continue until he gets pulled up for it?
Personally I think he was being obstructed deliberately after he chipped on the ball (i.e. a professional foul) and when the same used to happen to me I pretty much always took out the guy that did it on my way past - it sends a clear message to think carefully about how much you value your face before obstructing again.
Reflecting on the game and the tournament so far I’m just wondering if Ireland have missed out on their best ever chance of winning another Slam:
France and England both at home, D’Arcy, O’Driscoll, O’Gara, Wallace, Leamy and O’Connell all at the height of their powers (admittedly Brian missed the French game but a great team should cope with losing one player), a very competitive pack and the advantage of having 80 odd thousand incredibly loud and passionate supporters cheering them on in the crunch games.
I just think history will judge this as a missed opportunity. I can?t see Wales being this poor next year, England are slowly improving and France seem to have good strength in depth. Not to take anything away from an outstanding performance at the weekend but that loss to France is looking ever more costly now.
Like I said though, well done for this impressive win. I can?t wait to see how this Irish team does in the world cup.
If you want to see video highlights of the game follow this link - http://www.munsterfans.com/Video_Show.asp?id=58&album=16
with regard to the AB’s
earlier i was reading an article about how the NZ union was bragging about how one of its teams would win the Super14 this year - even with all 22 of their AB squad on a 3 month ‘conditioning break’
apparently words of warning are coming from the Ab’s training camp now that’s its 2 months in - supposedly their bigger, faster and much more powerful.
scary thought seeing as they weren’t exactly a small bunch in the first place…
if I can find the article again i’ll post it - but I can’t remember where I read it.
[quote]g’em wrote:
bluebear wrote:
Ireland played extremely well. Shane Horgan should watch some of the cheap shots - the camera’s clearly picked him up giving strettle a cheeky elbow across his jaw line after a chip ahead.
there was a bit of talk about this in the media here and there’s a divide as to whether or not that elbow was legal or not. But really it was a testament to the mindset that the Irish players had on the day - they were going to win and there was no argument about it!!
bluebear wrote:
Is it enough to see off the AB’s come autumn ??
I think so. That game was a culmination of all the “if only’s” that has surrounded the team in the last couple of years. They stepped up to the occasion and, with the exception of the first couple of minutes in the first half, and opening few minutes of the second, played to their full potential. They were organised, controlled and never gave the English defense a chance to repsond to their tactics by changing play all the time.
That Irish team were well capable of beating the French, but they let their guard down for the last five minutes, and paid a heavy price for it. The same will happen if the ABs expose our weaknesses. Any holes in the Irish team will be fully taken advantage on.
[/quote]
perhaps we shouldn’t dwell on the knee drop on Johnnys head shown in slow motion then…
still wish I’d been there, highly jealous, I don;t even have the stomach to compete with your avatar, what with being a ‘cough’ front row player myself ‘cough’…
with regard the AB’s ref my other post…