Ireland v South Africa (Sat 10th Nov, 17:30)

[Dave Cahill]

Mike McCarthy MOM? Eh?

I thought he deserved it

[tate]

ROG has gets no distance from his boot so with the last play of the game we give him the ball to find touch?

Dont know what i was expecting from today really. We're shite

[FLIP]

Wtf O'Gara?

[Dave Cahill]

Ronan, you've had a great career, won almost everything and owe nothing to anyone. Please retire now, you have nothing to contribute to either Ireland or Munster anymore.

[Donny B.]

Ah well. Game was there for the taking but we did nothing in the second half.

On the overall standard of the match, if this is the ultimate level, give me provincial rugby any day.

[Dave Cahill]

5 losses on the bounce for the first time since the 90s (iirc). Who wants to talk about Grand Slams now...?

[Vamos los azules]

Tame end there. They should have been going eyeballs out for the win.

On the plus side they weren't as bad as Wales were earlier.

I've my hopes for the evening pinned on France v Australia because the rugby has not been pretty so far today.

[mikey]

Ah well. Game was there for the taking but we did nothing in the second half.

On the overall standard of the match, if this is the ultimate level, give me provincial rugby any day.

You have that right ..

Thought Strauss was great though - and Ronan, your day has gone

[tate]

Simon Hick (from off the ball) points out that leads against Boks, NZ, Wales and France have been thrown away now. Not just a coaching error, but serious questions have to be asked of all involved.

and hype of the lions can jog on - they'll lose like they always do. the only winners will be skysports and adidas.

[Oldschool]

Dekko selected to fail and succeeded.
Of the forwards POM was the worst. He doesn't have the defensive game to cope at international level.
Murray, better than for a while (as in no brain farts), but christ is he slow and ponderous.
Timble mixed the good with the bad.
Locky should start against the Argies, it's gonna be attritional.
We need Reddan to move the ball away from the Argie mangle (A mangle is turnip for those with no farming background) mangling machine!
Zebo and McCarthy were very good.
Earls still can't pass.
So Earls back to wing and Cave to 13.
And BTW SA were shite

[Dave Cahill]

Zebo - did what he had to do, was given virtually no opportunities
Trimble - was a bit meh
Bowe - see Zebo
Earls and Darce - magnolia
Sexton - started well before fading back into the morass
Murray - did nothing particularly wrong or right
Heaslip - unlucky to be next man up for the yellow, did okay
Henry - pick of the back row
POM - did well, unfortunate to be on the receiving end of picky wayne barnes law interpretations
McCarthy - best of the pack, carried well, made his tackles, took his lineouts
Ryan - again, did okay
Ross - did okay until he tired
Strauss - pushed McC and Henry close for pick of the pack
Healy - same as the rest really

Its hard to pick out anything in particular about the performance, except the failure to register a point in the second half. It was all rather magnolia

[Donny B.]

Hook still beating the ROG drum!

[tate]

Seriously though, the step up in intensity and skill from the HC was something to behold. I was struggling to catch my breathe at times and I wasn't even playing.

[Dave Cahill]

Seriously though, the step up in intensity and skill from the HC was something to behold. I was struggling to catch my breathe at times and I wasn't even playing.

Yep, can you imagine how folks who went to Bordeaux to watch the Clermont Leinster match feel after seeing that? They are agog with disappointment in themselves for wasting all that money to travel to france to see that second rate game when first class fare like this is available on their doorsteps. Mwah hah hah, the fools - fools I tells ya

[TerenureJim]

5 losses on the bounce for the first time since the 90s (iirc). Who wants to talk about Grand Slams now...?

Is it not six on the bounce now? Think the Indo were saying we've lost more now since the World Cup then the 2000 to 2006 period.

O'Gara shouldn't be near an international jersey again kicking that ball away at the end. Very sad end to a great career for him.

SA were throwing a lot of punches which just didn't get called by Barnes, that man has no right to be reffing an international match. Telling Heaslip not to talk to him about it is not what a professional ref should be doing.

[tate]

Seriously though, the step up in intensity and skill from the HC was something to behold. I was struggling to catch my breathe at times and I wasn't even playing.

Yep, can you imagine how folks who went to Bordeaux to watch the Clermont Leinster match feel after seeing that? They are agog with disappointment in themselves for wasting all that money to travel to france to see that second rate game when first class fare like this is available on their doorsteps. Mwah hah hah, the fools - fools I tells ya

I'm amazed you even bother with that sort of rubbish to be honest. More money than sense obviously.

[ceemec]

Choke tackle was brain dead. Why would we use such a tactic against a side that has a significant size and power advantage against us from 1-8? Each time we ended up yielding 5 yards, committed players to the effort and never got the upper hand. Maddening.

Some good moments and it was a fairly cohesive showing until we tired and began to lose the arm wrestle. Encouraging debuts from Bent and Strauss. McCarthy was excellent in his first test level start too. Carries superbly for a lock. Don't think he should have been taken off at all as he was, along with Healy, the forward who was getting over the gain line.

Reddan was very sluggish when he came on. He failed to clear the ball quickly enough on more than one occasion and I thought he was lucky to get the knock on call when he delayed a pass from breaking off the base.

POM is very talented but still a little underpowered and impulsive. Henry showed what most of us have been screaming for throughout the past year.

Backs were hit and miss. They tried to use it and, on occasion, looked sharp but the lack of familiarity showed. Zebo, despite what people assume, is not a flyer. He's instinctive and slippery but he did not have the gas to go through the half gaps that he found. Didn't look out of place but he'll have much sterner tests in future and he'll get chances against those sides. Trimble was poor. Earls did some great things but also a few sloppy mistakes. Similar for Darce.

[Dave Cahill]

I'm amazed you even bother with that sort of rubbish to be honest. More money than sense obviously.

Aha, but I didn't go...I'm a discerning consumer - I'd prefer to save my money for top notch events like today, or the certain thrillfest against the Pumas

[AdamK]

ROG kicking it away at the end, makes me think Kidney and himself are in cahoots in a betting circle, and the two of them plot to put Ireland away for big money gains.

[Donny B.]

Hook still beating the ROG drum!

Apparently for the last five minutes they were both on the pitch, "we looked much better!"

Aren't you glad your licenses are spent on analysis of this quality!