Ireland Pool 2019 RWC

[Dave Cahill]

Is that our first loss to a tier two side since the loss to Samoa in Lansdowne Road in 96?

[IanD]

Joe confirmed a broken foot for Conan.

Gutted for him personally but really really disappointed for Ireland as he was a different option at 8.

[TerenureJim]

Just can't get my head around loosing the line out and physicality stakes to Japan also the kicking was so tactically inept it fed into their hands, we should have comfortably won today there's no excuses for it. What use is Stander at No. 8 if he can't get you gain line against a tier 2 nation?

On the ref he gave a lot of 50/50 to Japan, overlooked infringement but it was a match against the hosts you would hope we'd be smart enough to know the World Rugby fix was in and have put our foot on the opponents neck once we went to 12, if we had of scored when Earls offloaded I think we would have pushed on but we allowed them stick with us by playing into their ball in play gameplan. Just didn't play smart.

Questions around Best and Henderson if they can't hack it against Japan

[Twist]

Sick of hearing this line that “this’ll be the kick in the ass the team needs.” We heard that about Twickenham, Cardiff & England in LR.

Still really surprised at how little flak Gardner is copping. He was ‘Wayne Barnes in 2011’ bad


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[Oldschoolsocks]

Wow. How many of us read that game wrong.

Japan had a Game Plan to beat us and we had a Game Plan to beat them. Both Head Coaches are from NZ and their Game Plan worked and ours didn't. Whether we didn't deliver our Game Plan or it wasn't the right Plan, I have'nt yet figured. But either way Japan played very well and the next question is how many more times can they deliver results like that and if they do how far can they go.

Certainly few teams have stopped us so effectively in recent years (Wales & England most notably) but no Tier 2 Nation has ever done that to us.

Dunno about that, the 4th of February 2017 comes to mind

[Oldschoolsocks]

Sick of hearing this line that “this’ll be the kick in the ass the team needs.” We heard that about Twickenham, Cardiff & England in LR.

Still really surprised at how little flak Gardner is copping. He was ‘Wayne Barnes in 2011’ bad


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Fitzgibbonesque

[FLIP]

Travelled around the world and paid an arm and a leg to watch Ireland play that badly. Humiliating.

The Japanese are being great hosts and were delighted by the win. But we were tactically inept.

[Logorrhea]

Still really surprised at how little flak Gardner is copping. He was ‘Wayne Barnes in 2011’ bad

I dont mind a ref being that persnickety if hes consistent. He patently wasn't today. Only reffing one team for a good 60 minutes.

[ronk]

Still really surprised at how little flak Gardner is copping. He was ‘Wayne Barnes in 2011’ bad

I dont mind a ref being that persnickety if hes consistent. He patently wasn't today. Only reffing one team for a good 60 minutes.

Somewhat true but he was fairer than I was expecting. Between their missed kicks and opportunities and the luck we needed to get our scores we were lucky to get a losing bonus in the end.

We never looked like we knew how to win that game once we went behind.

[ronk]

That match was the biggest fixture in the pro era for a tier 2 nation. It was a once in a lifetime chance. Japan played like they knew that. I heard a fair bit of South Africa chat this week.

This is on the coaching team.

[Logorrhea]

This is on the coaching team.

and again this much vaunted "leadership group" gets a free pass. Where were they?

[cormac]

Is that our first loss to a tier two side since the loss to Samoa in Lansdowne Road in 96?

Yes, although we drew with Canada in 2000.

[Twist]

Still really surprised at how little flak Gardner is copping. He was ‘Wayne Barnes in 2011’ bad

I dont mind a ref being that persnickety if hes consistent. He patently wasn't today. Only reffing one team for a good 60 minutes.

So much this.


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[Twist]

That match was the biggest fixture in the pro era for a tier 2 nation. It was a once in a lifetime chance. Japan played like they knew that. I heard a fair bit of South Africa chat this week.

This is on the coaching team.

Yeah, the South Africa chat was really grinding my gears. Off The Ball were especially guilty (as they are with most journalistic bad habits) but everyone was at it to some degree. This was always likely to be Japan’s biggest game in their history. The Scotland match might surpass it, but they were always going to be at their peak today


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[ronk]

This is on the coaching team.

and again this much vaunted "leadership group" gets a free pass. Where were they?

What leadership group? Best was about as expected, Sexton wasn’t playing, Henshaw wasn’t playing, Toner is in Italy, POM isn’t the ball carrier we needed, Kearney had the backfield covered.

Leadership doesn’t coach an attacking system that can’t get around a blitz defense. It’s very hard to go wide off slow ball but if you can’t offer the threat then defenses can focus on stopping plan A.

[Logorrhea]

Leadership doesn’t coach an attacking system that can’t get around a blitz defense.

Did you watch the first 20 mins?

Not looking to get into an argument with you, but they patently knew exactly how to get around that defense and did so quite easily.

The problem was set piece fragility and a penalty count that seemed to be heavily against us. Both of which meant no possession and no field position.

[ronk]

Leadership doesn’t coach an attacking system that can’t get around a blitz defense.

Did you watch the first 20 mins?

Not looking to get into an argument with you, but they patently knew exactly how to get around that defense and did so quite easily.

The problem was set piece fragility and a penalty count that seemed to be heavily against us. Both of which meant no possession and no field position.

They went over it more than around it. The penalties come when you stop trusting the system and you force things.

[neiliog93]

Their line-speed was very good (as well as being frequently offside, which Gardiner only penalised Ireland for), and they were effective in slowing down the ball.

In light of the above, I wonder was there an argument for repeated pick-and-gos around the ruck, probably making ground if they didn't tighten their defence in response, and if they did tighten their defence in response, allowing us to put a bit more width on the ball. Pick-and-gos also help to nullify opposition slowing the ball down as all your forwards are close to the carry and can blast them off the ball more easily.

[CiaranIrl]

What are the permutations now? If we get 10 more points, then I assume if Scotland beat Japan, we can win the group with points difference and definitely will if Japan don't get a losing bonus? Then come second even if Japan beat them.

[cormac]

What are the permutations now? If we get 10 more points, then I assume if Scotland beat Japan, we can win the group with points difference and definitely will if Japan don't get a losing bonus? Then come second even if Japan beat them.

10 more match points should get us at least second place. It would put us on 16pts and Scotland can only get 15pts. If we finish level on pts with Japan their victory today would see them ahead of us in the group.