Wales v Ireland Fri 10th March 8 05pm

[carlow man]

Joe wants his fb to run into the first player he gets to. Can't tackle and has no pace. Maybe someone shoukd tell Joe that he needs to get in the real world. Schmidt should have no say in leinster selection. That's Cullens job. Carbery wouldn't do what Rob does. He has a step and pace. Something kearney hasn't had first years. Teams can't deal with pace. Leinster have it. Ireland don't .

[Dave Cahill]

Joe wants his fb to run into the first player he gets to. Can't tackle and has no pace. Maybe someone shoukd tell Joe that he needs to get in the real world. Schmidt should have no say in leinster selection. That's Cullens job.

Joe wants his full back to locate a pod and set up the next phase of play with their support, getting isolated is the ultimate sin

[neiliog93]

A good time to experiment more would be the upcoming US-Japan tour, and the AIs in 2017 (including against the strong Southern Hemisphere teams), and on from that the 2018 Six Nations. But for next week all I would do is drop Kearney for Payne or anyone else really, put Healy in ahead of McGrath, put POM to 7 instead of SOB, and probably start Henderson ahead of Toner or Ryan in the second row. I would probably also drop Zebo for Gilroy, not because I don't rate Zebo or want him gone long-term, but because I'm convinced he's carrying an injury, hence the lack of pace.

1.Healy 2.Best 3.Furlong

4.D.Ryan/Toner 5.Henderson

6.Stander 8.Heaslip 7.POM

9.Marmion 10.Sexton 12.Henshaw 13.Ringrose 14.Gilroy

11.Earls 15.Payne/TOL

16.Scannell 17.J.McGrath 18.J.Ryan 19.Ryan/Toner 20.SOB/Leavy 21.L.McGrath 22.Jackson 23.Zebo

[desperado]

Reasons we lost in no particular order:
failure to convert maul giving pen away. 14 pt turnaround. it was 15-9.
pen for offside on play after 5 m scrum; on that point - scrum was moving forward; why does Barnes call to úse it'' . He's not the only ref doing this - but its negating a team with a clear advantage.
Defence. Farrells record is poor as defence coach. Defence coach is responsible for defence on both set and broken play. EOS remarked the better defence won this game - he's right. Look at the amount of trys we've conceded per game during Farrells tenure; when we were winning the championship we were conceding 3 and 4 over the full 5 games.
Wales big game players/experienced leaders fronted up - ours didn't; all it takes is little errors or key contributions at crucial times. AWJ was immense. Jamie, Rory, SOB among them didnt have their proudest moments in green.
Sin bin; Sexton was pinned thought the yellow was harsh. They had 3 pens in a row in the green zone in the first half that didn't even merit a warning. That's not consistent.
Since when did going off your feet and coming in from the side at ruck time become legal. Again; EOS said 'Barnes had no interest in reffing the rucks'.
No sure about the substitutions; both timing and personnel. Toner taken off (when Charteris was being brought on!!); unless Stander was f?@#ed - he should have stayed on; Jamie or SOB should have been off for POM and earlier.Thought Scannell should have come on earlier. I actually thought Kearney was ok.

We didn't lose the game because our d was poor, we lost it because our attack is shocking. We go side to side and unless someone runs over their opposite number, we end up going backwards. Then after doing this repeatedly we put the ball in the air and hope someone catches it in the corner and falls over the try line. Schmidt had leinster playing the best rugby in Europe. Irelands backline ( maybe after Italy) are the slowest in the 6 nations.

what does EOS know.

[Raydollard]

Jackson too was chyte. Carbery should be in next time.

[nc6000]

We are never too far from losing a game we should have won. It's happening under Schmidt, it happened under Kidney, O'Sullivan & Gatland too.

[paddyor]

Schmidt has to take his fair share of the blame after that performance. How best stayed on the pitch until the 79th minute is a mystery?! He has had a shocking tournament. Same for sob who looks shot as a player. Leavy is miles ahead based on current form. Same for conan v heaslip. Scannell should have been on at ht. Toner was a waste in that type of game. His job is to run the lineout but it fell apart. Sexton looked so frustrated with so little options outside him. A backline with no pace or footwork apart from earls who looked lively. Kearney should never play for Ireland again. What has toh got to do to get a runout. Him or payne have to start next week. All kearney does is catch a ball. That's it. Nothing else. How can a guy with the whole field in front of him constantly run into the first player he comes across? U couldn't make it up!!!

I thougbt Best was at fault for the lineout. Threw thr ball straight to charteris when he came on. Credit to Wales though, they ve watched some tapes of us. That first turnover from AWJ was too easy.

Not been said, but Marmion made sh!t of Schmidts decision not to bench Murray. He really should have more gametime.

Earls the pick of the backs

[desperado]

Joe wants his fb to run into the first player he gets to. Can't tackle and has no pace. Maybe someone shoukd tell Joe that he needs to get in the real world. Schmidt should have no say in leinster selection. That's Cullens job.

Joe wants his full back to locate a pod and set up the next phase of play with their support, getting isolated is the ultimate sin

Totally, Munster and Leinster are both scoring tries for fun in Pro 12 and Europe but when the same players are picked for Ireland they barely score. I think we would all view Luke Fitz as having being one of the most gifted players of his generation and he scored what, three tries in green...something is up here when we're not crossing the whitewash more often with the possession and territory we have

you cant compare Pro12 with Test matches; never mind 6n test matches; Europe.. some matches particularly at latter stages are maybe comparable. And.. hang on a second; we're the highest try scorers with 13 in the 6n to date. Don't trot out the Italy factor; England have also played them and are on 9. They may score 4 vs Scotland tomorrow; or may not. The reality is we f%~ked up (as we did v Scotland) again in a few crucial moments where literally games at test match level are won and lost. eg. if we execute the lineout when 3-0 up instead of letting AWJ nick it; if Robbie cools the jets and doesn't rush in from the side and others it's a different game. No doubt our attack didn't deliver tonight -but it wasn't through lack of moves or imagination. Regardless of what Carlow man thinks - Wales dealt better with our variations and patterns, than we did with theirs. Better defence. The stat's don't lie over a large enough sample period. 2012/2013 when Wales won the 6n they conceded 3 tries over the 5 games each time, while scoring only 10 and 9. 2014 and 2105 when we won we conceded 4, and 3 respectively; last year Eng conceded 4 when winning (scored 13 - the number we're on already). So if your defence isn't up to it; you need to score more at the other end.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'm so sick of that f%~king loop. When did it last work perfectly? We do create space on the outside but it general results in a wide player having to stop to catch a bad pass and then having no support near him when he tries to run forward.

Really can't get over our refusal to move the ball in the opposition 22. It's been happening for years at this stage and I'm shocked that its still happening with the coaches and players that we have.

Said before the game that we needed to attack closer to the ruck but we didn't, just did he same thing we did against Scotland. Long passes to players standing still and giving Wales the chance to smother us, piss poor stuff. And given that we're so reliant on our backrowers to smash the door down, why aren't we using Henshaw on the crash ball more? We seem to be wasting his ability in that regard IMO. We did it to great effect in Chicago but not since then. I think we'd see more from Ringrose then too but it's all very lateral at the moment.

I feel like we've become a stupid team overnight. Sexton was unlucky to be carded but McGrath gave away a brain dead penalty before that anyway and he's had a few dodgy moments recently. The one against SOB was ridiculous too. CJ had clearly been over the ball for ages and yet he didn't think there was a ruck? Then Henshaw lost the head for the maul and then again soon after for the penalty for offside. They weren't his only mistakes either, he made a few more. Some great defence from him in the firs half, don't want to be totally negative on him.

Heaslip with two poor dropped balls and SOB with the pass to nobody that ended with Murray diving over the sideline onto his dodgy arm and going off soon after.

Am I alone in thinking we don't look very fit? I know it was a really tough game but we looked wrecked at times. CJ and Robbie usually have massive engines but they certainly didn't show it tonight. Don't get me wrong, they got through a lot of work, but still felt they were struggling at times and wasn't too surprised when CJ went off.

Not sure what the best option was but having Bowe on the bench meant we couldn't change the centres and I think we needed to try something new there. Also thought we should have made more changes sooner. Healy was very good when he came on, I'd start him next week.

Lastly, I think tonight really drove home the fact that VDF and Payne are hugely important to us. As Dave said, guys with real flair who aren't in the squad wouldn't suddenly inject that flair into the side, but those two fit the system perfectly and improve those around them. That said, I'd like to see what Leavy could do. I can't imagine he'd join in with the pick and go rubbish if we were camped in the opposition 22.

That's enough rambling for now.

[desperado]

Thought the bench wasn't used early enough, maybe that's why we looked tired/unfit; when Healy came on - Scannell and Ryan should have been on with him.POM should have been on earlier; Stander was easily the pick of the backrow. How much passing from a standstill did Seanie do vs carrying. VDF or Leavy gives you different dynamic and options.

[Golf Man]

That was shiterarse coaches need to look at themselves this is as bad at is.beem with school. Items impeovrnkyb neefedc

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[paddyor]

That was shiterarse coaches need to look at themselves this is as bad at is.beem with school. Items impeovrnkyb neefedc

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[domhnallj]

That was shiterarse coaches need to look at themselves this is as bad at is.beem with school. Items impeovrnkyb neefedc

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Finally a post I can get beings dwmdkkjskssksk

[TerenureJim]

Not saying it cost us the game, not by a long shot but I honestly think we need to talk about Wayne

[TerenureJim]

In terms of the game Earls was great, Kearney outplayed his opposite number but both were poor, our midfield which has bags of talent was under used or just absent, Sexton took a few knocks that were cheap shots but still tried everything he could, Jackson didn't let the side down when he came on, both back rows cancelled each other, the breakdown was a bit of a mess but 50/50's went the home way in terms of timing.

All in all I'll sum it by saying that the IRFU should never agree to another Friday night away game again, ever. It's not what the six nations is about, I don't care what Wales want but time to call an end to their "Friday night under lights".

[Golf Man]

Leaving murray on wad woeful best/toner have to take responsibility for line out. I'd neatly say kearney wad half decent but we need more at this level. Bringing too my bowel is a bit pile of my arsenal . 2p13 over again

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[Mauler]

Leaving murray on wad woeful best/toner have to take responsibility for line out. I'd neatly say kearney wad half decent but we need more at this level. Bringing too my bowel is a bit pile of my arsenal . 2p13 over again

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I've pretty much stopped posting here now, but this nonsense has prompted me to quote your post as it's hilarious. It's such a shame all you're other comments could not be of the same quality.

[tingman]

guys - we were shite......im not going into deets of each player but when WE get the blitz defense...and get our own little cages rattled we have no response.....ball shuffled from side to side .....our much vaunted back row were mullered.....devoid of ideas....lateral bullshit.....we should have beaten this team out of sight.....but no...over to you Joe - I'm sure u have all the answers....but i think you might be overrated

[Twist]

Not saying it cost us the game, not by a long shot but I honestly think we need to talk about Wayne

I thought he was absolutely dreadful


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[Ruckedtobits]

Passion makes a great supporter, but rarely a good selector.
Emotion clarifies prejudice, but distorts analysis.
You learn from hindsight, you pray for foresight.

For the Celtic Nations, fear is the greatest motivator. Fame, the greatest burden.

Team of the match?
15. Kearney - his opponent has a very bad night;
14. Earls - played with scraps, aggressive in possession, brave in tackle
13. Davies - a powerful man in attack and defence
12. William S - clever, under-rated and very sharp
11. North - the most danderous attacker on the pitch
10. Sexton - astute, competitive, accurate, but injury prone
9. Webb - teak tough, quick acceleration, instinctive passer but stupid penalties
1. McGrath. - scrum, mauling, lifting but not carrying
2. Owens - dynamic ball carrier, very accurate thrower
3. Furlong - not his best day but still better than Francis
4. Ryan- our best forward on the day
5. AW Jones - a leader on vital plays
6. Stander - great carrier and hard tackler, but only barely shaded Warburton
7. Tipuric - MOTM for this observer and by a distance. No other No 7 on the pitch.
8. Moriarty - Heaslip played liked he's been to the Well once too often.

Ireland started like a train, but we had to take our opportunities.
Wales defended with their souls and were ruthless in taking less opportunities.

The margins are small. Our disappointment is high.
Neither motivation nor organisation were lacking. Execution was again our downfall.

Schmidt, Easterby, Farrell & Feek have heightened our expectations, but lowered our tolerance.

Our depth has improved, but has our need to use it reached a turning point?

Scannell has succeeded expectations;
Marmion's passing was excellent and his break is renowned already;
Henderson is returning to his standards, but not there yet;
O'Mahony now looks physically able to be a strong man.

O'Halloran, Sweetnam, Byrne, Olding, Carbery, are standing alongside Van der Flier, Leavy and Conan, waiting to join the fray. Only time will tell how competently, or even brilliantly, they may fit the big shoes that will have to be filled?

As for the Referee. He was calm amid mayhem. I suspect he made less mistakes than any player. He made some significant calls, but under the current Laws, he got the big ones right. Ireland won the penalty count easily. On this night, it counted for little.

Very disappointed, but not distraught. If we lost a few Lions tourists, so much the better for next Season.

A lot of players will need a long rest from these bruising encounters and their emotional output since mid-October. Let's hope those who wear Blue, have something left for April 1st in Aviva