A whiff of Cordite

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone signed up for the Indo? I do flick to it a couple of times a day just because it's handy for major headlines but I rarely actually read any articles and there's no way I'd pay for it. To me it's the news equivalent of reading the first paragraph of a wiki article when you need to find out what something means, there's no actual insight and a lot of it is rubbish.

I just can't see why anyone would pay for it.

[Dave Cahill]

yeah, same here. There is simply no compelling reason, for me, to do so. I'll miss Fanning's stuff, but he averages 1-2 columns per week, and its not like the third best Rory in journalism takes up the slack, so there's no real value there.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Fanning is good alright but that post has made me realise that I haven't read him in years because when you go to the site you rarely see his stuff highlighted, you're confronted with the clickbait Franno garbage instead.

[riocard911]

Fanning is good alright but that post has made me realise that I haven't read him in years because when you go to the site you rarely see his stuff highlighted, you're confronted with the clickbait Franno garbage instead.

In Franno's defence, unlike most of his colleagues he demonstrably refrained from stabbing Joe in the back after the RWC in Japan. His article where he compared Joe's time in Ireland to Michael Jordan's with the Chicago Bulls I thought was very good.

[Dexter]

Fanning is good alright but that post has made me realise that I haven't read him in years because when you go to the site you rarely see his stuff highlighted, you're confronted with the clickbait Franno garbage instead.

In Franno's defence, unlike most of his colleagues he demonstrably refrained from stabbing Joe in the back after the RWC in Japan. His article where he compared Joe's time in Ireland to Michael Jordan's with the Chicago Bulls I thought was very good.

True. The other day I noticed the following headline on the site:

They hammered Joe Schmidt... now the team is 'back on top'. Nobody is more fickle than an Irish rugby fan
Eamonn Sweeney

Yes Eamonn, it was of course the Irish rugby "fan" that hammered Joe, not the media at all....
No way I'd pay for the Indo content, it's rubbish.

[blockhead]

Wasn't it Sweeney that wanted Ulster Rugby closed down because of that trial up in Belfast? He wants to be seen as WOKE so bad.

Anyway, can anyone post that Fanning article from last week about Leinster Vs Nucifora (Good Vs Evil)? It wasn't in the print edition either, I checked.
I didn't buy the rag mind you, just went into the local shop and had a gander.

[riocard911]

Wasn't it Sweeney that wanted Ulster Rugby closed down because of that trial up in Belfast? He wants to be seen as WOKE so bad.

Anyway, can anyone post that Fanning article from last week about Leinster Vs Nucifora (Good Vs Evil)? It wasn't in the print edition either, I checked.
I didn't buy the rag mind you, just went into the local shop and had a gander.

Between him and Billy Keane I can't decide which of them is worse.....

[blockhead]

You do know that Billy is Johnny Sexton's Uncle don't you?
Well you would know if you ever read one of his columns.

[domhnallj]

Personally I'm still in shock at the balls on them trying to charge for access to 'premium' content. A quick scan of their site will tell you that their idea of what constitutes premium is what you would normally scrape off the bottom of your shoe.

[arsebiscuits1]

The indo without a trace of Irony putting Franno behind a paywall says it all...

[johng]

For those of us wanting to read the Fanning Nucifora article. Nobody will have the balls to admit that they paid for an Indo sub and post the contents on here after all the slagging off.

[elephantman]

For those of us wanting to read the Fanning Nucifora article. Nobody will have the balls to admit that they paid for an Indo sub and post the contents on here after all the slagging off.

Very true

[domhnallj]

For those of us wanting to read the Fanning Nucifora article. Nobody will have the balls to admit that they paid for an Indo sub and post the contents on here after all the slagging off.

Put money on the 'I need to pay for it for the death notices' excuse (aka the Munster manouver)

[D4surfer]

For those of us wanting to read the Fanning Nucifora article. Nobody will have the balls to admit that they paid for an Indo sub and post the contents on here after all the slagging off.

Put money on the 'I need to pay for it for the death notices' excuse (aka the Munster manouver)

Do they post communion notices?

[tingman]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone signed up for the Indo? I do flick to it a couple of times a day just because it's handy for major headlines but I rarely actually read any articles and there's no way I'd pay for it. To me it's the news equivalent of reading the first paragraph of a wiki article when you need to find out what something means, there's no actual insight and a lot of it is rubbish.

I just can't see why anyone would pay for it.

I subscribed last week (as I live in the US)....will be unsubscribing in 3 weeks. They have made a mess of this.

[blockhead]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone signed up for the Indo? I do flick to it a couple of times a day just because it's handy for major headlines but I rarely actually read any articles and there's no way I'd pay for it. To me it's the news equivalent of reading the first paragraph of a wiki article when you need to find out what something means, there's no actual insight and a lot of it is rubbish.

I just can't see why anyone would pay for it.

I subscribed last week (as I live in the US)....will be unsubscribing in 3 weeks. They have made a mess of this.

Could you post the Fanning article from last week so?

Brendan not Dave.

[tingman]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone signed up for the Indo? I do flick to it a couple of times a day just because it's handy for major headlines but I rarely actually read any articles and there's no way I'd pay for it. To me it's the news equivalent of reading the first paragraph of a wiki article when you need to find out what something means, there's no actual insight and a lot of it is rubbish.

I just can't see why anyone would pay for it.

I subscribed last week (as I live in the US)....will be unsubscribing in 3 weeks. They have made a mess of this.

Could you post the Fanning article from last week so?

Brendan not Dave.

Is this it?



The World Cup was barely over for Ireland when the review began to take shape. And when, a few weeks later, IRFU performance director David Nucifora briefed the media, a few things stood out.

First, he had to nudge Joe Schmidt close to the kerb as the bus was coming around the corner. Business is business, and with Schmidt already off the premises it was time to clear out some of the stuff he'd left on his desk. Ireland had needed to change their game. It didn't happen so the coach has to carry the can. Without extraordinary circumstances - such as the carnage that occurred in the 2015 World Cup pool game against France, hobbling Ireland for the quarter-final against Argentina - it was like night following day.

Second, he had to join the dots between Ireland not changing their attack and the idea that they didn't have the skill to pass the ball from A to B. Apart from Schmidt's utter conviction that he was right, this manifested itself in the clarion call that the provincial academies would be under pressure to improve their players' skills and the Lord save us if they didn't catch on fast. The image was of a battalion of IRFU troopers descending on the academies with cattle prods in hand, poking lads who dropped passes that needed to be caught.

Systems and conditioning are the bedrocks of the elite game in this country. It was instructive to read the comments of Tom Sexton on independent.ie last week, describing how he arrived - having been rejected by Leinster - to the Melbourne Rebels thinking his grounding in the fundamentals of the Irish game would carry him a distance. It didn't. Taken aback at their casual attitude to conditioning he was envious of their skills. So yes, skill development and learning to play unplanned rugby are more than useful exercises.

What we have seen from Andy Farrell's Ireland over the first two rounds of the Championship suggest they have not been recruited from the Edward Scissorshand family. They could even be capable of learning new tricks before this campaign is over. The mood music in the camp is that the layers they are putting down are fitting neatly on top of each other, and there is genuine excitement about what's ahead. We would contend that their close-game could do with being sexed up a bit, but they have made strides in getting wide, and largely their passing under pressure has been good. And they are winning.

That last bit may be what opens the conversation for Farrell with Caelan Doris. Rewind to his selection for the Scotland game, with CJ Stander moving to six. We interpreted this as a significant change of direction, which seemed fair enough. Stander's work-rate is highly valued, so shift him to six where Peter O'Mahony is hanging on. Doris is explosive and a decent footballer so playing him at eight was a statement. A short one, as it happened.

Two games later Doris is fit again. In the meantime, however, Stander has gone off on one of his man-of-the-match crusades, which has changed the picture again. Selection when you have decent resources is a tricky poem to recite. Farrell's detractors when he was part of the England set-up that bombed in the World Cup blame him for getting his lines wrong over the inclusion of League convert Sam Burgess. Depending on who you talk to this is either bang on the money or wildly exaggerated.

Either way, the head coach has to decide if what was a good idea a couple of weeks ago is still a good one: running Doris at eight. He has no further evidence one way or the other, aside from the training field. The situation has shifted dramatically thanks to Stander. It helps that Doris is only 21 and has less than five minutes Test experience to his name. For now, park yourself on the bench son.

Conor Murray has massive support from his teammates, and that kind of thing will count for a lot with the coach. It's hard to see, however, why a player in better form, whatever about the gaps on his CV while Murray was establishing himself as one of the best in the business, is coming off the bench instead of starting the game.

Robbie Henshaw will be fit to continue a profitable partnership with Bundee Aki, but Will Addison is struggling for fitness. He was fast-tracked into the Ireland squad last summer the moment he had recovered from back surgery, but staying fit seems to be eluding him. When left out of the Scotland squad he wasn't listed as banjaxed, rather he was being "minded", we were told, but Farrell needs him available asap. Twickenham, and a desperate England, looks like being too soon. Hopefully we won't be saying the same for the next rung on the ladder of Ireland's attacking game.

[Avenger]

Nope.
The headline is: The blue conveyor belt and David Nucifora's plan - Why Leinster want the IRFU to butt out of their business

[joooooe]

Given the etymology of the title of this thread, I thought this was fitting:
https://twitter.com/AssuredlyGerry/stat ... 97344?s=19

[mildlyinterested]

If anyone has access to this article and could print it (or the gist) I'd appreciate it. Can't access pay accounts in work. Cheers

https://www.independent.ie/sport/column ... 5G7L4HfgUg

This one