Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown & Dublin Duel
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I think that's what I want to hear, that they are hurting. I think it's nice to be humble and acknowledge the Irish but I want them to be hurting and wanting to give the performance of a lifetime in two weeks with the best 23 we can muster.
Two other things I forgot to mention. First game I can remember in years were the All Blaks were thoroughly outplayed at kick-off. Sexton put huge pressure on ABs and ABs never seemed to compete on their kick-offs.
Other problem I have is Savea, he may have two or three sensational moments in a game and he may not. But always seems to have a mixed bag of dropped balls, dying with the ball and being bundled into touch. When he has those top moments Hansen wants to pat him self on the back but when it is the mixed bag of mediocrity we don't hear anything.
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@DMX said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
I think that's what I want to hear, that they are hurting. I think it's nice to be humble and acknowledge the Irish but I want them to be hurting and wanting to give the performance of a lifetime in two weeks with the best 23 we can muster.
Two other things I forgot to mention. First game I can remember in years were the All Blaks were thoroughly outplayed at kick-off. Sexton put huge pressure on ABs and ABs never seemed to compete on their kick-offs.
Other problem I have is Savea, he may have two or three sensational moments in a game and he may not. But always seems to have a mixed bag of dropped balls, dying with the ball and being bundled into touch. When he has those top moments Hansen wants to pat him self on the back but when it is the mixed bag of mediocrity we don't hear anything.
not to mention with the 2 wings we had, we were totally dominated in the air as well, think pretty much every aspect of that game we were outplayed yesterday, some comes down to the players we had out there, some to the errors we made, but mostly cos the Irish played the game of their lives.
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. I'm not sure we would have beaten Ireland with a full strength team either.
Just starting with two locks and the in form HB would have been enough. And why didn't ALB start or at least make the reserves. NZ have the talent but dumb selections cost us this game. Such a shame.
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So I earlier posited the difficulty of choosing between a Wallaby win at Eden Park for the first time in decades, or a first-ever win for Ireland over the ABs.
Gotta say, I reckon this is the better option. Well done Ireland. Monkey off the back and all that.
Now, if you could just decide to have an off day against us in a couple of weeks
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@Winger said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
. I'm not sure we would have beaten Ireland with a full strength team either.
Just starting with two locks and the in form HB would have been enough. And why didn't ALB start or at least make the reserves. NZ have the talent but dumb selections cost us this game. Such a shame.
Gotta agree that we opened the door at least. Having our locks out always made me nervous, playing that MF combo on top of it even more so. No Dagg as well and we played to the Irish strengths. I would have thought playing the rest of the first choice team would have been the way to go. The others could always have played against Italy
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I expect some will take this as arrogance....
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11743629
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based on internet behaviour over the last 24 hours, i would like to congratulate Australia on their win over the All Blacks on the weekend
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@Winger said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
@pukunui said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
Barrets goal kicking was ropey again. T
I thought he only missed one
Correct. He missed one of four conversion attempts. His penalty kick was successful, too, so he got 4 out of 5.
I think people think his goal kicking wasn't good, because it was the first kick he missed and because they expected his goal kicking to be bad after the last few games. -
@Stargazer in a game like that, with his kicking record is it any surprise people focus on the negative?
Given the one he missed wasn't that hard either.
Yes his kicking wasn't as bad as it has been, but his overall performances the past 2 outings have been well below what he has given us this year. Maybe he is fatigued or just in a slump, who knows.
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I think some of the comments seem to be a little revisionist. It seems to happen after every loss, there's this should've selected such and such, took them lightly, arrogant, etc etc.
Someone mentioned Fekitoa, hehas been a bench replacement on a number of occasions and played that role to good effect.
Sure Dagg would have been handy but it wasn't surprising to see the two wingers selected given Hansen and co have been gunning for that combo to start for a while to give it more opportunity but haven't been able due to Naholo's injuries.
Aaron Smith was poor but no matter what some says he's still our number 1 halfback and it seems entirely reasonable that Hansen would give him the opportunity after a few weeks off.
Kaino at lock was a conservative choice and points to lack of 80 minute lock options. A work in progress.
Barrett had a poor game, but when Cruden came on he provided impact and Barrett performed in this game a little better from the back.
Squire is a work in progress. I thought he did some good things for a guy still developing.
Cane and Read below par for the standards they have provided.
Pairing Crotty and Moala was a great selection IMO. But Moala struggled and Crotty was going okay before the injury.
We were starved of ball and created very little turnover opportunities where we are very dangerous. Our LO sucked and we made errors.
Ireland executed well and put scoreboard pressure on us. They headed into the final 20 with enough in the tank to close us out.
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@ACT-Crusader as usual, the voice of reason and sanity
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I think it was a combination of the Irish playing well and a large number of our guys having an off day at the office.
Be interesting to see if this win 'unleashes' the Irish back in Dublin, or how playing in front of a home crowd with a bit of expectation affects them.
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@taniwharugby FYI my post was neutral and didn't include any judgment of what people were thinking (I guess that's the problem with written communication, that you can't always detect how/with what intention a text has been written; emoji's can only help a bit).
As to Barrett's kicking, this is probably the most interesting that has been said about that during the EOYT team naming (from 15'46''):
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@taniwharugby said in Ireland v NZ - Chicago Showdown:
I think it was a combination of the Irish playing well and a large number of our guys having an off day at the office.
bro. once in over a hundred years.
if i have an off-day, it's usually tuesday.
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Hey Rapido, I agree with the first line but not the second. I do not need to harden up and I am not a princess.
This was not the game to do that. In the leadup to this game we had all and sundry from the AB camp talking about how good a side Ireland are and also how this AB side wanted to set new standards on and off the field and add to the legacy. A 111 year old record is something to treasure and not to give up without a fight.This game demanded the best we could put on the field.
Aaron Smith got yanked against the WBs for getting flustered and has been seriously stuffed up by the well known shenanigans in Christchurch. TJP has really stepped up this year and copes miles better with aggression around the breakdowns and scores tries that Smith can't. He is the form 9 and should have started.
ALB has amazed all of us with his maturity and his play for someone so young. He is to the manor born. I refuse to believe the bs that he is tired and not to have him on the bench defies belief. Fekitoa has been around for a while and has just not improved his game at all which is inferior to the variety in ALB's game. In no time at all ALB has formed a good partnership with Crotty and should have started. Again, in a game of such massive importance you DO NOT fucking rest and rotate. Moala is definitely worth persevering with but with his shortcomings this was not the game for him.
Two big bruisers on the wings, WTF, both of whom have limited skillsets. I thought we gave this away in 2009. Again, we knew what the Irish would bring and they did. Dagg on the right wing has added balance to the side this year and the Irish would have got a lot less change from their efforts if he had been there. Apart from his bust for the first try Naholo looked all at sea which for me pretty much sums up his season in black. Again, Shag, why ?
Jerome is the world's best 6. I don't buy the reasons for not starting Barrett at lock. He is a lock. Why weaken the blindside to plug a hole at lock because you have then successfully weakened two positions. Squire for all his potential is not a starter yet and we really missed Kaino at 6.
Read made a comment about their heads not being 100% right. You said what Keiran. I have said for ages that my biggest worry at McGod's retirement was the captaincy. Read was quoted last week as saying that he has demanded that he and his leadership team are in control of the team from Thursdays on. The coaches pull their heads in apparently from that point. To my eyes there was a deficiency of captaincy smarts in Chicago. That seriously needs to be addressed. All well and good when you are winning but captaincy in adversity is a much tougher gig.
Anyway, just my views. If we were going to lose to Ireland I would rather have done it in a less insipid manner. I am an old geezer and probably get the shits too easily but geez I would have liked to have been able to say that I was immensely proud of a losing effort when the Irish won.
