Ireland v Scotland
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@the-irishman said in Ireland v Scotland:
@nta said in Ireland v Scotland:
Ireland aren't all that from my viewing of their last few games. Scots were about as headless as you get overnight. They struggled to put away a 14-man England, and were rubbish against Italy despite the overwhelming advantage they had in numbers.
France took them apart, and Wales were poo in that game.
Ireland pushed France right to the end, in Paris btw
The only reason you were that close: France knew they could take the easy points in the first half from your poor scrum and ruck work, so they did. They dropped a fair bit of ball in that first quarter, too. The 19-7 score at halftime from a try and 2 ruck + 2 scrum penalties in kickable range could easily have been 30-7, if they opted to go to the line. Shortly after halftime it's 22-7 as their kicker drains one from 45m on the angle. Easy money.
Ireland showed 5 minutes of excellence from minutes 45-50, scoring twice through individual efforts to stay in touch (JGP's snipe, and the maul that ?Van Der Flier? scored from that had disintegrated - credit to him for situational awareness). France pulled away yet again and held it, scoring off Ireland's poor ruck work again. The game Ireland wanted to play - retain ball, piggyback downfield off penalties, score points - was almost completely stunted by France pressuring the right breakdowns and Ireland not securing them.
No doubt if Ireland won by 6 points they'd be talking themslves right up. Fact is they lost on the scoreboard and lost around the park. A couple of streaky tries in Paris, and a very average walloping a 13- or 12-man Italy won't change that. Let's be honest: you should have cruised past 70 points in that game.
@the-irishman said in Ireland v Scotland:
Ireland haven't played their best this tournament but still outscored everyone in tries in every game, inc France.
And when they change the competition rules to make tries the only thing that matters, we can retrospectively award Ireland the 6N this year, I guess?
You can be overly optimistic about the form of your team - we've all been there - but I'm looking at the basics on show against a fairly young France, and Ireland did not perform well at all.
Ireland were far better against NZ in November, and this begs the question: have Ireland once again peaked between RWC?
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@nta said in Ireland v Scotland:
@the-irishman said in Ireland v Scotland:
@nta said in Ireland v Scotland:
Ireland aren't all that from my viewing of their last few games. Scots were about as headless as you get overnight. They struggled to put away a 14-man England, and were rubbish against Italy despite the overwhelming advantage they had in numbers.
France took them apart, and Wales were poo in that game.
Ireland pushed France right to the end, in Paris btw
The only reason you were that close: France knew they could take the easy points in the first half from your poor scrum and ruck work, so they did. They dropped a fair bit of ball in that first quarter, too. The 19-7 score at halftime from a try and 2 ruck + 2 scrum penalties in kickable range could easily have been 30-7, if they opted to go to the line. Shortly after halftime it's 22-7 as their kicker drains one from 45m on the angle. Easy money.
Ireland showed 5 minutes of excellence from minutes 45-50, scoring twice through individual efforts to stay in touch (JGP's snipe, and the maul that ?Van Der Flier? scored from that had disintegrated - credit to him for situational awareness). France pulled away yet again and held it, scoring off Ireland's poor ruck work again. The game Ireland wanted to play - retain ball, piggyback downfield off penalties, score points - was almost completely stunted by France pressuring the right breakdowns and Ireland not securing them.
No doubt if Ireland won by 6 points they'd be talking themslves right up. Fact is they lost on the scoreboard and lost around the park. A couple of streaky tries in Paris, and a very average walloping a 13- or 12-man Italy won't change that. Let's be honest: you should have cruised past 70 points in that game.
@the-irishman said in Ireland v Scotland:
Ireland haven't played their best this tournament but still outscored everyone in tries in every game, inc France.
And when they change the competition rules to make tries the only thing that matters, we can retrospectively award Ireland the 6N this year, I guess?
You can be overly optimistic about the form of your team - we've all been there - but I'm looking at the basics on show against a fairly young France, and Ireland did not perform well at all.
Ireland were far better against NZ in November, and this begs the question: have Ireland once again peaked between RWC?
Ireland have not played well in this tournament true but the France match was close. The French were out on their feet in the last 20 and it was only a few Irish mistakes that kept the pressure off them.
Have ireland peaked? Well it was only the last game against England in the 2021 6 nations that ireland decided to change the style of play after years of Schmidtball. About a year ago this weekend. So there is plenty of room for improvement.
I don't see ireland having a good world cup due to the draw, match scheduling and weak squad when a few players get injured. After the world cup will be a different story. I'm expecting a clean sweep of many older players and the U20s just won a grand slam and only lost twice since 2018 so those players are ready to go. A few might be added next season but I'd say if they're not on the NZ tour it'll be after the world cup. Farrell likes to pick the same players as much as possible.
So in short, the first choice team is good but a few injuries and the level drops off.
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@profitius said in Ireland v Scotland:
I'm expecting a clean sweep of many older players and the U20s just won a grand slam and only lost twice since 2018 so those players are ready to go. A few might be added next season but I'd say if they're not on the NZ tour it'll be after the world cup. Farrell likes to pick the same players as much as possible.
Consistency is great, with the other edge of that sword being a lack of opportunity for the rest e.g. Sexton's place and importance to the retention game plan. Reminds me a bit of Gregan and Larkham at the Wallabies.
Having the core U20 squad come through will be good as long as room is made for those who develop late or weren't in the system from an early age. See it occasionally in Australia as well: Scott Fardy was exactly the kind of blindside we needed at the time, but went overseas because he wasn't on The Golden Pathway.
The third leg of the stool is imports, and the 5 year residency rule might slow the available talent pool in that regard. It'll be interesting to watch.
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@nta The Irish also have the luxury of scooping up all those with Irish grandparents from other areas of the world. Being a catholic nation I suspect there could be innumerable numbers of those. My own nephew is one of those who learnt his trade in Sydney but now using his Irish citizenship gained through his grandfather to pad out one of the United Championship squads and he only made it to the NRC level in Aust!
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@nta I know he has been somewhat injury prone over the last five seasons so that, plus the high school situation, probably counted against him. We always knew that come what may his Irishness would always make it easy for him to secure a contract as a local player up north, even if it is predominantly a squad member rather than a match day 23 member. I have heard about the politics involved in selections in Australia too by the way!
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@nta said in Ireland v Scotland:
Ireland aren't all that from my viewing of their last few games. Scots were about as headless as you get overnight. They struggled to put away a 14-man England, and were rubbish against Italy despite the overwhelming advantage they had in numbers.
France took them apart, and Wales were poo in that game.
To play dickhead's advocate, the common denominator in bringing teams down to a shit level? Sounds like they're the equivalent of Argentina circa 2015.
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@nta said in Ireland v Scotland:
Ireland aren't all that from my viewing of their last few games. Scots were about as headless as you get overnight. They struggled to put away a 14-man England, and were rubbish against Italy despite the overwhelming advantage they had in numbers.
France took them apart, and Wales were poo in that game.
They’re good against Australia though
