RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Coming out of the tunnel, Sam looked like the embodiment of the Laser Kiwi flag. His best game that I can remember.
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@ShitMcCaw I enjoy drunken banter so please stay. We definitely have our share of gobby dickheads (Dane Coles chief among them). But including McCaw there is stoopid. I've been to an event where he was keynote speaker and he practically had to be beaten with a stick to speak. Gobby that boy certainly ain't.
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@Snowy said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@ShitMcCaw TBH if one of our players behaved the same way as Sexton (esp abusing a ref) he would get treated with the same disdain and “constant and incessant whining” on here.
It really has little to do with you beating us so you can drp that approach to defending inexcusable behaviour.
This is me too. I don't begrudge the Gregan's of the world, heck that sledge was funny as hell. Incessant whining at the ref or blaming the ref afterwards, that's best left for the Fern, it's beneath the greatest players.
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Well I didn't see that coming, mainly I didn't expect us to play so well. Ireland certainly didn't choke and it was two quality teams facing off against each other.
Our forward pack was very good, in general won the collision and set-piece was solid if not edging the Irish. Our short kicking game improved immeasurably in that it evolved from a disorganized, head scratching chaos to being able to see an organized and discernable plan to kick the ball short and have a competitive chase.
Great to see Kane and Savea actually playing like loose forwards and getting turn overs.
I thought we did a great job of converting our opportunities into points - the Irish turned down several kicks at goal which cost them (for reference ask AB fans the wisdom of turning down shots at goal in must win games as you chase tires, tries tires!!)
Our Achilles heels as in my mind we have two of them.
- Our exits are still terrible and even when executed don't relieve pressure
- Our discipline in the red zone is lacking
In short though a very good game of rugby, Ireland only held out by a couple of big defensive plays at the end. The D in the closing minutes though was epic and disciplined - I guess we held our discipline when it mattered most
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@voodoo said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
This is me too. I don't begrudge the Gregan's of the world, heck that sledge was funny as hell. Incessant whining at the ref or blaming the ref afterwards, that's best left for the Fern, it's beneath the greatest players.
Dupont looking to ake up the mantle, maybe
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@Windows97 quite often though, it seems our 'poor' exits, are deliberate as opposed to poor execution, or there would be some method in there, but what is clearly beyond me, I mean giving opposition ball in the 40 to attack from broken play...
They live to fight another day, and maybe Foz has been timing thier run to perfection.
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@Windows97 said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Great to see Kane and Savea actually playing like loose forwards and getting turn overs.
He's a tough bugger, that's for sure.
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@taniwharugby Yeah I don't know what's going on either - those "tactics" does seem to cost us points/cards and makes me yell at the TV a lot...
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@Windows97 said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Well I didn't see that coming, mainly I didn't expect us to play so well. Ireland certainly didn't choke and it was two quality teams facing off against each other.
Our forward pack was very good, in general won the collision and set-piece was solid if not edging the Irish. Our short kicking game improved immeasurably in that it evolved from a disorganized, head scratching chaos to being able to see an organized and discernable plan to kick the ball short and have a competitive chase.
Great to see Kane and Savea actually playing like loose forwards and getting turn overs.
I thought we did a great job of converting our opportunities into points - the Irish turned down several kicks at goal which cost them (for reference ask AB fans the wisdom of turning down shots at goal in must win games as you chase tires, tries tires!!)
Our Achilles heels as in my mind we have two of them.
- Our exits are still terrible and even when executed don't relieve pressure
2) Our discipline in the red zone is lacking
In short though a very good game of rugby, Ireland only held out by a couple of big defensive plays at the end. The D in the closing minutes though was epic and disciplined - I guess we held our discipline when it mattered most
Were you hiding under the couch for the last 7 minutes and 312 phases???
Edit -just read your final line - but how do you reconcile those 2 statements??
- Our exits are still terrible and even when executed don't relieve pressure
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Were you hiding under the couch for the last 7 minutes and 312 phases???
Edit -just read your final line - but how do you reconcile those 2 statements??
2 yellow cards both in the red zone - it needs to be 0. Were one of the most carded sides in world rugby these days and that's a discipline issue.
But tremendous D at the end of the game, superb.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@ShitMcCaw I enjoy drunken banter so please stay. We definitely have our share of gobby dickheads (Dane Coles chief among them). But including McCaw there is stoopid. I've been to an event where he was keynote speaker and he practically had to be beaten with a stick to speak. Gobby that boy certainly ain't.
Yeah I wondered where that came from , I thought maybe I missed something.
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@Windows97 said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Were you hiding under the couch for the last 7 minutes and 312 phases???
Edit -just read your final line - but how do you reconcile those 2 statements??
2 yellow cards both in the red zone - it needs to be 0. Were one of the most carded sides in world rugby these days and that's a discipline issue.
But tremendous D at the end of the game, superb.
Smith's yellow was hardly a yellow card in the red zone that screamed lacking discipline. It was an inadvertent reflex reaction 30m from the line. I also sort of think Taylor slips (not debating the card) so didn't pull that maul down entirely intentionally. I thought out discipline v Ireland was pretty bloody good.
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@frugby said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@Windows97 said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Were you hiding under the couch for the last 7 minutes and 312 phases???
Edit -just read your final line - but how do you reconcile those 2 statements??
2 yellow cards both in the red zone - it needs to be 0. Were one of the most carded sides in world rugby these days and that's a discipline issue.
But tremendous D at the end of the game, superb.
Smith's yellow was hardly a yellow card in the red zone that screamed lacking discipline. It was an inadvertent reflex reaction 30m from the line. I also sort of think Taylor slips (not debating the card) so didn't pull that maul down entirely intentionally. I thought out discipline v Ireland was pretty bloody good.
Any time you play 20 minutes with 14 men is far from ideal, if we had lost the game I am sure we would have reflected on the poor discipline that led to those yellow cards. But yes, they well and truly redeemed themselves at the end.
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@frugby Yeah I had some sympathy for Smith as it "seemed" like a reflex reaction (though we will never know unless your A Smith yourself).
However those are the rules of the game and they were applied accordingly.
Our players know these rules and need to - dare I say it - discipline themselves to think instead of just reacting.
And it's not so much just that one example but a continuing trend of us giving away cards - that's my concern.
Was very pleased that Smith put it behind him and backed himself to get the intercept, shows great mental strength.
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bit late to the party but neqrly 3k posts to catch up on!
Wow…epic match deserving of a final
I’ve seen post both ways about the reffing…which probably means he did a good job all in all
Something that I haven’t seen mentioned much…it took a complete change in how we’ve been trying to play for the last five years (we would have played whole games without 30 phases and we did it in a row in the first quarter)….and players like BB and Cane (who have had long runs of injury and/or poor form) to have blinders to beat this Irish team
Huge credit to Ireland…it took a perfect storm to beat them
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The Great Teacher
Who can hate the Irish? This is the country that gave us Yeats and Joyce and Wilde and Beckett, after all. A good chunk of us in this part of the world have roots in Ireland. And does anyone recall that the Irish, of all peoples, probably hate the English more than anyone?
But aside from their outsized contribution to literature, drama, music and oratory, the Irish have recently become rather good at rugby. To be sure, they have picked the brains and talent of other countries to do that, but in the process they have developed their own style, cohesion and power to the point that they have struck fear into the hearts of the traditional rugby superpowers. As that Irishman Wilde said: “Be yourself; everyone else is taken”.
Ireland’s exit in the quarter final of this World Cup is no disgrace. They just came up against an All Black side that was wounded and may have wanted it more. As well, to quote Andy Farrell in his post-match presser, these knockout games can swing on small moments - Jordie Barrett’s try-saving tackle, Sam Whitelock’s steal at the end, Sexton’s missed shots at goal. A tiny adjustment in the curtains of fate could have changed the denouement entirely.
That the ABs, to win that match, had to dig deeper than they have done in probably any other match since the 2011 final against France spoke volumes not only for their new-found resilience and self-belief but also for Ireland’s never-say-die commitment and ability to keep picking themselves up from setbacks. This Ireland team were never beaten, until the final whistle. Every drop of blood that could be shed on both sides was done so.
As for Sexton, sure he can be ornery, mouthy and hard to like at times. But is he more so than Fitzy or Coles or Marshall? Put it this way, if this 38-year-old warrior been playing in black would any of his most bitter critics here have been so quick to condemn him? And could anyone in their heart of hearts really claim that Ireland’s recent successes have not made watching rugby union a richer and more thrilling experience?
As for the All Blacks and their lame duck coach, it has been a tough few years, unquestionably, with a host of undesirable ‘firsts’ on the team resume. One could almost smell the regret seeping from the hard-nosed money men at Silver Lake. But the quarter final felt like a form of redemption and a reminder that sport, like life generally, can swing on the smallest of moments.
To quote another great Irishman in James Joyce:
“To learn, one must be humble. But life is the great teacher.”
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@NTA said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@NTA said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
I thought Barnes got the first scrum wrong tho - ABs THP folded in for me
Alex Corbisiero has a look at the scrums.
im sorry...thats a really shit take....he acknowledges Porter has an elbow down, which is like rule one fore a square set...but its ok because it just "looks bad"...no...its bad....and then because his bind is bad and pulling down...he slips his bind and folds in
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Porter was angling in so much that he could have been pushing for both sides!
