The Silver Fern

Another Irish fan here. Can't wait for this tour to get underway.

Main worries for Ireland are lack of depth at loosehead, half back and out half. We have lots of good 9's in the Irish provinces to back up Gibson Park but Farrell insists on sticking with Conor Murray. Then there's Casey who can be too impulsive and resorts to box kicking too often like Murray. If Sexton gets Injured we're gone.

A few Irish names for kiwis to look out for during the series that you might not be familiar with:

Dan Sheehan - hooker. 23 year old who has been starting for Leinster since Kellehers injury. Massive unit, very physical and accurate with his throws. Himself and Kelleher (who is out injured) are two of the most promising young lads in Irish rugby.

Gavin Coombes - 8. At 24 he's been in and around the squad for a while but yet to crack the first XV due to injuries. Another big lad at 6'6" and a very dynamic ball carrier.

James Hume - centre. Arguably most in form centre in Ireland. He's been Ulster's best player for much of the season.

Jordan Larmour - wing/fullback. Very elusive runner, his change of pace and footwork send a lot of would be tacklers to the floor - well worth a quick YouTube.

@taniwharugby said in All Blacks v Ireland - 2nd Test:

@Nepia ha yeah I was sitting there last night thinking what a clusterfuck.

Didnt the ref say we had to send off a loose forward? DP was already off, we arent gonna send off our captain (as much as some would prefer) AS was the only one.

I do find that rule ridiculous, rugby is a contest, and the forward exchange pivotal to it, not to mention the safety aspect, yet they will happily allow a scrum to be underpowered by forcing the team to remove a forward if a prop is binned, rather than let them choose who to remove (ie a wing more than likely)

@taniwharugby Be thankful the ref didn't know the rules in that situation. If he had, you'd have had to remove two players to bring the prop on and be down to 12 men instead of 13.

A lot of talk about lack of a game plan and structure yesterday. But really it was atrocious discipline that cost you that game.

Interesting to hear your opinions. I think as an Irishman I'd say we only have the edge in the starting props (reserve front row is a big step down), Josh Van Der Flier and Henshaw. I'd give it to the All Blacks in every other position.

@JC The difference was Porter was moving backwards, while Ta avao was moving forward. In any game there are a huge amount of upright tackles where the defender is going backwards and it's a bit of a lottery whether there is head contact.

I completely agree that it's the tacklers responsibility to get into a safe position. But I think if you look at it objectively, the two events were different.

If the Ta avao red card hadn't happened I don't think there would be many people saying porter deserves a red.