Author: Mark Rooney

We take a look back at the second round of this year’s Six Nations including bizarre tactics, refereeing decisions and the rising stars up north. Italy creating more work for themselves Italy creating more work for themselves For eighty minutes against Ireland the Italians stuck to their tactic of kicking the ball infield instead of into touch. This invited a lot of pressure on them as this year’s edition of Joe Schmidt’s Ireland team are willing runners with the ball. It was mentioned in commentary midway through the game that the top nine players on the tackle count were all…

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Before the start of this year’s tournament the big talking points were the new high tackle interpretations and the introduction of bonus points. Many pundits were predicting that the clash between Ireland and England in the final weekend would be a title decider but the results from the weekend will leave them revising that view. The opening weekend of the Six Nations is always an exciting prospect for the fans of the competing nations. It’s when the collective optimism is at it’s highest. Each team and coach feel that they’ve prepared as best they can and that they have a…

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New Zealand produced a superb defensive effort as they exacted a measure of revenge for their defeat two weeks ago in Chicago. First Half New Zealand started the game with real intensity battering the Irish defence and moving forward relentlessly. The Irish defended for five minutes but they finally ran short of men as Fekitoa went over in the corner. Barrett converted from out wide to make it 7-0 after five minutes. Ireland responded from the restart driving deep into New Zealand territory and were twice held up over the line before Sexton decided to take some reward in the…

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Ireland host New Zealand in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in a highly anticipated rematch of their clash in Chicago two weeks ago. The form Ireland have won two from two of their November tests so far. This follows on the back of a history-making first win against the Boks on South African soil in June. Last week Ireland ran out comfortable winners against Canada. New Zealand went through the Rugby Championship unbeaten, setting a new world record for consecutive victories. That run was ended by the Irish in Chicago but they bounced back with a ten-try demolition of Italy last week.…

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New Zealand 57+ – +South Africa 15 New Zealand tied the record for consecutive wins in style as they produced a scintillating second half of rugby in Durban to give the home team a resounding thrashing. First half Morne Steyn got the Boks off the mark with a penalty from almost halfway after Todd was pinged for not rolling away. South Africa had the lead but New Zealand had the ball. The defensive effort from the Springboks was ferocious. They were aggressive and piled numbers into the breakdown forcing errors from the All Blacks. When Kieran Read was penalised for…

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New Zealand are chasing a third clean sweep since the expansion of The Rugby Championship. Can South Africa stop them and will their ambition extend beyond keeping the score down? The form South Africa Thus far South Africa have had a forgettable campaign. They struggled against Argentina in both games though a late try from Whiteley saw them snatch an unconvincing win at home. The return fixture was also close but the Pumas held their nerve. Their results against the Wallabies went to the home team in both fixtures. Although they scored two tries at Suncorp they were on the…

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