RBS 6 Nations 2013

[qwerty51]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...ld-be-worried-in-the-southern-hemisphere.html

This is pretty funny.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

About as analytical as most of what our own Pie Eater produces.

I have always thought that the better singers always won rugby matches. Surprised that Los Pumas didn't get a gig in the fanatical supporters register in the article.

Pffft Let them delude themselves. All will be revealed when the Fat Shiela sings in 2015.

English rugby is dead. Fancy getting done by a record margin by a team ranked lower than them, particularly when all they had to do was turn up and not lose by more then 7 points to claim the 6N title. THE WORST EVER RECORD MARGIN !! English Bulldog indeed. English Creme Muffins more like.

That result was not quite as good as the Wobs 51-15 thrashing (Lang Park 2004) or the even better 76 - 0 (Lang Park 1998) but WTF, well done Boyos.

Don't rest on your laurels though. It would be worth the B&I Lions while doing a spot of training before coming down under, and finding themselves up against a Tier One opposition. It will be a step up from the Tier Two opponents they are used to.

 

[the plastic paddy]

After the performance this year, the new coach needs to be given full rain to select his staff and not hang onto any of the under performing staff and players. If he wants to be successful leading into the next World Cup a entire clean out in on the cards.

I don't think anyone should be considered safe under the new management, players and coached should be cross examined and get Ireland back on the track of competing for 4th in the world ranking and not dropping any lower. Being 9th in the world is not acceptable and should be enough to give the entire system a good shake up.

Rankings should not be a pressure in the short term, we have got our seeding for RWC 2015 so they are about little more than bragging rights at this stage. I will be extremely disappointed if any of the current management outside of Axel, who was only brought in to double job at the last minute are involved in the future. But there will be the usual bull shit about 'continuity', after the last eight weeks the last thing we need is any fucking continuity!!! Feek should be sent back to NZ, as much as anything for the ridiculous situation with Michael Bent, I am afraid Smal is not fit enough to do his job, brutal but there you go. I feel a bit sorry for Kiss because the tightness of the IRFU meant he is after doing two jobs for the last year. He was in charge of attack for this six nations however so it is a bit hard to justify his inclusion.

I am certain of one thing, if we can somehow persuade Schmidt to take it, hell and high water must be moved to get him to take the job. If he won't I think there is plenty of logic about Ruddock doing it: he knows the young lads coming through as coach of the U20s, is renowned as a discipline man which will be no bad thing and most importantly is not Irish so cannot have the one eyed accusations of provincial bias hurled at him as him as has blighted Kidneys years in charge.

Kidney's ticket has reached the end of the line, which I strongly believe the man knows himself, but it should not be forgotten that he got us over the Grand slam line something EOS singularly failed to do with a, relatively, much stronger squad. He coached Ireland to a famous win over Australia which turned the world cup on its head. Until my dying day I will argue that a fourth try against the US which would have made the Italian game dead would have seen us less fatigued for the QF although his starting of ROG in that game will take a long time to be forgotten.

Ireland have had a terrible run with injuries since the Lions tour of SA (which is no coincidence in my book but a separate debate) and this year represents the absolute nadir in that regard with the latest injury to Luke Fitzgerald an absolute sickener. However, we now have three teams of internationally capped players at Ulster, Leinster and Munster which is no mean achievement for a supposedly conservative coach.

I am a glass half full man and with the likes of McGrath, Mike Sherry, McCallister (switching to THP), Killer, Archer, Furlong, Moore etc and that is just the front row, I think we have some great potential coming through in Irish rugby. If they could get/ be as motivated in the green jersey of Ireland as they can in their provincial jerseys that would be a start but the coaching ticket is not absolved of responsibility in that failing.

 

[the plastic paddy]

About as analytical as most of what our own Pie Eater produces.

I have always thought that the better singers always won rugby matches. Surprised that Los Pumas didn't get a gig in the fanatical supporters register in the article.

Pffft Let them delude themselves. All will be revealed when the Fat Shiela sings in 2015.

English rugby is dead. Fancy getting done by a record margin by a team ranked lower than them, particularly when all they had to do was turn up and not lose by more then 7 points to claim the 6N title. THE WORST EVER RECORD MARGIN !! English Bulldog indeed. English Creme Muffins more like.

That result was not quite as good as the Wobs 51-15 thrashing (Lang Park 2004) or the even better 76 - 0 (Lang Park 1998) but WTF, well done Boyos.

Don't rest on your laurels though. It would be worth the B&I Lions while doing a spot of training before coming down under, and finding themselves up against a Tier One opposition. It will be a step up from the Tier Two opponents they are used to.

England are nothing like as good as their fans and journos think but Wales were only single scores behind you lot playing in Aus at the end of playing for two years without a break last SH winter. Don't underestimate how poor the weather was during the six nations when you pass judgement on some of the performances, you might find it lulls you into a false sense of security like the 17th september 2011!!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Or Newcastle last year vs the Single Malts.

Edit: or Samoa the previous year.

or Tonga @ Ballymore 1973 (I think)!

 

[KevinO]

Rankings matter when you are now longer even in tier 2 nations, Samoa is higher ranked than Ireland. Irelands lowest ever ranking is never acceptable even if it is a few months after the World cup rankings.

Kidney made the same mistakes on a regular basis, as for the World Cup. If he played a forward dominant game plan against the USA in the pissing rain we would have scored 5 or 6 trys, attempting to play the ball out wide that day was a big mistake.

O'Gara against Wales was the right call, would have played Sexton at 12 though as I don't think Darcy was 100% for that game. O'Gara was playing great rugby and Sexton was doing his usual performances in the Green jersey where you don't know which Sexton is going to show up. That game certainly can't be blamed on O'Gara, I'd like to know why O'Driscoll pointed to the corner early in the match rather than attempt to get 3 points? He slotted the conversion when given a chance but was not trusted when 3 points was clearly the smart option so early on in the game.

 

[Italophile]

The Stadio Olimpico sounded nuts. Will be doing a match there, some day.

7 nation army (Y)

Forza Italia.

Got back from Rome yesterday arvo. The Stadio Olimpico was, indeed, nuts. Great stadium, even if a pain in the butt to get to via public transport. A good day for Italian rugby and another very emotional retirement with Andrea Lo Cicero going out with a win. There was a large Irish contingent, great company as always, and, while not representative, many I spoke to before and during the game were fatalistic. One chap, beside us, wasn't. His hopes crushed, he stalked out before the final whistle.

The win didn't make the lead story on the sports pages, the win over France didn't either, and that's rugby's problem in a nutshell in this country. If it ain't soccer, the vast majority don't want to know.

 

[kronic]

The win didn't make the lead story on the sports pages, the win over France didn't either, and that's rugby's problem in a nutshell in this country. If it ain't soccer, the vast majority don't want to know.

Cause their league is full of corrupt bastards and scandal sells.

 

[JSRF10]

The most frustrating thing about Kidneys reign was that he repeated mistake after mistake. We heard after our 60-0 loss against the All Blacks that he knew what was wrong and knew how to fix it, we're hearing the same now. Yet still 50 minutes against Argentina and 43 against Wales aside we've seen the same mistakes repeated. Irelands plan with ball in hand is: 1) Give the ball to static forward pods 2) Box kick 3) Garryowen. It hasn't changed in 3 years, Kidney and Kiss are a busted flush, but Smal is the biggest bluffer of them all Ireland forwards and their set piece have got continually worse under him. Yeah sure the injuries were unfortunate but Kidney is to blame for flogging key players and never blooding replacements. Foley has done well I'll admit but we just need a clean break. In order of preference of all the available candidates I'd want 1) Cotter 2) Schmidt 3) McKenzie 4) Ruddock. The main thing I want is a disciplinarian who won't take any shite, the last thing I want is the players telling the press what good craic the camp is. I want them talking about how hard it is, and how they are working on rugby instead of having the craic. Instead of talking about developing a squad I want it actually done, its ok to not to flog the front liners and back some young guys in a competitive game.

Regarding England they were such a rabble Lancaster had to keep it simple to make progress, now he faces a huge challenge to keep his project on track. I said before the tournament that beating NZ mightnt have been the best thing for his young side, the hype of a couple of scratchy wins over some awful sides was unbelievable. Make no doubt about it they've suffered a huge set back and face a big task to get it together again.

 

[Italophile]

Cause their league is full of corrupt bastards and scandal sells.

True, but the game is entrenched regardless.

 

[vinnie]

 

[Bardon]

Have to say the respect I had for Stuart Lancaster has plummeted after reading this article from the BBC. Walsh didn't have the best game, nor the best 6Ns, but there were plenty of reasons England lost to Wales and most of them were wearing red shirts.

I don't see what Lancaster gains from speaking out like this as he just paints himself in a bad light. It will just perpetuate a myth that England were robbed of a GS by poor refereeing, when in reality a decent England team who, had players playing out of position, had been on a downwards form curve were smashed by a more experienced, more talented Wales team who not only were on an upward form curve but also picked their form player in their preferred positions.

England's Stuart Lancaster is awaiting "clarification" from the International Rugby Board about referee Steve Walsh's display in the 30-3 loss to Wales.
England felt decisions in the scrum and breakdown went against them, and that Walsh's officiating in those areas was at odds with his pre-match briefing.
In particular, Lancaster questioned the build-up to Alex Cuthbert's first try.

"There was then a turnover at the breakdown, which we still need clarification on," the head coach said.

But he added: "Whatever happened in that breakdown, it was disappointing to lose composure and let the game slip away."

Wales secured a record win over England thanks to two tries from winger Cuthbert, as well as a combined 20 points from the boots of Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny.

The incident Lancaster referred to at the Millennium Stadium came when Wales replacement Ken Owens stole the ball from Tom Wood to kick-start the move that led to Cuthbert's opening score.

Forwards coach Graham Rowntree has also said he will request answers from the IRB's referees' chief Joel Jutge about the Australian official's decisions during the game.

"I sat up on Saturday night and watched the game again forensically," the 41-year-old said.

"In most of the games, I've submitted glowing reports on referees but on this occasion we were frustrated by a lot of the outcomes and I will be speaking to Joel [Jutge] to get some clarification [about the] breakdown and scrum.

"I spoke to Steve [Walsh] after the game. We both agreed we would go away and have a look at the game again. Having watched it, I need clarification.
"A lot of those decisions were big, game momentum-changing decisions."

Walsh awarded 12 penalties and four free-kicks against England, who won only one of four scrums on their own ball as they were dominated in the pack by their opponents.

In the aftermath of the crushing loss, England had been criticised for not reacting to Walsh's interpretation of the rules but Rowntree rejected that notion.
"I don't buy this whole 'streetwise' thing," the former Leicester, England and Lions prop said. "We just want a clean outcome at the scrum. We don't practise anything different."

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Not all that clever for an International Coach to speak out like this.

Sounds like a drowning man clutching at whatever straws happen to be floating by. How solid is Lancaster's position within the Soap Dodgers?

30-3 results are seldom caused by poor refereeing decisions, as Bardon has rightly pointed out. There were 22 Red jumpered reasons behind the victory.

England should stop reading all the sycophantic media BS about how they are God's gift to Rugby, and the annointed ones who only need to turn up on game day to have all lesser opponents prostrate themselves before them in awe of their obvious magnificence.

 

[the plastic paddy]

The English scrum struggled throughout the tournament and the Welsh scrum got stronger as the tournament went on. I would suggest the man who is trying to deflect attention and is clutching at straws is Rowntree. I thought Walsh had an excellent game myself, he was consistent and was the first ref in the tournament who made the English tacklers roll which made for such a good game and allowed the Welsh to convert their dominance into points. As usual the English won't accept they simply were not good enough. They were flattered by a terrible display from Ireland with the injury to Sexton a significant factor, PSA's absurd substitutions and Italy being hammered by Clancy.

 

[KevinO]

Ireland could have put together half the injured 15 for the 6 Nations when you look back at things, does not excuse only having the one win.

My opinion the biggest lost had to be O'Connell, seemed like no one stepped up and led the forwards around the park. The line outs where average with out him calling.

Bowe really is needed on the wing, didn't help when Zebo got injured as well.

As for England and the blame game, just do what the rest of the Rugby World does. Ignore them, after all if you listened to them you would say it's going to be a all England Heineken Cup final as well.

Still raging over losing to Italy

 

[Italophile]

Not all that clever for an International Coach to speak out like this.

Sounds like a drowning man clutching at whatever straws happen to be floating by. How solid is Lancaster's position within the Soap Dodgers?

Very. I think the bleating is at Rowntree's instigation, too. Having trouble accepting the reality that they were outplayed. Not a word from him when England won a scrum penalty the week before with Marler's paw on the ground throughout. The Italians didn't protest either. Even my most die-hard England supporter mates think the coaches are making dicks of themselves.

 

[KevinO]

A blog post for all the Irish fans, lack of depth or bad tactics come to mind.

http://whiffofcordite.com/2013/03/20/second-half-syndrome/

 

[USARugger]

Disregard.

Thank you Italophile

 

[Italophile]

Walsh now lives in Australia and is an Australian-registered ref. Has been since he quit New Zealand as part of turning his life around.

 

[the plastic paddy]

BOD banned for three weeks.