France v Ireland

[browner]

Think this is about right....................

if Ireland is to go forward, then risks must be taken and the possibility of losing accepted. We should not forget just because of one brave but losing performance that all is now well.

Happily, a dreadful Scotland, a frail Wales and an injury-ravaged England await. Ireland may well celebrate a Triple Crown -- even a championship -- but other countries are planning for the future, while Ireland is locked in the present.

FULL ARTICLE

[Rooster]

Hook and pope said basically the same yesterday

The Irish coach has been dragged kicking and screaming to the altar of substitution and team selection. His career, and the Irish team, is a litany of lost opportunity because of his intransigence and stubbornness. He deserves credit for this return from the dead, but it is late and was forced by the threat to his job, a consultant's report and the pressure of senior players.

i wonder is the last bit the real reason ?
On the subs point he is not really making use of his bench or more to the point the bench he should have. yesterday Bowe should have been there in Horgans place, he could then have dumped Murphy out on his Brennan after 30mins and put Bowe on, if he had lost a centre P Wallace was there also Boss on the bench would have been a better option than Stringer, again he could have covered wing if need be and Tommy or Kearney gone to fullback, Jennings on the bench instead of Easterby is the other option for back row,those are all realistic options that could make a difference.
He actually did bugger all as regards change in subs policy yesterday, hooker has been swapped at 60 mins for over a year now irrespective of how the one that starts is performing, he should switch sooner at say 45 mins, that gives fresh legs in the front row and if the worst happens and the sub gets injured the original can return to the field still with some gas in his tank. The prop sub is also one which has been happening for years now, just a change in face. MOK was dead long before he took him off and MOD actually did a good job when he came on, this is actually the only non regular swap that was made yesterday.

[mikerob]

who the hell chipped the ball though right at the end?

14

I've seen it reported elsewhere that Kearney didn't know time was up.

I don't know if the players had a timecheck at the last set piece but the stadium big screens showed match time and had stopped on 80:00.

[Muddy Bless]

Just noticing on second time of watching..... how pish were the anthems??? especially Irelands Call........ Im not a great lip reader but im nearly sure Reddan says "what the fock was that"

[mikerob]

Just noticing on second time of watching..... how pish were the anthems??? especially Irelands Call........ Im not a great lip reader but im nearly sure Reddan says "what the fock was that"

They were awful - I think the whole crowd's reaction to both anthems was what the feck was that...

You need to try very hard to butcher a great song like La Marseillaise however the French succeeded.

[darkside lightside]

George Hook reckoned the French had rumbled the Irish lineout calls - it wasn't poor throwing or lifting

my flatmate was watching and he's convinced that france knew ireland's calls - he said every irish lineout was 50-50.. and bonnaire said after the match that after half time the Irish "changed their alignments a bit, and became less predictable.."!!! knowing EOS he's been using the same calls for the last 7 years, and refuses to change "because he's always used these ones" (like the back play in other words)

[Neil F]

The Irish lineout problems certainly were consistent with France knowing where the ball was going and where it was going to land. The trouble I have with this is that when the lineout started going badly wrong, calls were being made in a huddle, rather than at the line itself - clearly, Ireland must also have been thinking that France had rumbled the calls - yet the problems persisted. While France knew where the ball was going and were able to react and get men up to steal the ball, it doesn't seem that any calls were rumbled; the whole thing is actually much more consistent with a hooker throwing the ball into the lineout far too slowly, which Jackman was - France saw the throw, could guess where it was going, especially since there was little, to no, variation in where the ball was going, and had time to get a jumper into the air to take the ball. Jackman was lobbing the ball in ludicriously slowly for an international hooker.

[Ulsterfan1310]

Was watching it at a restaurant so there was no sound, so who was the eeijt at the end who kicked the ball? We were all ranging lol! Was it Murphy?

[Ithryn]

yep, but stupid as it was it was a split second decision and we cant really judge him for it

[RedHand Man]

Murphy kicked the ball. Overall am quite pleased with the 2nd half performance with Leamy looking back to his best ina green jersey. I also thought B'OD played quite well making a coupple of decent half breaks and Trimble was IMO the best Irish back.

[Gnome]

Last minute kick to end the game....I was watching the game on tv but missed which Einstein actually chipped the ball out at the end. No mention from commentators, nor in match reports, niet.
Was beginning to wonder if I had imagined it, but thankfully can see from this board, that I wasn't the only one who experienced "death by a thousand cuts" at watching that kick. The Forwards were about to do , what they had already demonstrated previously they can do, when the ball was kicked out...
BTW; I still don't know for sure who kicked it (have two sightings on this board of 1. Kearney or 2. Murphy).
Nevermind, the game was very exciting in the second half.
One sobering thought for the road though. If Ireland, with all their accumulated caps, cant beat a relatively inexperienced French team, what chance will this Ire team have in future (that French squad will only get better...much better) ?

[Rooster]

Murphy kicked the ball

[cables]

You will find both names in match reports also.

I have it on DVD and I have checked it - it was Murphy.

[Neil F]

yep, but stupid as it was it was a split second decision and we cant really judge him for it

Quite right. We should judge him for coming off his wing to make tackles, then totally failing to actually make the tackle.

[Rooster]

For those that still have doubts it is on video now

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