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Not so much - Cullen spent the 2nd half parked behind the goalposts at the Davin end.for dog and ulcer wrote:mikerob wrote:This is Liam Toland's take on the line-out.
Leo Cullen’s bird’s eye view from the stand could have helped.
Liam Toland is always very perceptive.
Not even George Hook is blaming Rory and only Rory, for the shambles.
That reads to me that with Fla (instead of Best) there would have been no pressure in his opinion.We are supposedly the fourth or fifth best team in the world but we have a scrum that is in truth 12th-ranked, we have a line-out that when push comes to shove is under pressure without Jerry Flannery.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/spo ... 08445.html'Sometimes you just have to hold your hand up'
Parks dishes out a dose of realityTrying too hard proves costly for FerrisIreland got lost in unknown territoryBeaming Robinson full of praiseShaky France clinch Grand SlamNot the time to be tackling rule changesRory Best accepted the daunting assignment of facing the post-match media scrum and was quick to acknowledge his role in the defeat, writes JOHN O'SULLIVAN
EXPERIENCE DOESN’T offer a salve for the exposed nerve-endings, just perhaps a better understanding of the emotions involved. Every time that Rory Best walked to the touchline at Croke Park, wiped down the ball, squinted at that narrow tunnel between the respective packs and tried to pick an abstract point in the Dublin skyline, he must have felt the glare of 80,000 pairs of eyes.
When the lineout is going well the minutiae of throwing seems incidental, a barely conscious process but when the engine of a team misfires everyone turns to the mechanic for an explanation. It’s not an easy process because of the number of component parts that must fire simultaneously.
Ireland’s lineout has been the mainstay in terms of an attacking platform throughout most of the Six Nations Championship. The Scots took a wrecking ball and unceremoniously demolished it. Seven turnovers meant that Ireland were literally out of touch in this aspect of the game on the day.
Best threw a couple crooked and he’ll take responsibility but in looking for the root cause it’s fairer to look at the dynamic of the unit. Paul O’Connell took responsibility, pointing out that he’d made some iffy calls; Stephen Ferris explained that it wasn’t down to Best and O’Connell but a communal miscalculation.
The last place Best probably wished to dwell on Saturday night was to become the focal point of another scrum, this one of the media variety. It is a measure of the man that he accepted the assignment and brought to it an unembroidered honesty.
“Sometimes you just have to hold your hand up and say it was a poor day. I didn’t throw particularly well and it was just one of those things that we’ll have to go away and learn from. When things are going grand, like in the last two games, you take all the plaudits. Now you have to take all the criticism too and that’s just team sport. If you can’t win your lineouts, especially down towards their line, you’re going to struggle: especially with the lineout we have. That’s just something I’m just going to have to take on the chin and live with.
“I don’t want to take anything away from them. They’re a fantastic team. They played particularly well today and put a lot of pressure on us. But at the same time we pride ourselves on our lineout as well and we fell well short of the standards that we set.”
While pride is packed into every sportsperson’s kitbag, Best pointed out that the disappointment was not because of personal failure or unit malfunction, but that they had missed out on a Triple Crown and a chance to complete their time at Croke Park with yet another snapshot of success.
“I’m not sure if ‘stung’ is the right word, it was just one of those things that at this level teams are going to their homework and put pressure on us, and it’s just one of those things that whenever one or two go it’s very hard confidence -wise to get it back up.
“Unfortunately a lot of the can will fall with me and it’s just something I’ll have to deal with when I get back home. I’ll just have to show with Ulster that it was a one-off, a blip; unfortunately it happened. We wanted to build on the last few years, produce a big performance and get a Triple Crown out of it. Obviously we fell short on all of the above and we’re very, very disappointed.
“Anytime there’s a match and silverware on the line, especially at home, we want to win it. In the dressing-room there are 22, 23 bitterly disappointed men. We’re very, very competitive; we really pride ourselves on winning things and performing when it counts. And unfortunately we didn’t do that and a very good Scotland team really held us out.”
In the last decade successive Irish teams have worked hard to dispel the myth that only the comfy blanket of being underdogs fits snugly. Best was adamant that trying to back up last season’s Grand Slam certainly didn’t inhibit Ireland in their goals this season.
“I don’t think it has particularly been a burden. We are a very competitive bunch, we pride ourselves on the big performances – you look especially at Munster and Leinster in the Heineken Cup games.
“They’re the sort of games as a professional athlete you want to play in. You want to play in the big games when there’s a lot at stake. So from that point of view trying to back up a Grand Slam, while it was always going to be difficult, I don’t think it was particularly something that got to us.
“I think it’s just unfortunate at this level that the margins are so fine, that if you don’t play to your full potential every game in what is a great competition, you’re going to fall short. If you look at Scotland, they were a couple of minutes away from beating Wales and with a drop-goal or penalty against England; they would have been going for their own Triple Crown.
“So in that regard it’s a tight competition and definitely one of the best in the world. It gives us a good set- up going into the tour Down Under, and even looking ahead to World Cups.”
Not really as the Leinster men and Munster men on the pitch were, by and large, rubbish as well.againstthehead wrote:No 1 rule lads: always blame the token Ulsterman: Humph, Trimble, Best...
That said, they may have a point this time...
You take your own view on it.cables wrote:Not even George Hook is blaming Rory and only Rory, for the shambles.
This was what Hook wrote on Sunday:
That reads to me that with Fla (instead of Best) there would have been no pressure in his opinion.We are supposedly the fourth or fifth best team in the world but we have a scrum that is in truth 12th-ranked, we have a line-out that when push comes to shove is under pressure without Jerry Flannery.
Conor O'Shea certainly does know what he's talking about and I agreed with him that Cullen should have been introduced.Snipe Watson wrote:
Not that Hook would be my first choice as an expert witness, but on RTE he specifically deflected McGurks finger pointing away from Best saying that Flan was better than Rory at the lineout (which is true), but they were all responsible. His big issue was the non appearance of Cullen. Conor O'Shea, who may just know what he is talking about, said something similar.
top post shan, but hard to excuse 3 crooked throws...Shan wrote:Conor O'Shea certainly does know what he's talking about and I agreed with him that Cullen should have been introduced.Snipe Watson wrote:
Not that Hook would be my first choice as an expert witness, but on RTE he specifically deflected McGurks finger pointing away from Best saying that Flan was better than Rory at the lineout (which is true), but they were all responsible. His big issue was the non appearance of Cullen. Conor O'Shea, who may just know what he is talking about, said something similar.
Hook, despite spouting a lot of drivel, does occasionally get it right.
McGurk truly is a tosser of the highest order and should not be on national television in my opinion.He will always try and blame Ulster players where he can but not because of provincial bias normal supporters are afflicted with.
Again it is easy to just blame the hooker every time the lineout malfunctions and there are times when it is entirely their fault.However in this case it is obvious there is collective responsibility from both players and management team.The question I'd ask is why our management team have allowed our lineout to become predictable enough for the Scots to tear it apart at will.Not good enough to just say that Scotland have a great lineout.We are supposed to have a great lineout so why could we not baulk at least a majority of their attempts to take our ball and also to compete effectively on their throw.Management team, together with main lineout organisers as well as the rest of the pack, need to go away now and see what can be done to put this right in future and supporters need to stop always looking to blame an individual for an aspect of play that relies on at least three players every lineout and which the entire pack contribute to over the course of the game.
Totally correct Shanagainstthehead wrote:top post shan, but hard to excuse 3 crooked throws...Shan wrote:Conor O'Shea certainly does know what he's talking about and I agreed with him that Cullen should have been introduced.Snipe Watson wrote:
Not that Hook would be my first choice as an expert witness, but on RTE he specifically deflected McGurks finger pointing away from Best saying that Flan was better than Rory at the lineout (which is true), but they were all responsible. His big issue was the non appearance of Cullen. Conor O'Shea, who may just know what he is talking about, said something similar.
Hook, despite spouting a lot of drivel, does occasionally get it right.
McGurk truly is a tosser of the highest order and should not be on national television in my opinion.He will always try and blame Ulster players where he can but not because of provincial bias normal supporters are afflicted with.
Again it is easy to just blame the hooker every time the lineout malfunctions and there are times when it is entirely their fault.However in this case it is obvious there is collective responsibility from both players and management team.The question I'd ask is why our management team have allowed our lineout to become predictable enough for the Scots to tear it apart at will.Not good enough to just say that Scotland have a great lineout.We are supposed to have a great lineout so why could we not baulk at least a majority of their attempts to take our ball and also to compete effectively on their throw.Management team, together with main lineout organisers as well as the rest of the pack, need to go away now and see what can be done to put this right in future and supporters need to stop always looking to blame an individual for an aspect of play that relies on at least three players every lineout and which the entire pack contribute to over the course of the game.
Why?Shan wrote: McGurk ....He will always try and blame Ulster players where he can but not because of provincial bias
Both really in my opinion although I wouldn't state it as fact as I probably half did in my earlier post.It is more from a remark here and there when we are playing England which may be playful but I don't think has a place on publicly owned television.Not a guy I have much time for as apart from this he is a complete ignoramus, full of his own importance and spends all his RTE time trying to wind up Hook and cutting people off instead of allowing Conor O'Shea to give the benefit of his analytical skills.I think he thinks people watch 6N coverage on RTE to listen to him spout crap rather than to watch the rugby.Snipe Watson wrote:Why?Shan wrote: McGurk ....He will always try and blame Ulster players where he can but not because of provincial bias
because he's a total tube?
A bigot?
Or both?
