Six Nations week 2

[Jackie Brown]

http://m.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six ... 51000.html

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[againstthehead]

Don't see to much in that interview.

[Jackie Brown]

Joe will use it to direct attention away from his tom kite selections..

It is a nothing comment which would have garnered zero attention until Joe stepped in. Shows how choreographed this whole nonsense is.

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[Russ]

Joe will use it to direct attention away from his tom kite selections..

It is a nothing comment which would have garnered zero attention until Joe stepped in. Shows how choreographed this whole nonsense is.

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Wonder who Joes PR firm is

[Neill_M]

Going to guess IKON

[BaggyTrousers]

A right hook to Schmidt's jaw, I've always liked George Hook

Following Ireland’s loss to France in Paris this afternoon, George Hook has compared Joe Schmidt to one of the most polarizing world leaders in history.

A decidedly average Les Bleus side ran out 10-9 winners over an Irish outfit who’s energy levels clearly deteriorated as the contest wore on.

While the visitors dominated the first half, only Johnny Sexton’s three penalties provided evidence to that effect. Ireland rarely looked like breaching the French line and they failed to score in the second period.

A long time vocal critic of Schmidt’s compact attacking system, George Hook told Tom McGurk on Independent.ie live match streaming that the Kiwi’s tactical intransigence and low risk offence made him unworthy of the high praise he has received and akin to a certain beacon of conservatism.

“It is a miserable defeat. Eventually somebody else is going to have to ask questions about this coach. He has borne a charmed life. There are actually suggestions he is greatest coach in the history of Irish rugby, the greatest coach in the world; that is abject nonsense.

“Schmidt is the Margaret Thatcher of coaching, he is unable to turn. He cannot see the evidence in front of his eyes that the rest of us can see, that this Irish team cannot adapt. It’s based on the most conservative selection, game plan and strategy that I have possibly seen in the professional era,” he said.

The Newstalk presenter was scathing in his summation of Ireland’s lack of try scoring threat and the manner in which, for the second week running, poor scrummaging led to the concession of decisive scores.

“I’ve been saying it since Schmidt took over at Ireland; we are playing this awful conservative game. We own this match for two thirds of it and all we could get was three penalties. We were always on the edge of the abyss, and France were always within a score of winning the match.

“We cannot win without a scrum, which we don’t have. We only have one legitimate prop forward, I know we have Healy and Ross to come, but under the current strength we only had one legitimate prop to play, so the scrum was under pressure. But, we can’t score tries.”

I've been saying it for some time, Fibber is a crap selector, the world and it's mother knows Bob is in crap form so Fibber rushes him in there. He played the hapless Zebo at 15 rather than allo Payne to be seen as the best 15 in the country & today he eulogises a ordinary enough but hard working game by Jared because he knows that as it was before the competition started people wanted Payne at 15, all the journalists were tipping it, asking for it.

Fibber is going to lose the shine on his halo very quickly, his team were great & he was magnificent when they were winning with crap rugby, nobody is going to support it when it loses, fans are fickle, Fibber out or bloody well change this painful garbage.

[Snipe Watson]

A right hook to Schmidt's jaw, I've always liked George Hook

Following Ireland’s loss to France in Paris this afternoon, George Hook has compared Joe Schmidt to one of the most polarizing world leaders in history.

A decidedly average Les Bleus side ran out 10-9 winners over an Irish outfit who’s energy levels clearly deteriorated as the contest wore on.

While the visitors dominated the first half, only Johnny Sexton’s three penalties provided evidence to that effect. Ireland rarely looked like breaching the French line and they failed to score in the second period.

A long time vocal critic of Schmidt’s compact attacking system, George Hook told Tom McGurk on Independent.ie live match streaming that the Kiwi’s tactical intransigence and low risk offence made him unworthy of the high praise he has received and akin to a certain beacon of conservatism.

“It is a miserable defeat. Eventually somebody else is going to have to ask questions about this coach. He has borne a charmed life. There are actually suggestions he is greatest coach in the history of Irish rugby, the greatest coach in the world; that is abject nonsense.

“Schmidt is the Margaret Thatcher of coaching, he is unable to turn. He cannot see the evidence in front of his eyes that the rest of us can see, that this Irish team cannot adapt. It’s based on the most conservative selection, game plan and strategy that I have possibly seen in the professional era,” he said.

The Newstalk presenter was scathing in his summation of Ireland’s lack of try scoring threat and the manner in which, for the second week running, poor scrummaging led to the concession of decisive scores.

“I’ve been saying it since Schmidt took over at Ireland; we are playing this awful conservative game. We own this match for two thirds of it and all we could get was three penalties. We were always on the edge of the abyss, and France were always within a score of winning the match.

“We cannot win without a scrum, which we don’t have. We only have one legitimate prop forward, I know we have Healy and Ross to come, but under the current strength we only had one legitimate prop to play, so the scrum was under pressure. But, we can’t score tries.”

I've been saying it for some time, Fibber is a crap selector, the world and it's mother knows Bob is in crap form so Fibber rushes him in there. He played the hapless Zebo at 15 rather than allo Payne to be seen as the best 15 in the country & today he eulogises a ordinary enough but hard working game by Jared because he knows that as it was before the competition started people wanted Payne at 15, all the journalists were tipping it, asking for it.

Fibber is going to lose the shine on his halo very quickly, his team were great & he was magnificent when they were winning with crap rugby, nobody is going to support it when it loses, fans are fickle, Fibber out or bloody well change this painful garbage.

I agree, but disagree, if you know what I mean. Joe isn't a bad selector. He picks the right team to play a very safe brand of rugby he and his paymasters want. Joe is yet another coach hewn from the same conservative log as several of his predecessors. This is no accident. The IRFU select and instruct their coaches in their own image. They take the same "easy now" "mind how you go" "don't lose at all costs" approach to everything they do. Ireland will never win anything with any style as the very system forbids it. Before anyone raises the plus 30 hammering of Scotland to win the championship last season, consider the circumstances. They had to go for it as they knew what Wales had done and what England were likely to do.
A great piece of writing from George by the way.

[ruckover]

I think Joe is one of the best coaches in world rugby, but not for Ireland. How can the Irish province that is top of the Guinness PRO12 and came the closest to qualifying from the pool stages of the SDC have only 3 representatives while the side in third that were humiliated in the pool stages have 13? The sooner we hire someone with absolutely no connection to any of the provinces whatsoever the better because only then will we see an Ireland team picked truly on form and not on past glories.

The fact that our 12, 13 and 15 axis was not McCloskey/Henshaw/Payne from the very start was nothing short of criminal. Zebo last week and Bob this week proved that we are persisting with completely ineffective players and it is frustrating as a fan. I feel for Jackson and McCloskey who completely deserve to be starting for Ireland. From an Ulster perspective it's fantastic they're available for us but I am devastated they don't get the international recognition they deserve.

We should have beaten Wales last week, we should have easily beaten one of the worst French sides in history quite handily too and yet here we are with one point from two games. It's a joke. I thought Schmidt might be the one to chance Irish rugby but it's very clear that he's just as blue-tinted as Kidney was red-tinted.

[Snipe Watson]

I think Joe is one of the best coaches in world rugby, but not for Ireland. How can the Irish province that is top of the Guinness PRO12 and came the closest to qualifying from the pool stages of the SDC have only 3 representatives while the side in third that were humiliated in the pool stages have 13? The sooner we hire someone with absolutely no connection to any of the provinces whatsoever the better because only then will we see an Ireland team picked truly on form and not on past glories.

The fact that our 12, 13 and 15 axis was not McCloskey/Henshaw/Payne from the very start was nothing short of criminal. Zebo last week and Bob this week proved that we are persisting with completely ineffective players and it is frustrating as a fan. I feel for Jackson and McCloskey who completely deserve to be starting for Ireland. From an Ulster perspective it's fantastic they're available for us but I am devastated they don't get the international recognition they deserve.

We should have beaten Wales last week, we should have easily beaten one of the worst French sides in history quite handily too and yet here we are with one point from two games. It's a joke. I thought Schmidt might be the one to chance Irish rugby but it's very clear that he's just as blue-tinted as Kidney was red-tinted.

McCloskey is not ready for international rugby yet. We saw that much on Friday night. If Ulster benefit from Joe's intransigence, I'm happy as Larry. Had Joe selected Gilroy ahead of Dave Kearney, we would have lost that game. I genuinely fear that Gilroy and Olding could be called in for the next round of games.

[Deraless]

I can't see Joe making many changes for the England match. He/the IRFU will have realistically targeted 3 wins so a victory will be needed at Twickenham, however unlikely. So I can't see him changing the habit of a lifetime. If we get duffed by England then changes might occur for Italy +/- Scotland.

[Snipe Watson]

I can't see Joe making many changes for the England match. He/the IRFU will have realistically targeted 3 wins so a victory will be needed at Twickenham, however unlikely. So I can't see him changing the habit of a lifetime. If we get duffed by England then changes might occur for Italy +/- Scotland.

Aye, that's a fair shout.

[ruckover]

I feel like too much is being made of McCloskey's performance on Friday night. By my reckoning that was his first poor performance of the season, an exception to the rule in my opinion. To suddenly write him off as unready for international rugby on that one performance is ludicrous given how he's played in every other game so far this year.

[bazzaj]

Pretty much to be expected. Average Ireland side with limited (if any) attacking threat. Pack lacks the power and when SOB went off we had nothing. We're incredibly well drilled and organised but that can only take you so far. You need a bit of talent and flair or raw power to break sides down and we had neither. We competed for 40 mins, but French were able to bring on some strong players and smashed Ireland off the park in the second 40. I actually think that Joe needs to revert to aerial bombardment again. We can't go through sides, we can't go around sides so just go over them. Play the territory and look for penalties. We have a lot of players who are very good in the air so we may as well play to the one strength we have. Boring but at least it brings titles. Good thing Italy and Scotland are at home or it could have been a really embarrassing campaign.

Agree with all that ATH except for the bit at the end.
I think the Jocks may well turn us over if we dont get the finger out.

[bazzaj]

I can't see Joe making many changes for the England match. He/the IRFU will have realistically targeted 3 wins so a victory will be needed at Twickenham, however unlikely. So I can't see him changing the habit of a lifetime. If we get duffed by England then changes might occur for Italy +/- Scotland.

Come on England then!

[big mervyn]

I can't see Joe making many changes for the England match. He/the IRFU will have realistically targeted 3 wins so a victory will be needed at Twickenham, however unlikely. So I can't see him changing the habit of a lifetime. If we get duffed by England then changes might occur for Italy +/- Scotland.

Come on England then!

Of course, Joe will be even more conservative then, in a bid to salvage a couple of wins and secure 4th spot.
At least there are no Pro12 games on those weekends.