Ireland vs France

[HammerTime]

Having had low expectations of the match, I declined my usual approach of drinking sparingly before the match and pinned a quantity of Tom's finest Guinness in Doheny & Nesbitt for several hours after a hearty breakfast. Having paused briefly only to go to & from the game, I watched with interest but can't swear to have taken in everything.

I was impressed as most were with the first half but after 50 minutes it was clearly a case of can we hold on, no question of us adding to our score but for the call on the illegal assault on Keet about which I am told Hook decided the shoulder to shoulder off the ball is legal. He should try that on refs who routinely award penalties against players who alter their running lines to obstruct players. A penalty all day long, if not quite clear enough for a penalty try decision. A cowardly decision as I suspect that the TV ref considered he had to ignore it or go Penalty try. I was sitting opposite the 22 on that side & Earls was certainly the quickest of the 3 chasers and was getting there first.

That apart a brave display in a 15 v 23 man game. The Irish bench may as well have been on holiday. Henderson had no time to get into the game, DOC was no improvement on Ryan who I assume is still having back trouble for why you would sub him instead of the waste of skin & bone I don't know.

I was incensed by Reddan, he is an ar$e of a player and amongst his first couple of "contributions" were 2 episodes costing valuable territory each time. I was more than happy to break his legs at that stage but of course felt instant sympathy for the man when the French actually accomplished the feat. Dreadful injury & I hope he heals well at his age.

Ferg played a good 60 minutes but then made mistakes late on. Kearney good but that sliced kick when he had the entire field to find and no one back was a disaster and cost us ultimately.

Excellent display by the Ginger Prince after the unwarranted stick last time. His one weakness there was he lacks 5 to 10 metres of range compared to most frontline kickers and the 2 misses were range issues for me. On the positive side, his general play appears spot on again after a tricky enough spell this side of Christmas for Ulster.

Murray yet again not perfect but the only show in town at 9, people need to stop harping on about him for there is no viable alternative even before Reddan's unfortunate injury. Not sure he warrants it but Small p should bench next week as there is nothing to gain from playing Boss.

I completely and utterly concur with Shan about Ross, the tragedy is the lack of alternative. Neither Robin Hood nor Killer could be exposed to a French scrum.

Fitzgerald did nothing to convince me that he is an international player, he is like a fart in a trance, you can almost see his brain clicking through the gears and he loses whatever space might be available to a player with a normal brain.

Donncha is now officially toast, unable to make the slightest improvement with fresh legs, another position with few realistic alternatives given Dan's lack of oumph this season & POC's injury woes. I see the great man is supposed to be starting a comeback this week but clearly too late for Rome.

Finally I was embarrassed by the atmosphere, it sounded like a French home game to me. I hate the Aviva, a mess of a stadium.

Must watch the game sometime to see what actually happened

The 'famous Lansdowne atmosphere' is a myth and I was never that impressed with the old stadium either. Many proper rugby fans have been priced out with more prawn sandwiches replacing them, who's main reason for being there is to be 'seen' and to update their status on facebook saying they are at the 'big game.' A loada bollix, the IRFU brings heartless commercialism to a new level. That O2 advert on RTE at half time makes me cringe every time.

[bazzaj]

Ahem, POM was joint top tackler with McC on 9 tackles, ACCORDING TO THE STATS!
There, I started it again.

Playing for any of the home nations puts a player automatically in contention for a lions place.
The very fact that these 2 players have never been mentioned as options anywhere would tell you that they are perhaps not good enough at this level.
At least POM has time on his side but I just dont think he is dynamic enough to be a decent international, though will be a good servant for Munster rugby over the oncoming years no doubt.

[Setanta]

Since all seem to be agreed on our 'jumpers'; why bring on DOC for Ryan and not for McC. Surely DOC is also for the grunt work and fresh legs? Somebody please explain the logic?

[Article]

Thought Ireland were magnificant and the French deserve alot credit for the fightback despite their coach. We needed a bench and we didnt have one. Reading the Posts here ...it crazy blaming Ross who had a good game in the scrum but expecting him to go for 80Mins is just crazy in such a physical game and in such trenchant conditions. Cronin also should have go on for 10 mins as Rory was out on his feet. Murray was subbed because his knee gave way and whilst reddan wasnt playing well I feel really sorry for the guy.

Someone is really going to get very seriously injured if the game played in such conditions continues - time to think about the season we play in and also how collisions are managed - weighing in centres and wingers at 16st should be banned :-}

[BaggyTrousers]

Substituting Murray at 60 minutes, whether or not he was knackered, seemed to be insane, considering the front row all had to play the full 80 and must have been a lot more knackered than Murray.

Rocky I think the only reason Reddan came on was because Kiddinya knew he would be slaughtered if he didn't use the bench and lost. He also knew that half of the bench was unusable. The lack of resources available is almost making me feel sorry for Kidney in a season where with just one extra 3 pointer at crucial stages could have seen Ireland winning every match, deserving or not ......................almost sorry for him.

[Neil F]

Ryan was carrying an injury. Seems unlikely that the move was tactical, Setanta.

Article; Ireland were fantastic in that game for 37 minutes. As in all four games, Ireland didn't show up in the second half. One can blame fatigue or the lack of the bench but these issues lie firmly with the coaching staff. Selecting a bench of 8 players, none of whom the coach really appears to trust to play international rugby, is asking for disaster. I don't think many players can be faulted for their individual contributions but the management system that pits 15 players against 23 needs serious reconsideration.

Baggy; did you suddenly age over the weekend? You've come over all gentile, here! One could almost feel sorry for Kidney if the situation faced this season with injuries wasn't entirely manufactured by Kidney's own long-term failings as a coach. It's sort of like pitying someone who gets to drunk they pi$h themselves...

[mikerob]

You've come over all gentile, here!

Not Jewish?

[AndyB]

McCarthy is there for the grunt work which he does well.
We have Ryan, Heaslip, POM and SOB for jumping.
I don't have any particular brief for McC but I wouldn't be as crtical of him as some seem to be.
Mike Ross needs to be used more sparingly. I agree with Neil that we have had a major problem at THP for years.
Maybe this new Professional Game Board that's coming in shortly will change things?

Maybe so regarding McCarthys grunt work. If that's the case he should stay out of the road when we have the ball. He has no hands.

[Amiga500]

The lack of resources available is almost making me feel sorry for Kidney

Screw that.

Kidney is singularly responsible for the lack of a squad through consistently playing old and out-of-form players for years without an eye to the future. Madigan and Jackson should both have played some in the summer an Autumn. Same with Paul Marshall, same with Tommy O'Donnell. Robbie Henshaw should have got some game time in the autumn (although he would have been out for Sat).

Injury has pretty much been Ireland's sole squad building device throughout DeClown Kidney's reign.


edit: Cos im a chube that can't work comments!

[Setanta]

What is worse, injury was also the reason for change throughout EAS's reign. We seem to be incapable of learning!

[bazzaj]

The lack of resources available is almost making me feel sorry for Kidney

Screw that.

Kidney is singularly responsible for the lack of a squad through consistently playing old and out-of-form players for years without an eye to the future. Madigan and Jackson should both have played some in the summer an Autumn. Same with Paul Marshall, same with Tommy O'Donnell. Robbie Henshaw should have got some game time in the autumn (although he would have been out for Sat).

Injury has pretty much been Ireland's sole squad building device throughout DeClown Kidney's reign.


edit: Cos im a chube that can't work comments!

+1
Said that till I am blue in the face.
I remember people saying that we had to pick Darcy as there is no one else.
The reason that there was no one else is because he never developed any one else.
Funny the first player he throws into that position (Luke Marshall injury enforced selection) and its a case of Gordon who?

[rumncoke]

To be fair about hi(DKs) comment on inexperienced players

Jackson Marshall and Henderson are all under 22 and wouldn't have been considered for Internationals before this year

PoM is not that much older .

What frustrates me about DK is that persists to select players who have failed to convince

McFadden is not a wing ( but sound enough )

Fitzgerald is as Baggy puts a fart let out of a bottle ( I fear what might happen every time he gets the ball )

Earls as a centre --white line fever

McCarthy stats be damned -- there for the grunt -- the rugby equivalent of porno sound effects--- all sound and no performance.

RoG on the bench to give him a few more caps towards a record and I fear he may want to award BoD with a few from the bench caps as well towards the records.

Sorry while loyalty is nice given the limitations of resources and the need for players to get experience it is a luxury Ireland can not afford

[Russ]

I'd rather BOD had the cap record ahead of ROG to be honest

[Neil F]

Bazz; in no way is it desirable to throw a player into a sink or swim situation in the 6 Nations. In no situation is it desirable to have a player who, to my knowledge, has never started a Heineken Cup game (Luke Marshall) making his international debut as a starting centre in the 6 Nations. It's not a case of Marshall's talent, ability or mentality; it is simply that, just because Marshall has survived such an introduction to international rugby, doesn't mean that it's a broadly good policy. Others may not have fared so well and have been written off, once more, for a number of years. See Tommy Bowe, for example. Indeed, I also seem to remember that the general consensus was that D'Arcy was the right man at the start of the 6 Nations to start for Ireland BECAUSE of Kidney's failure to select anyone else. No one was saying that Kidney had done right before the 6 Nations in not selecting alternatives. More than, in the context of Kidney not selecting anyone else, D'Arcy was the right option.

Injury has pretty much been Ireland's sole squad building device throughout DeClown Kidney's reign.

You had me up to this point, Amiga; actually, Kidney's preferred team is very, very different from O'Sullivan's preferred team. With the exception of O'Connell and O'Driscoll, none of Kidney's preferred XV were established internationals during the O'Sullivan era. These changes were a mixture of injury, form and retirement. The problem with Kidney wasn't that he didn't change things - he changed the Ireland team, slowly, to his preferred group of players. It is the fact that, since he has done this, he has ignored everything else he's seen, in order to continue rewarding the players he initially brought into the Ireland team.

[BaggyTrousers]

You've come over all gentile, here!

Not Jewish?

I can confirm that no fecker has nicked my pullover.

Neil, there is plenty of merit in what you say about the coaching teams shortcomings however I stand my ground, I almost feel sorry for Kidney, this with very little change, in a season where he hasn't has his sorrows to seek, especially with injuries, could almost have been a successful campaign when he needed it most.

The fates however could now be about to hand him the ultimate slap in the bake - Ireland's first ever 6Ns defeat to Italy.