The UAFC

One other nugget I heard in the aftermath of the Japan game - full disclosure third hand (a mate is good mates with a guy who used to work in S&C with one of the provinces) anyway this guy spoke to a senior member of the squad who he is pretty tight with, said you guys looked busted out there, what training had you done for the conditions? The answer - basically none... they had done a week in Portugal, but of course while it’s hot it’s not humid. The player said they were really running fit, but couldn’t hack the conditions.. A bit odd that the master of detail wasn’t over that..

Joe is a top coach. His lack of a plan B for Ireland makes me think one of two things:

1. He has no confidence in irish technical ability. He wanted a low risk gameplan as he had no confidence that irish players could execute anything more ambitious.

2. A low risk gameplan based on kicking and defence usually does very well in RWCs. As shown by Wales and South africa, you dont need to be overly ambitious or creative to win a RWC. As pointed out above, Joes gameplan is one designed to keep you in the game and win by squeezing the life out of the opposition.

The Japanese game was the killer. Ireland thought they would walk that one by squeezing Japan up front. Japan had other ideas and the ref didnt help ireland too. Topping the pool would have made a massive difference.

The fact is there just isnt the depth in irish rugby. They rely on their invincibles to perform every week. When that doesnt happen the wheels come off.

Just want to say this a fantastic thread best I have seen on here.
I've not seen anything better in the media.
Very shocking that BOD and POC never saw impending wc failure coming but I generally think the worst pundits are the recently retired ones.
The lieutenants were never going to throw their general under a bus.

Don't want to go over the old points made but I remember the old Jock Stein comment "You can say something different every day but after 4 years they hear the same thing".
A fitting comment for Joe's legacy.

Amazing story about Jamie Heaslip. In his book he claims he failed a drugs test after a Churchill Cup match.
He has today denied it!
If he did in fact fail a test was this information ever in the public domain?
Since we have such lily white sponsors in Guinness and BOI, I wondwr what tbeir thoughts are on the matter.

Kimmage has him in his sights.

againstthehead wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:01 pm
The Japanese game was the killer. Ireland thought they would walk that one by squeezing Japan up front. Japan had other ideas and the ref didnt help ireland too. Topping the pool would have made a massive difference.

No it wouldn't have. We would have outeverythinged by SA too.

Saw Mr Catt today.

I said “Hello Mr Catt” and he smiled warmly.

Jetstream wrote: ↑Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:29 pm Amazing story about Jamie Heaslip. In his book he claims he failed a drugs test after a Churchill Cup match.
He has today denied it!
If he did in fact fail a test was this information ever in the public domain?
Since we have such lily white sponsors in Guinness and BOI, I wondwr what tbeir thoughts are on the matter.

What was he on yesterday. Ballbeg.

After an enjoyable evening at the Ulster Hall yesterday, being enterained by The Post Modern Jukebox, I decided to have a look at other upcoming entertainment happening in the not too distant future. Low and behold I came across this.
"Joe Schmidt comes to the Waterfront Hall Belfast, on 04 December 2019 for his first public appearances since the World Cup for an exclusive evening of discussion and audience questions to celebrate the publication of his memoir Ordinary Joe."
Tickets for this event are £50 a pop so needless to say I will be giving this a miss.

What a load of shoite

£50? You just have to be joking. Who in their right mind...?

When his memoirs are in the 50p bin in Bargain Books (or whatever they're called these days) would somebody give me a shout?

I’ve ordered the book for the wife for Christmas.

Roddy Doyle is only charging 20 quid for togging out at the Ulster Hall next year.

well the snippets of his book that are cropping up in the media are pretty mind-blowing, the emperor really didn't have any kecks on. An example, he reckons they might have lost against Japan because he thinks the players didn't take him seriously enough when he was telling him what a good side they were

I'm sure his detailed and unsparing self-critique is in a later chapter

So, Rory says it was the humidity what did for Ireland!
No one knew?! Slippery balls ( have we heard that before) were beyond our skills set.
Great respect for Rory, but very hard to take this seriously. ABs didn't seem bothered in qf.
So much for JS meticulous preparation.