Rugby 2018 Discussion

Still buzzing. But chatting to friends about it we all looked at this a different way to the first win - the nerves were intense but not losing your mind levels, because Ireland had done it before. I imagine the team felt the same way. We made breakthroughs a good few years ago in psychologically knowing we could beat SA and AUS and now we're through that barrier against NZ too.

All I want is for them to carry it through to the WC. It'll be devastating if they go out at a QF again, but if there's anyone in the world who can guide them there, it's Joe Schmidt.
 
There were quite a few moments like this where disaster was seconds away, POM's gather in the corner being another good example. Kearney getting himself in the right place to get an offload pass from Barrett being another. If a few of these had gone the other way, it would have been a loss.
 
This is a comment on The Observer/Guardian match report
What joe as done over the last 12 months is remarkable he completely changed the way Ireland played. 16/17 Ireland where a very disciplined but quite limited side, the main tactic was one out runners couple of phases and box kick, yes they where good at it but joe realised that Ireland would never win a wc playing like that.
Last autum starting with sa we saw a completely different approach, we saw Ireland changing the point of attack and keeping the ball and not kicking, going for the corner instead of 3s basically grinding teams to the point of submission while mainting discipline and making few errors. Making one or two metres a phase getting quick ball and repeat. The green machine was born. Cutting loose on pen advantage but not making errrors apart from that.
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With my Connacht hat on, I wonder how much of that is down to the influence of Pat Lam? He lead the way in Ireland with a completely possession-based game, showing that you could refuse to kick the ball away, run from absolutely anywhere and be very successful with it.
 
unchanged_lineup said:
This is a comment on The Observer/Guardian match report


With my Connacht hat on, I wonder how much of that is down to the influence of Pat Lam? He lead the way in Ireland with a completely possession-based game, showing that you could refuse to kick the ball away, run from absolutely anywhere and be very successful with it.
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Adding a finisher like stockdale helps as well. You know you can score from anywhere so don't need to play the field position game as much. Players like lamour coming through will help continue that
 
Surprised the officials missed this from Siya Kolisi. Surprised he won't face further sanction.

 
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A ten minute spell by POM that'll probably become legendary




As a bonus, it was so mad to see Healy in the first one (and Furlong later on) both going off panting for breath, having given absolutely everything. Nothing left in the tank at all.
 
unchanged_lineup said:
A ten minute spell by POM that'll probably become legendary




As a bonus, it was so mad to see Healy in the first one (and Furlong later on) both going off panting for breath, having given absolutely everything. Nothing left in the tank at all.
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Definitely up there with the greatest individual rugby performances. Such a warrior.
 
K2K said:


We are all set.

New Zealand overwhelming favourites as usual.
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That group isnt very nice for England - compated to the others, still expect them to be able to do for Argentina, but thought they'd do better in 2015
France v Argentina first up, and England face those two in their last two games, so at least they'll know who they absolutely have to beat to get through.
 
EdWeatherall said:
That group isnt very nice for England - compated to the others, still expect them to be able to do for Argentina, but thought they'd do better in 2015
France v Argentina first up, and England face those two in their last two games, so at least they'll know who they absolutely have to beat to get through.
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This is the problem Ireland had last time. We had that monumental match with France that left us with injuries (Sexton, O'Connell, O'Mahoney) and Sean O'Brien suspended. Softened us up nicely for Argentina. I don't think any of the teams in our group this time will give us as physical a contest as that again (perhaps Samoa but we could protect key players for that game). The teams in Pool C on the other hand could have a lot of problems by the end of the group stage.
 
If Joe Schmidt announces he's leaving Ireland, i seriously hope Rugby Australia offers him the Wallaby job post the next World Cup but i suspect he'll be Steve Hansens's successor.
 
RedDevilRoshi said:
Judging from that, I think he’s going to announce that he will be leaving. Huge blow for Ireland that as he’s a terrific coach.
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As much as it'd be sad if he leaves, Joe seems like such a nice person that it's horrible to think of him feeling bad about neglecting his family. If he's on the way out, the IRFU should do whatever needs to be done to facilitate his final few months and move because he's done an immense service to Irish rugby and he deserves every future success too.

By the way, that win yesterday is a new winning streak record for Ireland, isn't it?
 
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unchanged_lineup said:
As much as it'd be sad if he leaves, Joe seems like such a nice person that it's horrible to think of him feeling bad about neglecting his family. If he's on the way out, the IRFU should do whatever needs to be done to facilitate his final few months and move because he's done an immense service to Irish rugby and he deserves every future success too.

By the way, that win yesterday is a new winning streak record for Ireland, isn't it?
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I don’t think so as you guys lost to Australia 18-9 back in June. You guys had won 13 in a row before that defeat.
 
unchanged_lineup said:
Oh yeah, @JPRouve how are you doing today?
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I'm good. I have no hope for french rugby in general and don't expect much in terms of results. As long as some basic stuff aren't fixed on the training pitch, France XV and most clubs will struggle at international level and in Champions Cup.
I would actually like to pick your mind and others too if they want, here are the things that makes french rugby relatively bad.

- Poor kicking game, whether it is in terms of distance, accuracy or context.
- Below average passing technique.
- Below average athleticism, there are big deficiencies in terms of stamina and agility. Speed and power are above average and probably comparable to the Springboks but the points mentioned previously make it useless.
- Set pieces are terrible, France is probably the worst team when it comes to creating combinations out of rucks, scrums or line outs.
- Then you have crucial details like moving forward while receiving the ball instead of standing still and start without momentum, there is also the inability to clean rucks effectively and quickly, ball recycling is a massive issue.

For me the issue is bigger than the current players or the isolated coaches, it's the entire system that has failed.
 
unchanged_lineup said:
By the way, that win yesterday is a new winning streak record for Ireland, isn't it?
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I don't think so. We lost one against Australia in the summer so it's only 5 or 6 in a row. If we'd managed to win all 3 against Oz we could've beaten the record this week.
 
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