Ireland v Italy

[Donny B.]

Here's a few quotes from two pages of Munsterfans for your edification:

Nice touch for the Italian players to hang around for the entire BoD send off and give a guard of honour off down the tunnel. I presume there wasn't a single one of them who had any interest in being there after that result.

Italians actually played some terrific rugby in the first half.

[hugonaut]

Big win? Check
Key men rested once result settled? Check
Nice send off for Drico? Check

Rest is just tedious nitpicking

Well said Donny. Some other positives from the game though, notably Eoin Reddan's performance, one of his best in an Irish jersey. Really impressive showing from him. Looking forward to next week's match, Redser off the bench gives us a real chance to up the pace of the game against a French team not known for its fitness.

A first Six Nations start for Ian Henderson [having looked at a recording of the game, he was definitely better than I thought he was while at the match] and a first Six Nations cap for Rhys Ruddock. Two very good young players [22 & 23 years old respectively] with long futures in the game ahead of them. Paddy Jackson looked very comfortable and composed when he came on, and got himself a nice chunk of gametime. Ferg's cameo was very impressive, looked nimble and very quick off the mark, took his try very well and showed some good subtlety in his step-and-pass to Trimble.

While this might sound a little patronizing due to the eventual scoreline, credit to the Italians on their defense. They had seven players who made more than fifteen tackles each, including four who made more than twenty tackles. That's a huge effort without the ball.

[Eoin Gubbins]

Big win? Check
Key men rested once result settled? Check
Nice send off for Drico? Check

Rest is just tedious nitpicking

Well said Donny. Some other positives from the game though, notably Eoin Reddan's performance, one of his best in an Irish jersey. Really impressive showing from him. Looking forward to next week's match, Redser off the bench gives us a real chance to up the pace of the game against a French team not known for its fitness.

A first Six Nations start for Ian Henderson [having looked at a recording of the game, he was definitely better than I thought he was while at the match] and a first Six Nations cap for Rhys Ruddock. Two very good young players [22 & 23 years old respectively] with long futures in the game ahead of them. Paddy Jackson looked very comfortable and composed when he came on, and got himself a nice chunk of gametime. Ferg's cameo was very impressive, looked nimble and very quick off the mark, took his try very well and showed some good subtlety in his step-and-pass to Trimble.

While this might sound a little patronizing due to the eventual scoreline, credit to the Italians on their defense. They had seven players who made more than fifteen tackles each, including four who made more than twenty tackles. That's a huge effort without the ball.

Italian defence in the first half was mostly excellent. They were really aggressive and made things difficult at the breakdown. Jackson really did play well, hopefully he'll have made himself a bit more of an option even in a close game if Sexton's tiring. I can't remember who he passed to, but I was really impressed with a pass he gave out on the wing late on - he was about the be smashed and he shipped it on instantly and perfectly, it was gorgeous.

Devin Toner was pretty close to the best Irish forward. Made ground with every carry, and actually seemed to be hitting rucks pretty effectively. He struggled to control the ball in the lineout a couple of times, but it's hard to tell if that was on him or not, and he offered plenty else around the park. Heaslip also made ground virtually every time he carried.

Ferg's try - is it just me or did Owens maybe distract the Italian defence for it? Not that I'm complaining but it seemed a weird line for him to take and Ferg ran right at him.

[fourthirtythree]

Geldenhuys, Furno and Barbieri 23, 24, and 23 tackles each. Wow. It's a big game when one of your players does that. As against that Ireland's top were Henry and Heaslip at 12 and 10 apiece.

[mikey]

As Donny said I think we achieved what we set out to.
I thought Toner was outstanding - the best i've seen him play - made some really hard yards and showed much more strength than previous outings. Redden was brilliant and if it had not been BOD's day i'd have given MOTM to either of the former...

Thought POC was immense - if he'd had a game like yesterday against England we'd be in a very different position now, but if buts and maybes......I loved the wedgie he gave to the Italian during their scuffle!

Jackson came on and looked confident and composed after what had been an excellent game from Sexton - will someone please bring him home??!!

Jamie, like POC I thought had a much much better game too - lots of carries and showed real fire.

Front row were solid, but how great to be able to bring on an equally solid set of replacements. Cronin is so mobile and fast. Delighted to see McGrath get his first try (least I think its his first!) for Ireland too. Good cameo from Fergus off the bench which will have given him renewed confidence as I dont think he's had the spark this year until now.

And Brian - what can you say but thank you Brian, you were brilliant, subtle little touches and over we go over for a try - sublime. Was a privilege to be there yesterday, and to have seen his magic in person over the years.

Great team performance - I could reference Trimble for some great breaks, Rob for looking like he is finding his old form and confidence to run with the ball - overall as regards the team not perfect at all, and we are capable of playing much much better rugby than that - and thats a pretty exciting prospect.

Really hope PoM is fit for next week - we need him. And we are really missing SoB big time, but I dont think we will see him again this season.....

[Eoin Gubbins]

As Donny said I think we achieved what we set out to.
I thought Toner was outstanding - the best i've seen him play - made some really hard yards and showed much more strength than previous outings. Redden was brilliant and if it had not been BOD's day i'd have given MOTM to either of the former...

Thought POC was immense - if he'd had a game like yesterday against England we'd be in a very different position now, but if buts and maybes......I loved the wedgie he gave to the Italian during their scuffle!

Jackson came on and looked confident and composed after what had been an excellent game from Sexton - will someone please bring him home??!!

Jamie, like POC I thought had a much much better game too - lots of carries and showed real fire.

Front row were solid, but how great to be able to bring on an equally solid set of replacements. Cronin is so mobile and fast. Delighted to see McGrath get his first try (least I think its his first!) for Ireland too. Good cameo from Fergus off the bench which will have given him renewed confidence as I dont think he's had the spark this year until now.

And Brian - what can you say but thank you Brian, you were brilliant, subtle little touches and over we go over for a try - sublime. Was a privilege to be there yesterday, and to have seen his magic in person over the years.

Great team performance - I could reference Trimble for some great breaks, Rob for looking like he is finding his old form and confidence to run with the ball - overall as regards the team not perfect at all, and we are capable of playing much much better rugby than that - and thats a pretty exciting prospect.

Really hope PoM is fit for next week - we need him. And we are really missing SoB big time, but I dont think we will see him again this season.....

RK, bar one missed tackle, was unbelievable - his aggression with ball in hand is just joyous to watch. Ever since JS took over he's a changed man - I guess his comments about DK stifling any counterattacking instincts must have been true, because he really is back to his best.

[Dave Cahill]

question for stato, whats the most tackles ever made by a team in one game of international rugby?
was able to find some references on google giving some thing like 220, yesterday italy made 245 ( http://www.espn.co.uk/six-nations-2014/ ... 80673.html ) with 90% success which seems pretty impressive to me.

John Inverdale on the BBC said at half time that the record number was 200...

[Hippo]

question for stato, whats the most tackles ever made by a team in one game of international rugby?
was able to find some references on google giving some thing like 220, yesterday italy made 245 ( http://www.espn.co.uk/six-nations-2014/ ... 80673.html ) with 90% success which seems pretty impressive to me.

John Inverdale on the BBC said at half time that the record number was 200...

They made something like 30 in the first 5 minutes. Matthews on the BBC kept banging on about how Ireland were playing too much rugby and should be kicking more, but the constant pressure clearly took its toll. 7 tries is not a bad return in a 6n game, against any team.

[fourthirtythree]

Big win? Check
Key men rested once result settled? Check
Nice send off for Drico? Check

Rest is just tedious nitpicking

Well said Donny. Some other positives from the game though, notably Eoin Reddan's performance, one of his best in an Irish jersey. Really impressive showing from him. Looking forward to next week's match, Redser off the bench gives us a real chance to up the pace of the game against a French team not known for its fitness.

A first Six Nations start for Ian Henderson [having looked at a recording of the game, he was definitely better than I thought he was while at the match] and a first Six Nations cap for Rhys Ruddock. Two very good young players [22 & 23 years old respectively] with long futures in the game ahead of them. Paddy Jackson looked very comfortable and composed when he came on, and got himself a nice chunk of gametime. Ferg's cameo was very impressive, looked nimble and very quick off the mark, took his try very well and showed some good subtlety in his step-and-pass to Trimble.

While this might sound a little patronizing due to the eventual scoreline, credit to the Italians on their defense. They had seven players who made more than fifteen tackles each, including four who made more than twenty tackles. That's a huge effort without the ball.

I think we can credit Matt O'Connor for refocusing him on keeping defenders honest and breaking. When he was at Wasps and played for Ireland he always seemed to look on a different page from the rest of the team when he went himself. He seemed to cut it out of his game but it's come back this year for Leinster and Ireland yesterday.

[Peg Leg]

Two things, quite small thing but they require a mention all the same:
Hendo, unbelievable take in the line out when he had no right to.
Jackson, im sure the ulster lads are well used to it by now but im always awed by how he fixes his man and gets the ball away at the last millisecond. He gets mullered a lot by doing it, but he creates a lot of space in the narrow channels.

[artaneboy]

Two things, quite small thing but they require a mention all the same:
Hendo, unbelievable take in the line out when he had no right to.
Jackson, im sure the ulster lads are well used to it by now but im always awed by how he fixes his man and gets the ball away at the last millisecond. He gets mullered a lot by doing it, but he creates a lot of space in the narrow channels.

Really emabarrassed to say this- but as a long-time Madigan fan, I'm happier to see Jackon there as back up to Sexton than I would be to see Ian on his current all-round game. Grieves me- but there it is...

[suisse]

Here's a few quotes from two pages of Munsterfans for your edification:


Iain Henderson has been disappointing.
Hes not as efective as POM of course but hes been ok! Our backrow isnt great and Henderson is far from the worst! [No, he was actually the least good today]
It's embarrassing watching The Penguin waddle around the pitch.[It's embarassing to read Munster supporters loyally support Kidney's failure to play a scrummaging prop and failure to select him when we needed him because... actually I have no idea why they hate a guy who was serially mistreated by Munster and Ireland and Kidney in particular and has been a key player for Ireland for the last few years. No idea. He saved our and Kidney's arses.]
his is utter garbage. No imagination, no creativity, no spark, no pace, and not even the efficiency and nous to keep a decent bit of turniping going. [Just many tries against a team that beat us last year]
Great support by POC on Healy. [he was right to do it, but Healy was scoring anyway as the defence was missing. He just probably wouldn't have got injured going over. But hey, whatever makes you happy about the ONE MUNSTER PLAYER ON THE PITCH. Apart from Reddan and Ross and Cronin who we will see in these quotes come up for particularly inept execration]
Sean Cronin is ****ing useless.
Toner is the worst lock position ball carrier in the world! [Fact fans: worst lock position is unlocked!]
Hugh Cahill is riding big Dev.....is that true [He has no time or energy left after dealing with your wife. See your many children for confirmation]
Sexton injured on the pitch..Good job Joe. Good job. [What was Schmidt doing hobbling Sexton? He needs to be sacked if he's going out there hurting on our players. Bloody foreigners.]
BOD is a ****ing clown. [This is actually a good point. It refers to the fact that he has GINORMOUS shoes that nobody will be able to fill.]
Sexton loses us another 2 points [Hate away haters: he's still the best outhalf in the NH. Oh and: how many points did he "win" us as against the ones he "lost" us?]
Eoin McLove on. {I'm moving on. The wit. It's sizzling like sideload of rashers on a skillet. I'm awestruck. Figuratively.]

Yep."Thumbs" McFadden did well for his try. He's a very limited player who is sh!t but at least he scored unlike Daverage. Sexton was missing kicks as ever and Drico is a clown. Penguin can't scrummage and I won't name the second row by name out of complete disrespect but I'll call him the tall guy instead. And Ireland lost by 40 points. Schmidt is charlatan. We play puke rugby and I hope France win next by 30 points.

I just summed up 70 pages on munsterfans.com for you in a long paragraph.

In some ways I enjoyed the bitterness but at the same time the moderators would wanna pull their heads out of their arses. It has to be the most diseased and deranged site in rugby. baby jesus is in stitches laughing at the bitterness of the Red Army.

[artaneboy]

Here's a few quotes from two pages of Munsterfans for your edification:


Iain Henderson has been disappointing.
Hes not as efective as POM of course but hes been ok! Our backrow isnt great and Henderson is far from the worst! [No, he was actually the least good today]
It's embarrassing watching The Penguin waddle around the pitch.[It's embarassing to read Munster supporters loyally support Kidney's failure to play a scrummaging prop and failure to select him when we needed him because... actually I have no idea why they hate a guy who was serially mistreated by Munster and Ireland and Kidney in particular and has been a key player for Ireland for the last few years. No idea. He saved our and Kidney's arses.]
his is utter garbage. No imagination, no creativity, no spark, no pace, and not even the efficiency and nous to keep a decent bit of turniping going. [Just many tries against a team that beat us last year]
Great support by POC on Healy. [he was right to do it, but Healy was scoring anyway as the defence was missing. He just probably wouldn't have got injured going over. But hey, whatever makes you happy about the ONE MUNSTER PLAYER ON THE PITCH. Apart from Reddan and Ross and Cronin who we will see in these quotes come up for particularly inept execration]
Sean Cronin is ****ing useless.
Toner is the worst lock position ball carrier in the world! [Fact fans: worst lock position is unlocked!]
Hugh Cahill is riding big Dev.....is that true [He has no time or energy left after dealing with your wife. See your many children for confirmation]
Sexton injured on the pitch..Good job Joe. Good job. [What was Schmidt doing hobbling Sexton? He needs to be sacked if he's going out there hurting on our players. Bloody foreigners.]
BOD is a ****ing clown. [This is actually a good point. It refers to the fact that he has GINORMOUS shoes that nobody will be able to fill.]
Sexton loses us another 2 points [Hate away haters: he's still the best outhalf in the NH. Oh and: how many points did he "win" us as against the ones he "lost" us?]
Eoin McLove on. {I'm moving on. The wit. It's sizzling like sideload of rashers on a skillet. I'm awestruck. Figuratively.]

Yep."Thumbs" McFadden did well for his try. He's a very limited player who is sh!t but at least he scored unlike Daverage. Sexton was missing kicks as ever and Drico is a clown. Penguin can't scrummage and I won't name the second row by name out of complete disrespect but I'll call him the tall guy instead. And Ireland lost by 40 points. Schmidt is charlatan. We play puke rugby and I hope France win next by 30 points.

I just summed up 70 pages on munsterfans.com for you in a long paragraph.

In some ways I enjoyed the bitterness but at the same time the moderators would wanna pull their heads out of their arses. It has to be the most diseased and deranged site in rugby. baby jesus is in stitches laughing at the bitterness of the Red Army.

The moderators over there are the major cause of the problem. The most vicious and nasty posters are mates of theirs.

[ribs]

Very impressed with POC's fitness! He was everywhere for the whole game, even if the pass wasn't given

[fourthirtythree]

Do the loon lf posters who come on here straight off quoting the loon mf posters not get that by doing so they are exactly the same as them?

I used to think there was trolling but now its just descended into the 10% mong group- is there a forum that they can be dumped into together?

Firstly: no. Shouting "fire" is not the same as starting a fire. That's actually pretty dumb.

Secondly: are you a "loon" or a "mong"? You certainly enjoy trolling. Not sure what you consider yourself though.

By the way, I came on here and commented on the match, started a thread on the France match. Got bored waiting for other people to arrive so I went over to MF where, not all, but the majority of people were foaming at the mouth. You came over here with no comment on the match and another superb performance. It's sticking in your craw isn't it?

[Oldschool]

Very impressed with POC's fitness! He was everywhere for the whole game, even if the pass wasn't given

Which says it all about Toner who has been the pick of the SRs in all games in the 6Ns to date. Toner would be one of those changes Gattie would make to the Lions test team if he were picking it today. Lawes got MOM against Wales, Toner was a good bit better than him in the Ireland game - maybe a case of you're only as good as you're allowed to be for Lawes in the Welsh game.

[StrangeButBlue]

Agree completely on Toner, lineout goes without saying but the 4 or 5 carries, while not making a lot of yards, showed a real purpose and expectation.
Launchbury is possibly the other stand out SR of the series so far for me, making a habit of catching wingers with covering tackles as well with George North chased down today

[fourthirtythree]

Launchbury and Lawes for me. O'Connell was excellent yesterday (and against Wales) and Toner has been really good in each match (and excellent against England, but not as good as the English).

I missed most of the match today travelling though.

[nelly the elephant]

Here's a few quotes from two pages of Munsterfans for your edification:

Nice touch for the Italian players to hang around for the entire BoD send off and give a guard of honour off down the tunnel. I presume there wasn't a single one of them who had any interest in being there after that result.

Italians actually played some terrific rugby in the first half.

I thought the final scoreline was incredibly harsh on them ........it reminded me of occasions when we've gone "well" against the AB's or Saffers for 60+ mins and ended up taking a shellacking.....but I suppose that's the modern game.....the points rack up quick enough. Their tackle count and (relative)discipline in the first half was extraordinary.

[blockhead]

Italy were excellent alright or is it that we have very little cutting edge at the moment? No Luke, Tommy, Keith and Simon and of course Sean. Our top 4 wingers and our primary ball carrier, that's a lot to have to live without.