Team of the championship.

[fourthirtythree]

Indeed and he stood out in a tournament where Halfpenny, Kearney, and Dullin were outstanding also.

[Dave Cahill]

Indeed and he stood out in a tournament where Halfpenny, Kearney, and Dullin were outstanding also.

If you want to see a textbook, record it and show it to kids, way to deal with a two on one, Dullin against Trimble/BOD in the lead up to Sextons second try was absolutely perfect

[suisse]

Lancaster finished second last year with four wins, and second this year with four wins. The improvement he brought this year has been significant, but nowhere near the scale of Schmidt's job.

That's the incredible part. According to the Sunday Times, Lancaster is coach of the season because of the improvements England have made. But while their play may have improved, they've yet to win a Championship under him. Surely the biggest improvement came from Ireland, going from joint last to first having been 10 seconds from beating the All Blacks?

Lancaster is a very good coach and a more than a decent man. But Schmidt surely takes the honour. How could he not?

[suisse]

Indeed and he stood out in a tournament where Halfpenny, Kearney, and Dullin were outstanding also.

If you want to see a textbook, record it and show it to kids, way to deal with a two on one, Dullin against Trimble/BOD in the lead up to Sextons second try was absolutely perfect

Right. It was utterly brilliant fullback play and you could see all along he was expecting Trimble to pass it. No criticism of Trimble, he had a great tournament, but he should have stepped inside Dullin. As good as the covering was, a dummy and a big step off his right and he'd have been under the posts. There wasn't a Frenchman in sight after that. But yeah, it was superb full back play.

[Dave Cahill]

Indeed and he stood out in a tournament where Halfpenny, Kearney, and Dullin were outstanding also.

If you want to see a textbook, record it and show it to kids, way to deal with a two on one, Dullin against Trimble/BOD in the lead up to Sextons second try was absolutely perfect

Right. It was utterly brilliant fullback play and you could see all along he was expecting Trimble to pass it. No criticism of Trimble, he had a great tournament, but he should have stepped inside Dullin. As good as the covering was, a dummy and a big step off his right and he'd have been under the posts. There wasn't a Frenchman in sight after that. But yeah, it was superb full back play.

Ah but thats what was the cherry on top, he kept himself outside the line of Trimbles inside shoulder so he covered himself against the dummy and step because he had the pace to cover it and had Medard breaking his balls to get back to help him. If Trimble threw the dummy and made the big step, it still would have put him into Dullins arms - that was what was so good about the defensive line he took.

And it was also what was so good about what the Irish players did too. They didn't panic or try something silly, they just set up the ruck, trusted their teammates to get there, and the next three guys in, POC, Best and D'Arcy set up the next phase that allowed Murray to hit the onrushing Sexton for the score.

Its actually one of those rare occasions where everyone involved, the two attackers and the two defenders did absolutely everything right. Trimble didn't drift into BODs space in an attempt to get outside Dullin. Dullin didn't commit himself to a rash decision, BOD used Trimbles pass to take out Dullin by cutting inside, and Medard was rewarded for his hard work as the step inside which took BOD inside and away from Dullin lost him enough velocity to allow Medard make the tackle.

[Oldschool]

Indeed and he stood out in a tournament where Halfpenny, Kearney, and Dullin were outstanding also.

If you want to see a textbook, record it and show it to kids, way to deal with a two on one, Dullin against Trimble/BOD in the lead up to Sextons second try was absolutely perfect

Right. It was utterly brilliant fullback play and you could see all along he was expecting Trimble to pass it. No criticism of Trimble, he had a great tournament, but he should have stepped inside Dullin. As good as the covering was, a dummy and a big step off his right and he'd have been under the posts. There wasn't a Frenchman in sight after that. But yeah, it was superb full back play.

It was good but it wasn't actually as good as it looked. If I was showing it to the kids I'd put it in context.
The reason being and it seemed obvious at the time even that Trimble was trying to set Drico up for a try.
If he had cut back inside he might well have scored himself. I thought it was extremely unselfish but perhaps misguided.
Maybe Dulin read it that way too and credit to him if he did.

[suisse]

I think Trimble was left in two minds over what to do cos of the brilliance of the full back play. 9/10 that is a simple 2 on 1 but Dulin didn't commit to Trimble and I think he felt he either didn't have the pace (unlikely) or he would have squandered what appeared a relatively simple chance if he was tackled in possession. He was unable to take the full back out of play cos Dulin didn't commit to his tackle meaning he got enough of a tackle on BOD to slow him down for the cavalry to arrive.

Look at Dulin's footwork and body angle. That is incrediably hard to do. Brilliant positioning and cover play.

[enby]

And it was also what was so good about what the Irish players did too. They didn't panic or try something silly, they just set up the ruck, trusted their teammates to get there, and the next three guys in, POC, Best and D'Arcy set up the next phase that allowed Murray to hit the onrushing Sexton for the score.

Its actually one of those rare occasions where everyone involved, the two attackers and the two defenders did absolutely everything right. Trimble didn't drift into BODs space in an attempt to get outside Dullin. Dullin didn't commit himself to a rash decision, BOD used Trimbles pass to take out Dullin by cutting inside, and Medard was rewarded for his hard work as the step inside which took BOD inside and away from Dullin lost him enough velocity to allow Medard make the tackle.[/quote]


Watch Sexton in the replay. He wasn't onrushing at all. Instead he showed immense self control by standing off waiting for Murray to play the ball before he moved. Real poacher instinct

[Dave Cahill]

Watch Sexton in the replay. He wasn't onrushing at all. Instead he showed immense self control by standing off waiting for Murray to play the ball before he moved. Real poacher instinct

Yeah, phrased that poorly alright, I meant he hit the pass at pace and at the correct angle at the right time

[JB1973]

Toner should be on that list too for me.

Also thought Henry was better than both Robshaw and Warburton. Warburton didn't start against Italy and was anonymous against us, think his form is being overrated although he did finish very strongly. Big fan of Robshaw and he had an excellent tournament but thought he was very even with Henry until Saturday when our man was outstanding against France so I'd say he shades it very slightly.

for me Warburton was Wales best player in the last 3 games but as you point out he barely played the first and was poor in the second. Henry played well in all 5 games as did Robshaw so both have to be in front of him even if imo he is the superior player., Brown while be an niggly annoying pain in the @rse was the stand out player for me (care and healy would be behind him) but the sentimental vote is for BOD so who knows!