Tour to Japan

[blockhead]

Joey havin a mare.
ROG OUT!

[FLIP]

Carberry might have had a recurrence of his knee issue based on what the medic was looking at.

[nc6000]

It's my first time seeing VDF play without his red scrum cap.

[FLIP]

TOH just bought the most blatant dummy of all time. Great going forward but defense hasn't been great.

[FLIP]

Porter just missed out on a debut try - held up

[FLIP]

James Ryan scores a try with the first touch of the ball on his debut!

[blockhead]

A star is born-James Ryan.
Scannel miss's a sitter.
ROG OUT!

[FLIP]

Toner moved to TH lock when Ryan came on.

[FLIP]

Conan has to be the undisputed Motm for that game. Simply everywhere

[neiliog93]

Earls was excellent too, arguably MOTM. All in all a satisfactory outing, with a few annoying lapses.

Our continuing struggles in the line-out, even against tier 2 opposition, are particularly worrying. Player ratings:

1.Healy (7/10): Part of a dominant scrum and certainly not a bad performance but still looks far from the player of old. Managed not to make any handling errors for once.

2.N.Scannell (6.5/10): Good hands in the loose but has to take some responsibility for line out malfunctions.

3.John Ryan (8/10): Strong scrummaging performance, very encouraging.

4.Toner (4/10): Poor form continues. Bad in the line out and ineffective in the loose; looks more like his 2010 self lately.

5.Roux (6/10): Did what's expected of him, not particularly brilliant but scrummed hard and put the head down for tough yards when carrying.

6.Ruddock: (6/10): Carries weren't the best against a US defence that was physical (at least around the fringes) and we were caught holding on too many times at the breakdown. Got through a good amount of work though, with one poor missed tackle.

7.VDF (6/10): Not very conspicuous and partly responsible for us having a few problems at the breakdown, but didn't make any errors.

8.Conan (9/10): Some huge carries and deft touches. Brilliant all-round display.


9.Marmion (9/10): Snappy passing throughout, even when getting sloppy ball, and extremely dangerous with ball in hand.

10.Carbery (5/10): Some lovely touches in attack but giving away two tries from chargedowns isn't acceptable and his goal-kicking still need work.

11.Stockdale (9/10): Took his try brilliantly, defended well and seemed to beat a man and drive forward 5 metres every time he touched the ball.

12.Marshall (7/10): Better distribution than before and physically strong as ever, with a beauty of a kick thrown in.

13.Ringrose (8/10): Dangerous in attack and some great defensive reads and big hits. He can even goal kick.

14.Earls (9/10): Devastating in attack. Different class.

15.O'Halloran: (8/10): Some great footwork and troubled the US defence throughout.


16.Heffernan (5/10): One or two good carries but dodgy line out continued.
17.Kilcoyne (5/10): Pinged at one scrum for is usual boring in and got smashed in the loose a couple of times.
18.Porter (7/10): Kept the scrum solid and nearly went over for a try.
19.James Ryan (8/10): Line out finally improved when he entered and showed good support line and pace for a big second row to score a try with first touch in international rugby.
20.Leavy: Can't comment, didn't see enough.
21.L.McGrath (8/10): Re-injected some intensity after Ireland had slacked at the start of the second half and took his try well.
22.R.Scannell (7/10): Missed an easy conversion but kicking from hand was good and some nice touches going forward.
23.Zebo (7/10): Good awareness to wait behind Stockdale for his try; didn't have enough time to have a huge impact.

[Raydollard]

Leinster in particular, and Ireland also, need a quality outhalf. That may be Joey but we will never know unless we give him a run of games there. I can see why playing at 15 can delay his game as he thinks he has more time with the ball than he has.

Hope for all our sakes that he plays 10 for the rest of the tour and later.

[Hippo]

I'd agree with most of Neilog's assessments, although Stockdale was bowled over a little too easily for one of their tries.

I've never seen a 10 blocked down for 2 tries before, unbelievable. Even allowing for the routinely offside defensive line, it was unacceptable. Conan and Earls were a class apart.

[simonokeeffe]

Carberry might have had a recurrence of his knee issue based on what the medic was looking at.

Joe said its a swollen ankle, options aplenty at Leinster to take kicking off him, international level not so much

[enby]

I'd agree with most of Neilog's assessments, although Stockdale was bowled over a little too easily for one of their tries.

I've never seen a 10 blocked down for 2 tries before, unbelievable. Even allowing for the routinely offside defensive line, it was unacceptable. Conan and Earls were a class apart.

Ireland got 2 charge down tries ( John O'Driscoll & Ciaran Fitz) v Wales in 1980. I think Gareth Davies, a fine 10, was the Welsh culprit

[scentofgunpowder]

I'd agree with most of Neilog's assessments, although Stockdale was bowled over a little too easily for one of their tries.

I've never seen a 10 blocked down for 2 tries before, unbelievable. Even allowing for the routinely offside defensive line, it was unacceptable. Conan and Earls were a class apart.

Fairly sure I've seen Quade Cooper manage it before.

[Hippo]

I'd agree with most of Neilog's assessments, although Stockdale was bowled over a little too easily for one of their tries.

I've never seen a 10 blocked down for 2 tries before, unbelievable. Even allowing for the routinely offside defensive line, it was unacceptable. Conan and Earls were a class apart.

Ireland got 2 charge down tries ( John O'Driscoll & Ciaran Fitz) v Wales in 1980. I think Gareth Davies, a fine 10, was the Welsh culprit

This rings a bell indeed. I pay the price for my overstatement

[hugonaut]

Lots of elements in that game to be happy about – especially the adventurous gameplan in attack, the disciplined approach to defensive strategy with regards to resourcing rucks, the outstanding individual performance of Keith Earls, the excellent performances of Ringrose, Marmion, Conan and Niall Scannell and some strong debuts from Jacob Stockdale, Rory Scannell, Andrew Porter and James Ryan.

It's great to get those youngsters, especially the 20 & 21 year olds, into the international set-up so quickly. They are obviously guys with exceptional physical and athletic ability, but they complement that with good skill levels and the necessary competitive attitude. I think a special word of respect should go out to Porter, who has also made the switch across the front row to the tighthead side in the last five or six months. That's a big change, and while the US scrum was weak, he held up his end in the tight and contributed really well around the pitch.

Earls played absolutely brilliantly, just a joy to watch. He carved the Eagles up practically every time he got on the ball. He showed his finishing abilities throughout the Six Nations, but here he was making linebreaks for fun, setting up tries and dominating the game from the wing.

Somebody reminded me of the equivalent fixture we played four years ago [and won 15-12] and while they had a stronger team out that day [with Clever, Manoa, Wyles etc.] we were so much more coherent and well-trained this time out. Back then we were coming out of a really terrible Six Nations, had sacked Kidney and went into the tour with a stand-in coach – we're in a much, much better position at this stage.

[arsebiscuits1]

Who did Leavy come on for? Unless I'm going mad, I saw 6,7,8 and 20 on the pitch at the same time

[cormac]

Who did Leavy come on for? Unless I'm going mad, I saw 6,7,8 and 20 on the pitch at the same time

he came on for O'Halloran

[simonokeeffe]

Who did Leavy come on for? Unless I'm going mad, I saw 6,7,8 and 20 on the pitch at the same time

he came on for O'Halloran

is there anything donuts Leavy cant do?

IIRC we dont have a great track record in hockeying teams by the scores we should in such games, thats not even factoring in the slapstick goalkicking