Italy v Ireland Sun 24/02/19 3pm

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'll also say improved by not having an aging Parisse on the pitch.

They really did. I'm a huge fan of his, I know he's always had a free role that meant that he would often cover the backfield but I thought the impact he had was worth it and that he worked harder than others thought, plus Zanni often did the dirty work for him and they dovetailed nicely. They can't carry him anymore though. For all the disappointment with our own perfomance Italy did play well. Pity they have England next, can see England putting 60 points on them.

[flustered]

I think Sexton was pissed off with one of the previous plays and ball not going to hand...I'm no lip reader but would fairly confident he said "f**king catch the f**king ball" or along those lines anyway before he kicked the bottle or whatever it was! He did not have a great game and should have been taken off a lot sooner in my eyes, both him and Murray! Cronin was obv poor in the lineout (not jsut his fault on some of these) but not a lot being said about Scannell either (missed two lineouts also...)

On another note McIntyre (not sure if i'm correct on that, the commentator with Quinlan) is so annoying!!! Misses an awful lot!!

[fourthirtythree]

I think Sexton's walk off made all of us feel we could lip read. I counted fewer nouns in between the f%~king!s than you.

[Logorrhea]

not a lot being said about Scannell either (missed two lineouts also...)

Ruddock on OTB actually suggested that Scannell's arrival fixed the lineout.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

On another note McIntyre (not sure if i'm correct on that, the commentator with Quinlan) is so annoying!!! Misses an awful lot!!

Henderson was on for ages before he noticed. His voice is so dull that it sounds like he's in a studio in Dublin rather than at the game, not sure how that happens but that's how it comes across to me.

[flustered]

Not sure about Scannell fixing the lineout, looked to like they simplified the calls a bit and certainly used POM a lot more. TRK (I think) on Twitter has a good analysis of the lineouts, again pressure from a front jumper and then the middle.

Yeah LRIP he is very dull! Seems to love the sound of his own voice too when OTB.

[ronk]

Relax everybody.

You are probably right.

Weight of expectations is heavy and we have not been as good as we thought we were.

Players missing through injuries or on limited game time make a big difference and attempting to overcompensate don’t help.

Even when we’re off form there is still some stuff happening well. Panic won’t fix this, we have systems that work and we should trust.

[Oldschool]

not a lot being said about Scannell either (missed two lineouts also...)

Ruddock on OTB actually suggested that Scannell's arrival fixed the lineout.

It didn't.
What fixed the lineout was a change of lineout tactics which should have happened in the first half and not until after Scannell's two miss throws.

[Logorrhea]

What fixed the lineout was a change of lineout tactics which should have happened in the first half and not until after Scannell's two miss throws.

Yeah I know, I just find it odd that while everyone in the media is happy to confirm that it wasn't all down to the hooker, they are equally happy in the next breath to accept that it Cronin should be blamed.

Ruddock was actually interesting to listen to, just that one point annoyed me.

[ronk]

In a couple of the early throws the jumper was going down before the ball got there.

A throw to the back (unless fired in hard) is going to depend on the jumpers timing. It’s different at the front.

[hugonaut]

What fixed the lineout was a change of lineout tactics which should have happened in the first half and not until after Scannell's two miss throws.

Yeah I know, I just find it odd that while everyone in the media is happy to confirm that it wasn't all down to the hooker, they are equally happy in the next breath to accept that it Cronin should be blamed.

Ruddock was actually interesting to listen to, just that one point annoyed me.

Lineout didn't get fixed. We lost three with Cronin on the pitch and two on Scannell's throw.

One of Cronin's was a legit overthrow [O'Mahony was well lifted and at the height of his jump and the ball was about a metre too high for him], then there was a steal by Budd when he got up in front of Roux. The last was a slight overthrow past Quinn Roux which it's difficult to look at and ascribe blame for ... the throw might be a bit high, but the lift might be a bit late etc.

One of Scannell's was stolen at the front, the other one was missed by the director - you saw the ball bobbling after they cut back from a replay. Looked like a steal at the front as well.

Neither of the hookers was penalised for a crooked throw. I think Cronin went 10/13 and Scannell went 4/6 [Stockdale took a quick lineout to bring us up to 15/20]; Cronin had to come back on for the last seven minutes when Scannell went off for a HIA; I think there were two lineouts in that period.