Ireland v Wales 2018 6Ns

[wixfjord]

Thought RK was poor today too.

Yes he looked quite out of sorts at times, and the drop goal attempt was...amusing. Ferg's cameo wasn't too impressive either.

I actually thought the drop was fine, he has done that before and banged it over (Clermont for eg).

[RoboProp]

I agree on Aki. Feels like heaven playing a different game to the rest of the side at times. He’s effective at what he does well, but like Stockdale, is prone to stupid errors that could cost us at this level.

Thought RK was poor today too.

I do wonder if Joe would go Ringer at IC and Farrell at OC

[domhnallj]

Huge test for Porter today and he flew through it. Delighted for him. Farrell was brilliant, ditto Earls. Actually,
pretty much team stood up.

We gotta work on the re-starts though...

[Peg Leg]

and that's it. Stockdale intercept robbing the Welsh of a losing bonus point.

You mean a win!
That was a try for them at the other end if he missed the intercept.

INCHES!!!

Well when he cut in to try the same for their last try, he was a gobshite!

[artaneboy]

You mean a win!
That was a try for them at the other end if he missed the intercept.

INCHES!!!

Well when he cut in to try the same for their last try, he was a gobshite!

Yeah, he was wrong because he missed. But when he intercepted it and scored he was right. That’s sport.

As the man said- inches!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Peg Leg]

Inches Indeed......
goodnight Steph

[paddyor]

Well when he cut in to try the same for their last try, he was a gobshite!

I think they'd have scored anyway but yeah that was bizarre.

Also, that was a shocker of a pass. I don't think the Welsh player would have got it anyway. He'd have had to throw it higher and further to get over Stockdale.

https://youtu.be/3-0jmyhScXQ?t=2m24s[/youtube]

[Oldschool]

Well when he cut in to try the same for their last try, he was a gobshite!

Only goes to show he learned from his first attempt and practice makes perfect.

[Oldschool]

I agree on Aki. Feels like heaven playing a different game to the rest of the side at times. He’s effective at what he does well, but like Stockdale, is prone to stupid errors that could cost us at this level.

Thought RK was poor today too.

I do wonder if Joe would go Ringer at IC and Farrell at OC

Or Farrell at IC and Ringer at OC.

[sunshiner1]

My ratings:

15. Kearney 6 - Didn't have a good day and while not terrible, below his best by a bit.

14. Earls - 9 - Was easily the most dangerous winger out there today. Everytime he got the ball he made something happen.

13. Farrell - 9 - Gotta say like a lot of people I had doubts about him especially with his passing but today he was immense. A beast in defence and made hard yards everytime. A serious adition to the squad.

12. Aki -7 - Was too excited and made to many silly errors but then calmed down and got into the game. I'm sure Schmidt will have words with him. That said got a try and tackled the Welsh to a standstill in the centre with Farrell.

11. Stockdale - 8 - Made some mistakes defensively but he can't stop scoring. He is only going to get better and better.

10. Sexton - 7 - From open play he was amazing but off the tee yikes. Can't remember him having this bad a day kicking before.

9. Murray - 9 - My MOM. Bossed the play and kept everything ticking over.

8. Stander - 9 - Seemed to be everywhere. I'd say it was his best performance in an Irish Jersey.

7. Leavy - 8 - A superb performance. JVDF and SOB are going to have a tough time getting there jersey back off him.

6. POM - 6 - Was well watched by Wales in the line-out. He was effectively marked out of the game to some extent.

5. Ryan - 7 - A solid game and did the fundamentals well.

4. Toner - 8 - With POM marked out they passed to Toner more and more in the line-out and he didn't disapoint. Another super display.

3. Porter - 8 - I'm giving him an 8 because he is still so new at this. He's cemented his place as Ireland second choice TH now.

2. Best - 6 - Like Kearney and Sexton if you don't do the simple stuff then we're going to suffer. Overthrew a few throws which cost Ireland.

1. Healy - 7 - Another super performance. Back to his best.

Subs:

16. Cronin - 7 - Part of a front row that devastated the Welsh scrum when he came on.

17. McGrath - 7 - Does the fundamentals so well.

18. Ryan - 7 - Great work in the scrum.

19. Roux - 8 - Generates so much power in the scrum. A serious assett to have.

20. Conan - 7 - Did well when he came on.

21 Marmion - Not used.

22. Carberry - 7 - Kicked his penalty over.

23. McFadden -6 - Brought on to mark North and did ok but made some glaring errors.

[Twist]

I never had any doubts about Farrell but Porter was superb. Ryan too. We were missing three huge players but I thought the replacements were petty seamless

I'm really surprised at how much we dominated that game, and didn't see us scoring 5 tries so that's all great as far as I'm concerned. Delighted to be wrong!

But Wales, with 26% possession, still scored 3 tries and I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking they'd get a fourth at the end. Our defence is a real worry now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[blockhead]

2 tries in the last 10 games in the 6 nations V England/France/Wales.
5 tries yesterday.

[dropkick]

2 tries in the last 10 games in the 6 nations V England/France/Wales.
5 tries yesterday.

It was a prolific 6 tries in those 10 games. Yesterday was a much better attacking performance. There was more risk taking and more movement off the ball which kept the Welsh defence guessing and although it wasn't perfect, they looked threatening with ball in hand. There was a few white line fever moments but its a step in the right direction. You can see they've been working on the attack.


The Irish pack were dominant. James Ryan and Leavy were outstanding and Porter was rock solid and will only get better.


The defending was poor out wide as we all know but I would give the Welsh some credit here too. The Scarlets' style of play is very hard to defend against. They stretch teams, have a number of passing options all the time and once the defence is stretched its easier to get the offload away. Still, Andy Farrell needs to sort it out. Wales don't have much ball carriers in their pack so Ireland should have spread wider from the start. The 9 to 13 axis of Murray, Sexton, Aki and Farrell is as big as any in world rugby so they can spread a bit wider.


It looks like once again the bookmakers got it right and the pundits got it wrong. Only for an off day with the boot, it would have been a comfortable 20 point win. The Welsh pack is fairly weak and I'm not sure if any of Lee, Evans, Hill, Navidi or Moriarty would have made the Ireland bench yesterday if they were Irish.


So a good win and credit to Schmidt for the improvements. Leavy was my motm.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I thought our defence in the centre of the pitch was great at the start but was terrible in pretty much every other respect. We seemed to switch off when we had Wales on the back foot, and our back three (Earls a possible exception) were really slow to get into position when we turned over ball or the Welsh had gained ground on one side of the pitch before spreading it to the other. On the subject of turnovers, Wales actually got over the ball quite a bit but Best, Porter, Toner, POM, and Leavy were all great for shunting them off it when really they had no right to.

We had some frustrations in attack but they wouldn't have been highlighted so much if Johnny's kicking wasn't so bad early on. Thought we played what was in front of really well, played really flat, and mixed things up brilliantly. The close in carrying of our forwards was great, even when we were isolated, and Johnny's range of passing and the variety we showed in general made the Welsh look clueless. Farrell came up with some big moments but one really important element of his game (and Aki did it a bit too) was the way he could deal with lateral play and just use his quick feet and power to move forward and get us on the front foot again. Our pick and goes were far quicker than usual (Sexton near the line and Leavy down the left stood out) and Wales didn't have time to react. I can't remember another game when Johnny was so physical in attack, he seemed to take far more ball on himself and the result was lots of space out wide, especially because he fought so hard for extra yards. I can give him a pass on the kicking, but not the quick tap that was incredibly stupid and thankfully the rest of the team didn't panic when our lead was eventually reeled in after it.

The young guys looked so confident, amazing really when you take everything into account. Ryan, Porter, and old man Leavy are huge additions to the pack this season. You would never guess the first two were so young and all three give us dynamism that boosts us significantly. When Ryan gets the ball and puts his head down you just know he's guaranteed to make a few yards and place the ball perfectly, he doesn't even need anyone with him and then gets up and goes again. He didn't manage to take man and ball or block down kicks but some of the athleticism he showed to get to the scrumhalf was freakish. Porter is the same when it comes to the breakdown, he works really hard to be near the ball and it doesn't matter who/how many beat him to the breakdown, he just powers through. I criticised Leavy years ago for spending too much time out wide. He'd been all action in school and I wanted to see that again. He's been doing it for Leinster and now he's doing it for Ireland. He does everything...makes a lot of tackles (and makes an impact with them), wins turnovers, has good hands, links out wide and can carry in tight situations. He's really delivering on his potential now and is a special player.

Defence is a worry and I doubt we can solve it over the next few weeks, but a lot of the errors are really basic and given that we have a lot of young players and new combinations, you'd hope we can improve a fair bit with more time together.

[artaneboy]

I never had any doubts about Farrell but Porter was superb. Ryan too. We were missing three huge players but I thought the replacements were petty seamless

I'm really surprised at how much we dominated that game, and didn't see us scoring 5 tries so that's all great as far as I'm concerned. Delighted to be wrong!

But Wales, with 26% possession, still scored 3 tries and I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking they'd get a fourth at the end. Our defence is a real worry now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, there’s definitely a worry at how easy we are opened up by three teams we dominated in possession. In the coaches defence it’s not the same systems error each time- and personnel changes could account by for part of that. But Andy Farrell better get working on that quickly or this supposed “coronation” on St Patrick’s Day will be an embarrassment.

Rob was poor yesterday- not only in defence and tackling- but in the air, his previous strength. I am more concerned at his form than that of Fergus, which was more explainable- if not excusable. If we had a full hand of backs available, I’d suggest we look for an alternative of either Ringrose or Henshaw at 15 for Scotland.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Twist]

I never had any doubts about Farrell but Porter was superb. Ryan too. We were missing three huge players but I thought the replacements were petty seamless

I'm really surprised at how much we dominated that game, and didn't see us scoring 5 tries so that's all great as far as I'm concerned. Delighted to be wrong!

But Wales, with 26% possession, still scored 3 tries and I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking they'd get a fourth at the end. Our defence is a real worry now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, there’s definitely a worry at how easy we are opened up by three teams we dominated in possession. In the coaches defence it’s not the same systems error each time- and personnel changes could account by for part of that. But Andy Farrell better get working on that quickly or this supposed “coronation” on St Patrick’s Day will be an embarrassment.

Rob was poor yesterday- not only in defence and tackling- but in the air, his previous strength. I am more concerned at his form than that of Fergus, which was more explainable- if not excusable. If we had a full hand of backs available, I’d suggest we look for an alternative of either Ringrose or Henshaw at 15 for Scotland.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Andrew Conway maybe?

[artaneboy]

I never had any doubts about Farrell but Porter was superb. Ryan too. We were missing three huge players but I thought the replacements were petty seamless

I'm really surprised at how much we dominated that game, and didn't see us scoring 5 tries so that's all great as far as I'm concerned. Delighted to be wrong!

But Wales, with 26% possession, still scored 3 tries and I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking they'd get a fourth at the end. Our defence is a real worry now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, there’s definitely a worry at how easy we are opened up by three teams we dominated in possession. In the coaches defence it’s not the same systems error each time- and personnel changes could account by for part of that. But Andy Farrell better get working on that quickly or this supposed “coronation” on St Patrick’s Day will be an embarrassment.

Rob was poor yesterday- not only in defence and tackling- but in the air, his previous strength. I am more concerned at his form than that of Fergus, which was more explainable- if not excusable. If we had a full hand of backs available, I’d suggest we look for an alternative of either Ringrose or Henshaw at 15 for Scotland.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Andrew Conway maybe?

Possibly. Or Ringrose to full back? Although that sounds a bit too radical for Joe- maybe rightly, as he’s only back for injury and I can’t remember if he’s actually played there as a pro. But he has the attacking capacity to be a real menace there.

Yeah, probably Conway- or maybe embrace the Leinster view of Joey as a 15...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Logorrhea]

Andrew Conway maybe?

Hes the best alternative available. Dont see Joe swapping our Rob, but if he did, Conway would be a great option.

[paddyor]

Andrew Conway maybe?

Hes the best alternative available. Dont see Joe swapping our Rob, but if he did, Conway would be a great option.

Think Conway missed the Munster game this weekend with a niggle.

[wixfjord]

There is not a hope in hell Schmidt would, or should put a just returned Ringrose at 15 in a 6N game. Has he ever played there even in school?