AI: Ireland v South Africa; Aviva Stadium, Sat 10 Nov [MOD WARNING POST #1160]

raher1

By the way,did our kit look like Scotland

shuffol

Thought Murray had one of his better games today but still didnt look like a particularly good scrumhalf.

Fishooks12

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Zebo and Earls are wingers not FB / Centres.

Zebo looked perfectly at home at 15 today and Earls is well able to play 13 at international standard

They don't run clever lines, create space, have good positonal awareness and don't have much passing skills.

They do. In fact everything you've listed there are huge strengths of their game. Granted Earls threw one bad pass today, it used to be his weakness but his hands after very good now

I would prefer Felix Jones at 15, McFadden / O'Malley at 13.

Jones and O'Malley haven't played near enough rugby this year to be considered right now

ormond lad

positives
- mccarthy was super. we have some great options in the row with ryan, mccarthy, POC,
- healy is a world class LH(showing us yet again why he is)
- zebo did ok at fb for his first senior game there but shouldnt be played there again

negatives
- rog 10 sexton 12
- trimble was poor and mcfadden should have came on earlier
- lineout was terrible
- amount of needless penalties given away
- we need an attack coach ASAP and if not. a new head coach

sjwpjw

can zebo pass?

anytime he got the ball it went straight under one arm with no thought of whoever, eg, trimble was outside him. At least once it popped out and forward.

looked like mini rugby to me. one player one arm one thought...

sjwpjw

trimble made a stupid error in helping the ball out although the BBC commentator thought he didn't have a choice?! Other than that I don't really see what he did wrong. He only got the ball when the centres had used up all the space or more often didn't get it because his 'team' mate inside didn't pass.

ROG and Darcy are not really doing it any longer. Other teams eg, Aus etc are not afraid to start blooding young players for the future and so should we. When is the last time anyone thought GD looked like scoring in a green shirt?

Hagz

ormond lad wrote: »

- lineout was terrible

Certainly in the opening stages, but I thought it worked itself out. Bear in mind new combinations etc.

I agree with everything else you say though, especially regarding the need for a new attack coach/head coach.

Emperor1989

I predicted a 14 point win for South Africa. So a few issues to clear up.

Firstly the Irish side put up a very spirited and gutsy display considering the fact alot of them have little test game time. I was impressed by Henry in the pack and McCarthy surprised me in having a very good game.

Springboks were incredibly poor in the first half and this was shown in there leadership by the captain who seemed to lose some of his player especially Houghaard who look disgusted with the penalty he gave away on the far touchline were I was sitting. They were so poor at the breakdown and giving away numerous penalties and then to cap it off JPP second too early hit and easy decision for the ref. Very poor from them.

They upped it massively in the second half led I thought by Strauss at Hooker and Louw who won crucial breakdown match in second half. The big men got moving and Lambie really just offloaded the ball to the big men but showed tremdous strength when he drove through 3 or 4 irish players with help from behind but as such a small man height wise he is incredibly strong in the legs. They just controlled the ball so well and played the game as they traditional do by shutting down the space.

It also has to be said the difference in size between the back 5 and centers was very noticable and Dane Vermulen looks twice the size of Heaslip width size which was surprising. Ryan and McCarthy just didn't look the part but lets face it that doens't really matter when you work as hard as they did. I really thought Earls was poor and himself and Darcy were smashed in the second half with big runners. I thought Jean De Villers upped it big time in the second half as he looked a poor leader and player in the first half.

Fair play to the Irish Boys though they did us proud and considering our injuries it was a good effort. The difference is that gear at International level and South Africa really found it but they were extremely poor in patches!

Ref and linesmen were also very poor!..some very dodgy calls

Hagz

sjwpjw wrote: »

trimble made a stupid error in helping the ball out although the BBC commentator thought he didn't have a choice?!

He didn't really. He either had to go for it or let it bounce, and I don't think there was any guarantee that it was going to bounce into touch. He was just unlucky really.

KJY

sjwpjw wrote: »

can zebo pass?

anytime he got the ball it went straight under one arm with no thought of whoever, eg, trimble was outside him. At least once it popped out and forward.

looked like mini rugby to me. one player one arm one thought...

He regularly slots in at outhalf for Munster in broken play and doesn't look out of place

Clegg

Just back from the game. There were a lot of rather angry fans leaving at fulltime.

Thought we looked decent in the first half. Sexton controlled the game very well and our pack matched SA's. Heaslip and Henry did well in the backrow. I know Heaslip will get stick for his yellow card but his performances this season are improved over last seasons.

Second half was a shambles. The Saffa pack got the upper hand over ours and Sexton had to drop 5 metres deeper because of that pressure.

We have no idea how to attack. The one outs to a static forward does not work anymore. It's a shocking indictment of the coaching team that our players look clueless with ball in hand.

phog

Clegg wrote: »

Just back from the game. There were a lot of rather angry fans leaving at fulltime.

Thought we looked decent in the first half. Sexton controlled the game very well and our pack matched SA's. Heaslip and Henry did well in the backrow. I know Heaslip will get stick for his yellow card but his performances this season are improved over last seasons.

Second half was a shambles. The Saffa pack got the upper hand over ours and Sexton had to drop 5 metres deeper because of that pressure.

We have no idea how to attack. The one outs to a static forward does not work anymore. It's a shocking indictment of the coaching team that our players look clueless with ball in hand.

Did he? I was disappointed with him and furious when he got carded and cost us 10 points. There was one scrum and the call seemed to be Murray to run around scrum either as a decoy or as first receiver, as he ran past Heaslip he gave him a tap to let him know the move was on adn Heaslip kept the ball in the scrum move broke down.

His stats from scrum.com are 4 passes, 9 runs making 11 meters, 2 tackles, win 2 lineouts, gave away 2 penalties one which cost him and Ireland a sinbinning.

flyswatter

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Zebo looked perfectly at home at 15 today and Earls is well able to play 13 at international standard




They do. In fact everything you've listed there are huge strengths of their game. Granted Earls threw one bad pass today, it used to be his weakness but his hands after very good now



Jones and O'Malley haven't played near enough rugby this year to be considered right now

Earls will never be a centre in my mind, need his pace out wide.

Almaviva

pappyodaniel wrote: »

I think after today's performance we can put the Murray/Reddan debate to bed.

Agree. But Kidney doesnt see it, and while he is at the helm, Murray likely to be picked to start nonetheless.

Fishooks12

Almaviva wrote: »

Agree. But Kidney doesnt see it, and while he is at the helm, Murray likely to be picked to start nonetheless.

Murray was better than Reddan today IMO, I know Reddan has been better in the past but today Murray put in a good shift while Reddan was pretty average and indecisive. How people can say that today of all days put the argument to rest is beyond me

maddragon

ormond lad wrote: »

positives
- mccarthy was super. we have some great options in the row with ryan, mccarthy, POC,
- healy is a world class LH(showing us yet again why he is)
- zebo did ok at fb for his first senior game there but shouldnt be played there again

negatives
- rog 10 sexton 12
- trimble was poor and mcfadden should have came on earlier
- lineout was terrible
- amount of needless penalties given away
- we need an attack coach ASAP and if not. a new head coach

FYP

irishbucsfan

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Murray was better than Reddan today. I mean ffs.

Let it go. Obviously it was true but some people just have it in for the guy and will only ever see his flaws.

Emperor1989

Zebo imo was superb today, everything I thought he couldn't do he did. He looked to get involved as well. Delighted he stepped up.

Earls is not a international in any position brings very little to the party!

Fishooks12

Emperor1989 wrote: »

Zebo imo was superb today, everything I thought he couldn't do he did. He looked to get involved as well. Delighted he stepped up.

Earls is not a international in any position brings very little to the party!

I have a funny feeling you're basing the bolded part entirely on today. Because I can't see how you'd come to that conclusion if you'd seen the majority of the test matches he's played at 11 and 13 over the last year and a half

Agree about Zebo though!

molloyjh

irishbucsfan wrote: »

When it's excuted properly it does win you a game against a team 3rd in the world, hence we were outscoring them 4-1 at half time. When we were executing the game plan we were well on top.

The points come from a few different places. From their mistakes leading to penalties, from attacking moves from set pieces and from normal open attacking play if you can make good ground quickly.

So points come from:

a) Opposition mistakes leading to penalties - check
b) Attack moves from set pieces - how many if those were there? More to the point how many of those were there that were successful?
c) Normal open attacking play if you can make good ground quickly - how much of this did we see? And how much was successful?

The point I'm making is that other than the penalties SA gave away we couldn't create anything. For as much as you can use the scoreline at half-time to back up a successful game plan I can point to the fact that all of our points in that half came from point a and none from either b or c. And in the second half we didn't score at all. And in the end we lost. We never created a try scoring opportunity. And how many of our penalties were won inside SAs 22 rather than between half way and the 22? You're always going to win penalties in a game. But depending in those, which we did today, was basically living off scraps. To win these games we need to be creating chances and converting those chances. Did we even create them today?

Fishooks12

It must be extremely frustrating for our pack to play so well and the lack of invention out wide to make it all count for nothing. And I'm not for a second blaming the backs either. It's obvious they're trying their best with a limited system, and this leads to the odd break, purely out of individual skill. But we rarely look like penetrating with ball in hand as a unit

Stheno

Hagz wrote: »

After watching Poite in the Wales/Arg match, I don't think Barnes communicates enough. There are times where I saw him looking at a player about to commit an offence and he just waits until they make it and then blows his whistle. Take for instance the Heaslip YC. He gave about 4 different advantages during that maul yet not once did he say 'No!/Get out of there! Don't touch him!'. In contrast when you watch Poite, he roars orders at all the players making sure they know when they're about to cross the line. I think as a result it leads to more penalties.

Actually having watched the second half of Wales/Arg I agree with you, Poite was much more involved, and as well as a spectator I appreciated the interaction between him and the players, several times today during the Ireland match, it was unclear what was going on and commentators were trying to figure it out, whereas we Poite you clearly heard him warning and could follow the flow of penaltys etc

It's one of the better aspects of rugby especially if you are unclear with the rules.

Barnes as well seemed happy enough to let the players sort out their ruckus, and didn't seem to involve the captains, other referees would have intervened quicker (this was after Piennar and his early tackle)

That said, there is a Welsh ref. I hate, Owens I think? Seems far too intrusive. Thought Poite had a nice balance today. Barnes seemed very reliant on the other refs for any actions/decisions at times.

Clegg

phog wrote: »

Did he? I was disappointed with him and furious when he got carded and cost us 10 points. There was one scrum and the call seemed to be Murray to run around scrum either as a decoy or as first receiver, as he ran past Heaslip he gave him a tap to let him know the move was on adn Heaslip kept the ball in the scrum move broke down.

His stats from scrum.com are 4 passes, 9 runs making 11 meters, 2 tackles, win 2 lineouts, gave away 2 penalties one which cost him and Ireland a sinbinning.

I might have been overstating his performance but I don't think he played poorly.

I was more disappointed in POM tbh. Looked a bit hesitant today. Was also blasted back when making tackles.

We have a problem at scrumhalf too. Murray didn't play well and Reddan was no better when he came on.

MrDerp

Clegg wrote: »

Just back from the game. There were a lot of rather angry fans leaving at fulltime.

Thought we looked decent in the first half. Sexton controlled the game very well and our pack matched SA's. Heaslip and Henry did well in the backrow. I know Heaslip will get stick for his yellow card but his performances this season are improved over last seasons.

Second half was a shambles. The Saffa pack got the upper hand over ours and Sexton had to drop 5 metres deeper because of that pressure.

We have no idea how to attack. The one outs to a static forward does not work anymore. It's a shocking indictment of the coaching team that our players look clueless with ball in hand.

Was at the game myself. In the nosebleeds, which is good for watching the systems. To be fair, we perfected the 3 on 5 attack. Masters at exploiting the underlap.

irishbucsfan

Molloy it didn't work in the 2nd half because of the performance of the half backs, not because it was a flawed system or plan. The performance of Sexton and Murray was key and neither of them delivered in the 2nd half.

There is no way we were going to get anywhere near them playing free flowing attacking rugby, we would have been absolutely demolished in both possession and territory, look at the team we had out there.

The point is, when the plan was executed, we were far and away the better team and were winning the game by a clear margin. That is proof that the plan worked. Obviously we didn't create many attacking opportunities to score a try, but not every team needs to score tries to win games and there is nothing to suggest that if we hadn't kept them contained in the 2nd half we wouldn't have created something from a turnover or from a set piece. We'll never know because we couldn't get any territory to find out.

It was definitely the best approach to the game. There is not a single doubt in my mind. I'd have to seriously question the wisdom of anyone who thinks we could ever go through the phases against that South Africa team without conceding left, right and center.

Emperor1989

Fishooks12 wrote: »

I have a funny feeling you're basing the bolded part entirely on today. Because I can't see how you'd come to that conclusion if you'd seen the majority of the test matches he's played at 11 and 13 over the last year and a half

Agree about Zebo though!

Does Earls bring anything though?? I can't really see it he is no where near a international 13 he is tiny, He isn't particulary quick, his passing was very poor and he butchered one to Bowe.

I don't get the Keith Earls hype to be honest, the lad is in mid twenties and yet to prove he can match up at this level and he certainly will never at 13 the way the game has gone. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him as we cannot get our back 3 into the game at all. I would toss him from the 13 slot he is not a international 13. McFadden and Cave would be my preferred choice at this current moment in time.

irishbucsfan

Earls isn't particularly quick?

.ak

phog wrote: »

Did he? I was disappointed with him and furious when he got carded and cost us 10 points. There was one scrum and the call seemed to be Murray to run around scrum either as a decoy or as first receiver, as he ran past Heaslip he gave him a tap to let him know the move was on adn Heaslip kept the ball in the scrum move broke down.

His stats from scrum.com are 4 passes, 9 runs making 11 meters, 2 tackles, win 2 lineouts, gave away 2 penalties one which cost him and Ireland a sinbinning.

Ah in fairness phog that scrum was going forward, the SA front row had popped up, Jamie obviously thought it was going to be a penalty (and should've been) for us. When nothing happened he then carried on with the set play, but as you said it was too late and it broke down. Hardly his fault if he though the pen was on.

I thought he had a good game. To blame him for getting the YC is a bit harsh too. If SA had rumbled in for a try we'd be blaming more than just him. Captain's often put themselves on the ref's firing line to avoid 5 points. Rougerie picked up a YC today against Toulon, preventing them scoring a try (although I thought that was a harsh call also). If we had managed to keep SA out we'd have been thanking him. It's just one of those things.

Incidentally, the try wasn't scored because of an overlap in numbers. Ryan switched off for a second.

Fishooks12

Emperor1989 wrote: »

Does Earls bring anything though?? I can't really see it he is no where near a international 13 he is tiny, He isn't particulary quick, his passing was very poor and he butchered one to Bowe.

I don't get the Keith Earls hype to be honest, the lad is in mid twenties and yet to prove he can match up at this level and he certainly will never at 13 the way the game has gone. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him as we cannot get our back 3 into the game at all. I would toss him from the 13 slot he is not a international 13. McFadden and Cave would be my preferred choice at this current moment in time.

Are we talking about the same player!?

Bar the bad pass to Bowe today (and every centre throws a bad pass or two), Earls has very solid hands. It's one area he's improved hugely lately

He's lightning quick. In fact he left Hougaard for dead today.

He's very solid in defense, watch him in last years six nations for examples. And today.

He's probably the best finished in Ireland too and is a prolific try scorer at every level

I really think you're basing your entire opinion on one game is a bit odd. Especially when Earls was far from a disaster. Granted he made three silly errors, but he was a rock in defense and made a great break on the outside

phog

Emperor1989 wrote: »

Does Earls bring anything though?? I can't really see it he is no where near a international 13 he is tiny, He isn't particulary quick, his passing was very poor and he butchered one to Bowe.

I don't get the Keith Earls hype to be honest, the lad is in mid twenties and yet to prove he can match up at this level and he certainly will never at 13 the way the game has gone. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him as we cannot get our back 3 into the game at all. I would toss him from the 13 slot he is not a international 13. McFadden and Cave would be my preferred choice at this current moment in time.

You're entitled to your opinion but in general you're wrong on Earls, he didn't have a great game today but that's an exception and to be fair to him he's just returning from an injury.

As for not being fast, compared to who Usain Bolt maybe not but for a centre, wing or fullback he's fast.

Baker87

Emperor1989 wrote: »

Does Earls bring anything though?? I can't really see it he is no where near a international 13 he is tiny, He isn't particulary quick, his passing was very poor and he butchered one to Bowe.

I don't get the Keith Earls hype to be honest, the lad is in mid twenties and yet to prove he can match up at this level and he certainly will never at 13 the way the game has gone. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him as we cannot get our back 3 into the game at all. I would toss him from the 13 slot he is not a international 13. McFadden and Cave would be my preferred choice at this current moment in time.

Isn't particularly quick? :pac:

tolosenc

Emperor1989 wrote: »

Does Earls bring anything though?? I can't really see it he is no where near a international 13 he is tiny, He isn't particulary quick, his passing was very poor and he butchered one to Bowe.

I don't get the Keith Earls hype to be honest, the lad is in mid twenties and yet to prove he can match up at this level and he certainly will never at 13 the way the game has gone. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him as we cannot get our back 3 into the game at all. I would toss him from the 13 slot he is not a international 13. McFadden and Cave would be my preferred choice at this current moment in time.

I'm no fan of Earls, and don't the he has enough to play 13 for Ireland, but the bolded bit above hints to me that you don't actually know who he is. He is lightning quick. Probably second only to McFadden in the squad.

.ak

Emperor1989 wrote: »

Does Earls bring anything though?? I can't really see it he is no where near a international 13 he is tiny, He isn't particulary quick, his passing was very poor and he butchered one to Bowe.

I don't get the Keith Earls hype to be honest, the lad is in mid twenties and yet to prove he can match up at this level and he certainly will never at 13 the way the game has gone. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him as we cannot get our back 3 into the game at all. I would toss him from the 13 slot he is not a international 13. McFadden and Cave would be my preferred choice at this current moment in time.

Hrmm, whilst my own opinion is generally Earls is not a 13 (at international standard anyway), he certainly is quick. Probably the quickest on the squad in terms of acceleration and speed over distance.

.ak

Yeh actually I'd say only McFadden is quicker than him.

Fishooks12

I think Earls can work as an International level 13. But not with Darcy at 12. Don't think the dynamic works given neither have the best hands in the world (in the context of international centers obviously)

Baker87

McFadden quicker than Earls?

That to me is a stranger thought than Earls "not being particularly quick"!

MrDerp

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Molloy it didn't work in the 2nd half because of the performance of the half backs, not because it was a flawed system or plan. The performance of Sexton and Murray was key and neither of them delivered in the 2nd half.

There is no way we were going to get anywhere near them playing free flowing attacking rugby, we would have been absolutely demolished in both possession and territory, look at the team we had out there.

The point is, when the plan was executed, we were far and away the better team and were winning the game by a clear margin. That is proof that the plan worked. .

Sorry but should a plan not be an 80 min plan? You cannot cherry pick 25 mins of successful planning and then blame the half backs when the plan is found out.

Plan B tonight was crabbing across the field. Crabbing and mindless kicking were automatic substitution when I played U14. Taught us respect for possession.

Fishooks12

.ak wrote: »

Yeh actually I'd say only McFadden is quicker than him.

Zebo maybe

Anyone else notice that McFadden has a habit of falling over himself sometimes when carrying . Too quick for his own good maybe!

Fishooks12

Baker87 wrote: »

McFadden quicker than Earls?

That to me is a stranger thought than Earls "not being particularly quick"!

McFadden is lightening quick!

Fireball07

Baker87 wrote: »

McFadden quicker than Earls?

That to me is a stranger thought than Earls "not being particularly quick"!

McFadden is very very fast in full flight...we don't always see it when he's in the centre but give him a bit of space.

I think Zebo is possibly quicker than Earls. Not much between them anyway.

Stheno

Fireball07 wrote: »

McFadden is very very fast in full flight...we don't always see it when he's in the centre but give him a bit of space.

I think Zebo is possibly quicker than Earls. Not much between them anyway.

There was a point today where Earls made a bit of a break, very quick

leonard7

wee Small Parcel sorry i mean Paul Marshall is lightning quick

irishbucsfan

MrDerp wrote: »

Sorry but should a plan not be an 80 min plan? You cannot cherry pick 25 mins of successful planning and then blame the half backs when the plan is found out.

Plan B tonight was crabbing across the field. Crabbing and mindless kicking were automatic substitution when I played U14. Taught us respect for possession.

That plan was an 80 minute plan. We only executed it for 40 minutes.

I agree that they lacked any ability to do anything else, but that shows exactly why losing control of the game was so devastating to our chances to win today. We were never going to be able to do anything else when we were missing the players that we were.

Absolutely we could do with new coaches in an ideal world as I said before, I am no fan of Kidney, but in the realistic discussion of what happened today, the blame lies at the feet of the guys who should have maintained control of the game far better than they did. If they had, we would have won. That's what I'm saying.

.ak

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Zebo maybe

Anyone else notice that McFadden has a habit of falling over himself sometimes when carrying . Too quick for his own good maybe!

Yep, dunno what it is, but he always ends up slipping when trying to side-step.

But yeah, he's silly quick. I'd actually go as far as to say he's weird quick! Ever see his mad gangley run? I've seen him run 80m in no time though. He seems more interested in going into contact, but if he's got you turning you just will not catch him.

Scioch

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Let it go. Obviously it was true but some people just have it in for the guy and will only ever see his flaws.

Well when the biggest flaw he has is the fact that he's not and never has been upto international rugby its hard to ignore.

Emperor1989

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Are we talking about the same player!?

Bar the bad pass to Bowe today (and every centre throws a bad pass or two), Earls has very solid hands. It's one area he's improved hugely lately

He's lightning quick. In fact he left Hougaard for dead today.

He's very solid in defense, watch him in last years six nations for examples. And today.

He's probably the best finished in Ireland too and is a prolific try scorer at every level

I really think you're basing your entire opinion on one game is a bit odd. Especially when Earls was far from a disaster. Granted he made three silly errors, but he was a rock in defense and made a great break on the outside

Maybe I just don't rate him, I just don't see him as a International 13. I can't forget when he was cleaned out by Hosea Gear last only a few months ago. I don't know there is something wrong with that combo in center and maybe I am blaming Earls too much. He can't be shown in the best light when Darcy is being battered by Jean De Villers and then expected to tackle the big men coming around the corner.

The backline just doesn't work, Madigan sitting at home and is maybe the spark we need. I love to see a 9. Marshall 10. Sexton 11. Zebo 12. McFadden 13. Cave 14. Bowe 15. Madigan Plenty of spark there, enough with the likes of Trimble and Darcy and Murray. Time to move on!

irishbucsfan

Scioch wrote: »

Well when the biggest flaw he has is the fact that he's not and never has been upto international rugby its hard to ignore.

He was up to international standard today. He played very well. I was screaming for Reddan in February but I'm not naive enough to not be able to realise that different games call for different selections, and today the selection was correct.

phog

.ak wrote: »

Ah in fairness phog that scrum was going forward, the SA front row had popped up, Jamie obviously thought it was going to be a penalty (and should've been) for us. When nothing happened he then carried on with the set play, but as you said it was too late and it broke down. Hardly his fault if he though the pen was on.

I thought he had a good game. To blame him for getting the YC is a bit harsh too. If SA had rumbled in for a try we'd be blaming more than just him. Captain's often put themselves on the ref's firing line to avoid 5 points. Rougerie picked up a YC today against Toulon, preventing them scoring a try (although I thought that was a harsh call also). If we had managed to keep SA out we'd have been thanking him. It's just one of those things.

Incidentally, the try wasn't scored because of an overlap in numbers. Ryan switched off for a second.

I'm not sure that Heaslip knew what was happening with their front row, his head was buried in the scrum, once he got the tap in the butt from Murray he shoudl have gone with the call. Agree it should have been a penalty and their backrow broke once they saw Murray sweep away but the first rule of rugby thought to kids is play the whistle.

Heaslip was carded after SA actually got over the line they just didn't ground it.

Agree about Ryan not being aware or Pienaar but we were under the posts and down a man that is usually a pillar in those circumstances anyway you'd back most teams to score in those circumstances, blaming Ryan deflects from the fact that Ireland were down a man.

tolosenc

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Zebo maybe

Anyone else notice that McFadden has a habit of falling over himself sometimes when carrying . Too quick for his own good maybe!

Yeah, he's always falling over.

For anyone who doubts his pace, I direct your attention to 7:05 in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsYcFuzE8_0

irishbucsfan

If the penalty is on you always keep the ball in the scrum. Even if they had made ground with the set play it never would have been as valuable as the penalty we should have won. Heaslip made the right call there and got unlucky that the penalty wasn't given.

In fairness there aren't many 8s in the world with the instincts that Heaslip has at the base of the scrum. He's very very strong in that area of the game.