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Italy vs Ireland match thread, 24-2-2019.
Comments
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SOB was the biggest disappointment for me yesterday. An error strewn display. Really cringe stuff some of it, dropped balls, bad passes, missed tackles. I feel for the guy. He's dropped himself down the pecking order significantly now imo.
I can't help but wonder if the Munster Leinster game in Thomond has damaged some of the relationships within the squad.
Sexton and Murray ****ing each other out of it during the England game, Sexton's public display of frustration yesterday, (although I assumed it was the referee at the time he was expressing annoyance about, I'm not sure now.) a 9/10 axis that's not clicking. Can it be all explained away by Murray's body not being back to full tilt yet?
All conjecture on my part of course.
I think the SOB stuff is disingenuous, not a good game but still 3rd for metres run in the pack(after Kilcoyne and scannell), having played 60 minutes. Missed exactly one tackle (no pluralization required), threw exactly one bad pass to murray, one breakdown penalty, one penalty that was accidental offside from an earls knock on (there is nothing anyone can do to avoid those) and an important turnover in his 22. It's a bad day, not a complete meltdown as described above.0 -
SOB is not playing well because he has 2 people on him and everytime he receives the ball he is standing still....once he got the ball he got nailed by 2 players....tough and all SOB is he isn't a bloody superman
Did he once receive the ball yesterday running onto it?
Everything I seen yesterday was an issue because the ball was so bloody slow0 -
Shefwedfan wrote: »SOB is not playing well because he has 2 people on him and everytime he receives the ball he is standing still....once he got the ball he got nailed by 2 players....tough and all SOB is he isn't a bloody superman
Did he once receive the ball yesterday running onto it?
Everything I seen yesterday was an issue because the ball was so bloody slow
This^
Replace Murray and I think the entire team massively improves. He reminds me of Peyton Manning after he took that year out.0 -
The SOB has been talked about elsewhere but the division in camp one is also bull.SOB was the biggest disappointment for me yesterday. An error strewn display. Really cringe stuff some of it, dropped balls, bad passes, missed tackles. I feel for the guy. He's dropped himself down the pecking order significantly now imo.
I can't help but wonder if the Munster Leinster game in Thomond has damaged some of the relationships within the squad.
Sexton and Murray ****ing each other out of it during the England game, Sexton's public display of frustration yesterday, (although I assumed it was the referee at the time he was expressing annoyance about, I'm not sure now.) a 9/10 axis that's not clicking. Can it be all explained away by Murray's body not being back to full tilt yet?
All conjecture on my part of course.
You can't read anything into Sexton giving out. He does it a lot. Especially when things are going badly.0 -
I watched much of that match through my fingers, not from nerves but despair at our sloppiness and inaccuracy. If it were the first game, I could have accepted it given our infuriating propensity to start slowly and get caught cold. I accept that injuries to key players have played a role and that our main play-makers are bang out of form. But we are more than half way through the tournament now and I am seeing very little improvement. If anything I feel we have regressed in some areas. While not a catastrophic performance, it was thoroughly depressing given both the level of opposition (an injury depleted Italian side) and where we are in the world cup cycle.
Yet when I listened to POM's interview after the game his attitude contrasted fairly jarringly with my own, seeming to suggest that he was pretty happy and proud of how the team went and that we just need to fix a few small things for France. Ditto in the press conference afterwards. I didn't see Joe's after match interview, but in the post match presser he did seem a bit more critical and unhappy with the performance than the captain but generally appeared to regard it as a decent result and something to build on, rather than the worryingly crap performance it so patently was. That's the impression I got at any rate. Murray continued his deeply underwhelming streak and to my mind had a mare (at least in terms of his own prior standards), yet Joe was at pains to point out that much of his kicking was very good. Sexton had a very mixed bag and seems to be increasingly fragile. That's deeply worrying when you consider how dependent we are on him. I felt leadership was glaringly absent across the park. There was nobody who seemed willing or capable to grab the game by the scruff of the neck - amazing when you consider that this was one of our strengths until recently. The potency and guile of our back line looks vastly diminished without Ringrose. Our lineout seems to fall apart without Toner. SOB is a shadow of his former self and London Irish fans must be starting to suffer from buyers remorse. I could go on and on. We do have more depth than 4 years ago, but not as much as we once thought.
So it begs the questions, are we over-reacting or are they being overly optimistic and blase? Or are those comments just for public consumption? I accept that sloppy errors can be cut out and accuracy improved, but I genuinely feel that our problems go much deeper than just that. I know a lot of people say that they would rather have the slump now than in the world cup. But that assumes that a. it really is just a temporary slump rather than something more systemic and b. that recovery is just a matter of time. Even if that's true, the next question is how much time? Englands form fell off a cliff and it took them about 18 months to recover. But we only have 2 meaningful games left and a handful of warm ups. Tempus fugit.0 -
SOB was the biggest disappointment for me yesterday. An error strewn display. Really cringe stuff some of it, dropped balls, bad passes, missed tackles. I feel for the guy. He's dropped himself down the pecking order significantly now imo.
I can't help but wonder if the Munster Leinster game in Thomond has damaged some of the relationships within the squad.
Sexton and Murray ****ing each other out of it during the England game, Sexton's public display of frustration yesterday, (although I assumed it was the referee at the time he was expressing annoyance about, I'm not sure now.) a 9/10 axis that's not clicking. Can it be all explained away by Murray's body not being back to full tilt yet?
All conjecture on my part of course.
This all leads back to one thing.....slow ball
Sexton is getting nailed, like the other players are getting nailed becuase the ball is slow. I keep saying it....watch any 5 min segment when Ireland have the ball....they are all waiting....
The Irish game is build on ruck's, this has been pointed out at nauseum by pundits. Rucks and fast ball...
This does not work if we hit a ruck and then the defence has time to line out and wait while we decide to throw the ball out, when the ball comes out they nail the player and back we go....we are far far far far too slow.
We have two choice
1. Change Murray and see how it goes
2. Change our game plan from depending on rucks and fast ball....
Presonally, I love Murray, but I think option 1 is easier fix. Give Murray some rest, let him work up his fitness against some Pro14 team0 -
I watched much of that match through my fingers, not from nerves but despair at our sloppiness and inaccuracy. If it were the first game, I could have accepted it given our infuriating propensity to start slowly and get caught cold. I accept that injuries to key players have played a role and that our main play-makers are bang out of form. But we are more than half way through the tournament now and I am seeing very little improvement. If anything I feel we have regressed in some areas. While not a catastrophic performance, it was thoroughly depressing given both the level of opposition (an injury depleted Italian side) and where we are in the world cup cycle.
Yet when I listened to POM's interview after the game his attitude contrasted fairly jarringly with my own, seeming to suggest that he was pretty happy and proud of how the team went and that we just need to fix a few small things for France. Ditto in the press conference afterwards. I didn't see Joe's after match interview, but in the post match presser he did seem a bit more critical and unhappy with the performance than the captain but generally appeared to regard it as a decent result and something to build on, rather than the worryingly crap performance it so patently was. That's the impression I got at any rate. Murray continued his deeply underwhelming streak and to my mind had a mare (at least in terms of his own prior standards), yet Joe was at pains to point out that much of his kicking was very good. Sexton had a very mixed bag and seems to be increasingly fragile. That's deeply worrying when you consider how dependent we are on him. I felt leadership was glaringly absent across the park. There was nobody who seemed willing or capable to grab the game by the scruff of the neck - amazing when you consider that this was one of our strengths until recently. The potency and guile of our back line looks vastly diminished without Ringrose. Our lineout seems to fall apart without Toner. SOB is a shadow of his former self and London Irish fans must be starting to suffer from buyers remorse. I could go on and on. We do have more depth than 4 years ago, but not as much as we once thought.
So it begs the questions, are we over-reacting or are they being overly optimistic and blase? Or are those comments just for public consumption? I accept that sloppy errors can be cut out and accuracy improved, but I genuinely feel that our problems go much deeper than just that. I know a lot of people say that they would rather have the slump now than in the world cup. But that assumes that a. it really is just a temporary slump rather than something more systemic and b. that recovery is just a matter of time. Even if that's true, the next question is how much time? Englands form fell off a cliff and it took them about 18 months to recover. But we only have 2 meaningful games left and a handful of warm ups. Tempus fugit.
What exactly did people expect POM to say? Italy are s**t and we shoul do of hammered that....this is a disaster....
That would be an awful insult to Italy for one....
Also what was Joe going to say, "he lads you see that 80 mins of s**t out there, phew that crap is over"
That is left for them to discuss in house. They have 2 weeks to work on it....let see what comes against France....
At the end of the day we have lost 1 game. Beaten 2 teams in the top 10 in World, one by bonus point and the other we should have beaten by bonus point. If we had lost 3 on the bounce then I would be concerned0 -
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Shefwedfan wrote: »SOB was the biggest disappointment for me yesterday. An error strewn display. Really cringe stuff some of it, dropped balls, bad passes, missed tackles. I feel for the guy. He's dropped himself down the pecking order significantly now imo.
I can't help but wonder if the Munster Leinster game in Thomond has damaged some of the relationships within the squad.
Sexton and Murray ****ing each other out of it during the England game, Sexton's public display of frustration yesterday, (although I assumed it was the referee at the time he was expressing annoyance about, I'm not sure now.) a 9/10 axis that's not clicking. Can it be all explained away by Murray's body not being back to full tilt yet?
All conjecture on my part of course.
This all leads back to one thing.....slow ball
Sexton is getting nailed, like the other players are getting nailed becuase the ball is slow. I keep saying it....watch any 5 min segment when Ireland have the ball....they are all waiting....
The Irish game is build on ruck's, this has been pointed out at nauseum by pundits. Rucks and fast ball...
This does not work if we hit a ruck and then the defence has time to line out and wait while we decide to throw the ball out, when the ball comes out they nail the player and back we go....we are far far far far too slow.
We have two choice
1. Change Murray and see how it goes
2. Change our game plan from depending on rucks and fast ball....
Presonally, I love Murray, but I think option 1 is easier fix. Give Murray some rest, let him work up his fitness against some Pro14 team
It isn't. Our game is built around ball retention and speeding it up at the right points. Our ball retention was muck, we didn't drag the Italian defense out of position and we were frequently going backwards. Sticking in Cooney won't help with any of that. Option 1 is easy and pointless unless Marmion is ready for another performance like November.
Murray's issues had more to do with decision making and awareness.0 -
Didn’t realize Sheedy was IQ, another outhalf for Munster maybe.
Parents Irish, born in Cardiff. Played under age for Wales, ended up going to one of the English rugby schools. He played underage 7s for Ireland. His name came up because he refused to play underage for Wales against another country who nominated their underage age team as their 2nd team and which would have tied him to Wales.0 -
Parents Irish, born in Cardiff. Played under age for Wales, ended up going to one of the English rugby schools. He played underage 7s for Ireland. His name came up because he refused to play underage for Wales against another country who nominated their underage age team as their 2nd team and which would have tied him to Wales.
Yes, I always thought Ulster should have tried to tempt him. Instead they went for a guy from Bath junior 5ths.0 -
SOB was the biggest disappointment for me yesterday. An error strewn display. Really cringe stuff some of it, dropped balls, bad passes, missed tackles. I feel for the guy. He's dropped himself down the pecking order significantly now imo.
.
I think it was SOB who got rag dolled by Tibaldi at the ruck where he stole the ball from Murray.0 -
jacothelad wrote: »Yes, I always thought Ulster should have tried to tempt him. Instead they went for a guy from Bath junior 5ths.
To paraphrase Darren Cave, I'm not sure his face would fit in Belfast. His Twitter profile had the phrase "Tiocfaidh ár lá" on it for a long time. Hopefully he's copped on/grown up a bit since then.0 -
Shefwedfan wrote: »What exactly did people expect POM to say? Italy are s**t and we shoul do of hammered that....this is a disaster....
That would be an awful insult to Italy for one....
Also what was Joe going to say, "he lads you see that 80 mins of s**t out there, phew that crap is over"
That is left for them to discuss in house. They have 2 weeks to work on it....let see what comes against France....
At the end of the day we have lost 1 game. Beaten 2 teams in the top 10 in World, one by bonus point and the other we should have beaten by bonus point. If we had lost 3 on the bounce then I would be concerned
Ah come on now, I am not suggesting that anyone is expecting POM to publicly ridicule and disparage Italy. What I was expecting was him to acknowledge the reality - that Ireland were extremely poor and that level of performance is completely unacceptable. You can tell the truth about your performance without demeaning your opposition. Instead we got a comment along the lines of "no I'm happy with that and I am proud of how the team performed today". At best this is disingenuous. At worst its delusional, and if that's what he really thinks we should all be very worried indeed. Then he doubled down on it at the presser when asked about whether there were serious issues that needed addressing and he basically just said no we're grand. A few tweaks is all we need. That's one thing that was always refreshing about someone like ROG - he told the unvarnished truth instead of peddling cliches and canned lines.
It also hasn't been 80 mins of sh*t, its been 240. We are so far off where we should be at this point in the cycle its alarming. We were extremely flat and disappointing at home against an admittedly rejuvenated England. Its not the defeat but the manner of it that was worrying. If you cannot get up for England in Dublin then something is wrong. We were very underwhelming against a Scottish team that couldn't bless itself without making a mistake and had more than enough chances to beat us. We were dire against an injury depleted Italian team that haven't won a 6 nations game since 2015 and just set a new tournament record for consecutive defeats. Suggesting that beating Italy is some kind of laudable achievement because they are a "top 10" opposition is more than a little disingenuous. If anything, that just shows how little depth there is in rugby globally.
As you say they have 2 more weeks to work on it. If we win our last two games, then we can say we have turned it around. But if don't improve dramatically, and I do mean dramatically, then Wales will absolutely humiliate us in Cardiff. It will be a bloodbath. If we serve up that kind of dross again in two weeks I would fancy France to turn us over too.0 -
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Yeah_Right wrote: »I think it was SOB who got rag dolled by Tibaldi at the ruck where he stole the ball from Murray.
It it's the one in the first half that led to the try, it was Chris Farrell. Tebaldi went in to poach, Farrell tried to clean him out (from the side) but didn't move him. Tebaldi then released and threw Farrell back the wrong side of the ruck before ripping Murray.0 -
I think I saw SOB take a piss during the anthems0
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joseywhales wrote: »I think I saw SOB take a piss during the anthems
.. something something irelands call of nature......0 -
Ah come on now, I am not suggesting that anyone is expecting POM to publicly ridicule and disparage Italy. What I was expecting was him to acknowledge the reality - that Ireland were extremely poor and that level of performance is completely unacceptable. You can tell the truth about your performance without demeaning your opposition. Instead we got a comment along the lines of "no I'm happy with that and I am proud of how the team performed today". At best this is disingenuous. At worst its delusional, and if that's what he really thinks we should all be very worried indeed. Then he doubled down on it at the presser when asked about whether there were serious issues that needed addressing and he basically just said no we're grand. A few tweaks is all we need. That's one thing that was always refreshing about someone like ROG - he told the unvarnished truth instead of peddling cliches and canned lines.
Different time when ROG was playing....in those days you could walk up to Lansdowne for game and you could get a ticket
The players are under more and more focus. They are celebrities, take a look at this forum. You have posters on here calling them nicknames and saying they feel like they know them??? then other posters saying that their personal life should be an open discussion because they play rugby.....
That is the huge difference, any sort of one liner and it is splashed all over the press the next day. Not the whole interview, just 1 line. So yes expect every interview to be as mundane as possible because if it isn't then they get crucified on TV, press, radio and of course these forums....
Like Sexton showing a bit of annoyance walking off the pitch....up roar from a load of people, trying to get the boot in when he isnt playing well.....
Rugby is huge successful, with that goes the player next door philosophy...go back 5 years ago and you would meet a load of players around D4 during the week and they would chat. Now you meet those same players and they are guarded.....0 -
Shefwedfan wrote: »SOB is not playing well because he has 2 people on him and everytime he receives the ball he is standing still....once he got the ball he got nailed by 2 players....tough and all SOB is he isn't a bloody superman
Did he once receive the ball yesterday running onto it?
Everything I seen yesterday was an issue because the ball was so bloody slow
Did anyone receive the ball running onto it?
In all of our matches this year it just seemed like we were shipping the ball on to the next guy who was also standing still and pretty flat, inviting the last guy to get creamed by a drift defence.0 -
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It was conferences right after the game. He may prefer to keep these things in house. Paying too much attention to pressers is I'll advised. As is getting annoyed by the comments.Shefwedfan wrote: »What exactly did people expect POM to say? Italy are s**t and we shoul do of hammered that....this is a disaster....
That would be an awful insult to Italy for one....
Also what was Joe going to say, "he lads you see that 80 mins of s**t out there, phew that crap is over"
That is left for them to discuss in house. They have 2 weeks to work on it....let see what comes against France....
At the end of the day we have lost 1 game. Beaten 2 teams in the top 10 in World, one by bonus point and the other we should have beaten by bonus point. If we had lost 3 on the bounce then I would be concerned
Ah come on now, I am not suggesting that anyone is expecting POM to publicly ridicule and disparage Italy. What I was expecting was him to acknowledge the reality - that Ireland were extremely poor and that level of performance is completely unacceptable. You can tell the truth about your performance without demeaning your opposition. Instead we got a comment along the lines of "no I'm happy with that and I am proud of how the team performed today". At best this is disingenuous. At worst its delusional, and if that's what he really thinks we should all be very worried indeed. Then he doubled down on it at the presser when asked about whether there were serious issues that needed addressing and he basically just said no we're grand. A few tweaks is all we need. That's one thing that was always refreshing about someone like ROG - he told the unvarnished truth instead of peddling cliches and canned lines.
It also hasn't been 80 mins of sh*t, its been 240. We are so far off where we should be at this point in the cycle its alarming. We were extremely flat and disappointing at home against an admittedly rejuvenated England. Its not the defeat but the manner of it that was worrying. If you cannot get up for England in Dublin then something is wrong. We were very underwhelming against a Scottish team that couldn't bless itself without making a mistake and had more than enough chances to beat us. We were dire against an injury depleted Italian team that haven't won a 6 nations game since 2015 and just set a new tournament record for consecutive defeats. Suggesting that beating Italy is some kind of laudable achievement because they are a "top 10" opposition is more than a little disingenuous. If anything, that just shows how little depth there is in rugby globally.
As you say they have 2 more weeks to work on it. If we win our last two games, then we can say we have turned it around. But if don't improve dramatically, and I do mean dramatically, then Wales will absolutely humiliate us in Cardiff. It will be a bloodbath. If we serve up that kind of dross again in two weeks I would fancy France to turn us over too.
Honestly we are not far off. These players are the same world beaters as last year, they just need to get back to it.0 -
It it's the one in the first half that led to the try, it was Chris Farrell. Tebaldi went in to poach, Farrell tried to clean him out (from the side) but didn't move him. Tebaldi then released and threw Farrell back the wrong side of the ruck before ripping Murray.
I think SOB missed the tackle immediately after Murray had the ball ripped from him.0 -
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Did anyone receive the ball running onto it?
In all of our matches this year it just seemed like we were shipping the ball on to the next guy who was also standing still and pretty flat, inviting the last guy to get creamed by a drift defence.
I've never coached or even played rugby. But I imagine there might be some terminology for what's happening a lot.
Not only is the receiver static when he gets the ball. He'll also often take (or have to take?) a little leap in the air as the ball arrives. So it's actually even worse than a standing start. He has to wait to land (fraction of a second extra, granted) before achieving standing-start-status!
A timing issue or a passing issue? Both?
Either way really bad to see it so regularly this 6n from us.0 -
Very worrying performance yesterday. We really need to pull a performance out against the French. They are a mess defensively and their discipline is terrible so we should beat them easily, but you would worry about the likes of Pernaud, Ramos and Dupont against our wide defense.
If McGrath or Marmion were fit I would drop Murray in a heartbeat. I think Cooney is a little behind them both, but I'd probably still be inclined to go with him against France.
Sexton not playing well either and his attitude when he came off yesterday was appalling. Once again showing he is not captain material imo. If fit, there would be an argument for Carbery v France also. For a couple of reasons.
A lot of players need a kick up the **** to be honest.
Cannot wait to get Ringrose and Henshaw back in the centres. The gap from Ringrose in particular to our next best 13 is huge.0 -
Did anyone receive the ball running onto it?
In all of our matches this year it just seemed like we were shipping the ball on to the next guy who was also standing still and pretty flat, inviting the last guy to get creamed by a drift defence.
I just reference SOB because he was the one picked out in previous post
In all our games this year we are standing still
It is the first time I have seen Ryan going backwards as well....so it is not just SOB.0 -
whatawaster wrote: »Very worrying performance yesterday. We really need to pull a performance out against the French. They are a mess defensively and their discipline is terrible so we should beat them easily, but you would worry about the likes of Pernaud, Ramos and Dupont against our wide defense.
The French should not be taken for granted. They're just as likely to show up and put in a grand stand performance as they are to turn up and sh1t the bed for the whole game.
In this 6 nations, they have had 3 games, 1 good performance, one terrible performance, and one game where they played well for the first half and awfully for the 2nd.
We're playing in Dublin, all the pressure is on us to perform. If they get a good start, we could be looking at a long day in 2 weeks time.0 -
Shefwedfan wrote: »Different time when ROG was playing....in those days you could walk up to Lansdowne for game and you could get a ticket
The players are under more and more focus. They are celebrities, take a look at this forum. You have posters on here calling them nicknames and saying they feel like they know them??? then other posters saying that their personal life should be an open discussion because they play rugby.....
That is the huge difference, any sort of one liner and it is splashed all over the press the next day. Not the whole interview, just 1 line. So yes expect every interview to be as mundane as possible because if it isn't then they get crucified on TV, press, radio and of course these forums....
Like Sexton showing a bit of annoyance walking off the pitch....up roar from a load of people, trying to get the boot in when he isnt playing well.....
Rugby is huge successful, with that goes the player next door philosophy...go back 5 years ago and you would meet a load of players around D4 during the week and they would chat. Now you meet those same players and they are guarded.....It was conferences right after the game. He may prefer to keep these things in house. Paying too much attention to pressers is I'll advised. As is getting annoyed by the comments.
I understand everything you guys are saying and it makes sense of course. I guess I just wanted some reassurance that they realise there are real problems and that the level they are currently at is not nearly good enough to secure that semi final place, rather than just gloss over it all and pretend everything is rosy. The world and its dog can see that we are playing far below the levels we need to be at. But I'm sure you're right that regardless of what they feed the media they will know exactly whats wrong and be laser focused on trying to right the ship over the next few weeks.Honestly we are not far off. These players are the same world beaters as last year, they just need to get back to it.
I really hope this is the case and that I am just being a drama queen. I guess being an Irish rugby fan since the 80's has left me with plenty of scars and disappointments, especially in the World Cup. I'm desperate to see them break the hoodoo this time. I would happily trade a wooden spoon now for a semi final berth. Im not worried by the error count or inaccuracies. Those are easily fixed. My faith in Joe remains unshaken too, but the performance trajectories of a couple of our key players and leaders is a real concern for me. You cant just switch that on or off. It will take time to get them back to where they need to be and I just hope we have enough.0 -
whatawaster wrote: »Very worrying performance yesterday. We really need to pull a performance out against the French. They are a mess defensively and their discipline is terrible so we should beat them easily, but you would worry about the likes of Pernaud, Ramos and Dupont against our wide defense.
If McGrath or Marmion were fit I would drop Murray in a heartbeat. I think Cooney is a little behind them both, but I'd probably still be inclined to go with him against France.
Sexton not playing well either and his attitude when he came off yesterday was appalling. Once again showing he is not captain material imo. If fit, there would be an argument for Carbery v France also. For a couple of reasons.
A lot of players need a kick up the **** to be honest.
Cannot wait to get Ringrose and Henshaw back in the centres. The gap from Ringrose in particular to our next best 13 is huge.
Agree with a lot of what you say but I feel you're wrong about the centres. I'd be happy with any combination of Aki/Henshaw and Ringrose/Farrell. I'd be inclined to go Aki and Ringrose as first choice at this stage and Farrell as a bench option. He had a good game yesterday alternating between 12 and 13.0 -
I don't know if they can break the hoodoo. They certainly picked a bad year to start underperforming but I guarantee they know they are not performing. Stockdale mentioned it. Sexton and Murray were both obviously fuming. Even Earls after his offload to Stockdale didn't come off when he made that break was obviously dejected. Plus if Sexton knows then I imagine everyone knows. Not the quietest person.Shefwedfan wrote: »Different time when ROG was playing....in those days you could walk up to Lansdowne for game and you could get a ticket
The players are under more and more focus. They are celebrities, take a look at this forum. You have posters on here calling them nicknames and saying they feel like they know them??? then other posters saying that their personal life should be an open discussion because they play rugby.....
That is the huge difference, any sort of one liner and it is splashed all over the press the next day. Not the whole interview, just 1 line. So yes expect every interview to be as mundane as possible because if it isn't then they get crucified on TV, press, radio and of course these forums....
Like Sexton showing a bit of annoyance walking off the pitch....up roar from a load of people, trying to get the boot in when he isnt playing well.....
Rugby is huge successful, with that goes the player next door philosophy...go back 5 years ago and you would meet a load of players around D4 during the week and they would chat. Now you meet those same players and they are guarded.....It was conferences right after the game. He may prefer to keep these things in house. Paying too much attention to pressers is I'll advised. As is getting annoyed by the comments.
I understand everything you guys are saying and it makes sense of course. I guess I just wanted some reassurance that they realise there are real problems and that the level they are currently at is not nearly good enough to secure that semi final place, rather than just gloss over it all and pretend everything is rosy. The world and its dog can see that we are playing far below the levels we need to be at. But I'm sure you're right that regardless of what they feed the media they will know exactly whats wrong and be laser focused on trying to right the ship over the next few weeks.Honestly we are not far off. These players are the same world beaters as last year, they just need to get back to it.
I really hope this is the case and that I am just being a drama queen. I guess being an Irish rugby fan since the 80's has left me with plenty of scars and disappointments, especially in the World Cup. I'm desperate to see them break the hoodoo this time. I would happily trade a wooden spoon now for a semi final berth. Im not worried by the error count or inaccuracies. Those are easily fixed. My faith in Joe remains unshaken too, but the performance trajectories of a couple of our key players and leaders is a real concern for me. You cant just switch that on or off. It will take time to get them back to where they need to be and I just hope we have enough.
I reckon POM was terrified of insulting Italy and just overcompensated.
I can also see a not far off argument. A lot of small costly mistakes instead of structural ones or a lack of ability. Whether they get fixed is another issue. The lack of energy is also weird. I can't imagine the lack of line speed is tactical or that the not running onto the ball is either. Not sure what is up with that.0 -
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Anyway folks...the acid tests are just ahead; Wales and France0
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