Ireland v Italy - Sunday 15:00. VM1.

Neil3030

Irish Rugby's most important work on from today:

DONT. PLAY. ZOMBIE. AFTER. WE. SCORE.

That song is special. You'll ruin it with overexposure.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755019#Comment_121755019

Thought the exact same, glad they changed it to U2 in the second half, just play it after the game.

StevenToast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755019#Comment_121755019

Dont. Play. It....EVER....

ednwireland

Is it me or is the current six nations just showing how poor the other teams have become ? Are we looking good because the other teams are so bad.

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754238#Comment_121754238

Let's try and win the slam first before getting carried away with ourselves.

Dubinusa

If we win the tournament with a grand slam, what does it really mean? The level of quality on display has been gash! People propping up POC for a good line out, finally! When it mattered most, it was poor. I expect a slam! I'll be happy with it but, the disappointment from the world cup lingers in my head.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754846#Comment_121754846

Second row too, our best lock wasn't even in the squad and no one noticed.

A word for Bealham too, has to be pushing Furlong for the starting berth at this stage, his side of the scrum was completely dominant.

This is it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755094#Comment_121755094

It certainly is this year. There was a fear of France and their reaction to the WC, and the same with ourselves, but the reality, so far, is that Ireland are far and away the best NH team.

The more I see of us the more I see the WC as a missed opportunity. Time to move on :(

Danny Drier

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755101#Comment_121755101

The Sexton situation had a lot to do with the WC failure. A 38 year old hobbling around for the last 1/4 of the game…..Jesus wept

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755094#Comment_121755094

Nope been very poor for me too, Champions cup games have been better so far.

England and Wales in transition, France reverting to treating the competition with a collective Gallic shrug after their World cup disappointment, and Scotland doing a Finn Russell as they usually do, World class one minute, 2nd tier team the next.

lawrencesummers

The only fear now if that Irish players have peaked to soon and 3.5 months left in the season

Seadin

Lads before 2004 we couldn't win a triple crown. Before 2009 we couldn't win a GS. We have only won 4 GS ever in our rugby history. I be delighted if we won another slam and equal France and Wales on the roll of honour in the 6 nations for GSs won. Forget the world cup we are never to win it let's all be realistic. We couldn't do it when we supposedly had the best team in our history so let's just forget about it and try and dominate the 6 nations at the very least.

Pete_Cavan

We are still on for the Perfect Slam so there is that to aim for.

This is it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755211#Comment_121755211

"Never to win it"

No point giving up on it either. There's very little between the top teams in the world right now, and we're right up there with them.

Danny Drier

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755211#Comment_121755211

Pathetic attitude and one that some up why we come up short at WC

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755018#Comment_121755018

We need Keenan, he's top notch. I think Casey's bang looked accidental.

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755256#Comment_121755256

We came up short because we weren't good enough on the night. We haven't been good enough in the last 10 RWCs. Yes we are in a better place now but the weight of history will always be on the teams shoulders until they final breach the QF stage at RWC. I think we aren't a million miles off but we still have to go out and do it. We are well capable of dominating the 6nations so let's continue to do that.

ednwireland

all this talk of winning comfortably, hmm I can see England slowing the ball massively , they are good at that. it will be a tough game if ireland are dragged into a dogfight.

Downlinz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755211#Comment_121755211

What would dominating the six nations in the context of giving up on the world cup even mean? That we're the best at diverting resources and energy away from the most challenging and important competition in order to succeed at a lesser one against more ambitious teams trying to compete in everything?

France and England have been involved in world cup finals, the biggest game in the sport. I'd trade all the grand slams to see Ireland compete in a world cup final for the ultimate prize. It should be the dream of any fan.

VayNiice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755256#Comment_121755256

Ah yeah.. because the players and coaches have that attitude too..

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755395#Comment_121755395

We weren't actually ever dominating the 6 nations either. 2009 2014 2015 2018 and 2023 are the only times we won it the modern era. We never won anything else outside that. Let's try and win another slam while we are at the top in NH rugby.

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755454#Comment_121755454

And we didn't win slams in 2014 and 2015 so I be delighted with another Slam in 2024.

Clegg

Being slaves to the World Cup was a millstone around New Zealand rugby necks for years. I'd rather Irish fans didn't adopt a similar mindset. The players don't seem to have done so and they're all the better for it.

phog

As the man says, essential viewing

https://twitter.com/brettruganalyst/status/1756784844770566327?t=KPX42XiBmQn-ZmV5IhLTNQ&s=19

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755632#Comment_121755632

Tries like that are not possible without precision at the breakdown to ensure quick ball.

TRC10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755536#Comment_121755536

That's because to NZ (and SA and Australia) the World Cup is everything. Which is probably why together they've won 9 out of the 10 there's been.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755924#Comment_121755924

And prior to 2011, NZ were considered massive under-achievers. Which is kinda the point.

I've said it plenty on here over the years, we'll eventually break our QF duck, and get the monkey off our back (to mix animal-related metaphors). Just like we did with the GS, beating NZ, getting to no. 1 in the world etc. etc.

Overall, I think it's fair to say Irish rugby has been on a general upward trajectory for the last 20 years. If you haven't enjoyed it because of our RWC record in that period, you've missed out on an awful lot of amazing and memorable days.

crossman47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755395#Comment_121755395

I wouldn't trade one GS for competing in a WC final. I would for a win.

crossman47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755211#Comment_121755211

Bang on the money. i said it here before the WC and was slaughtered for it. A GS is a huge achievement given our history.

Buer

Hard to really assess yesterday. Without being churlish, Italy were muck. Like, properly abysmal. They weren't quite Wales at home to Scotland for 40 minutes levels of bad but they weren't far off.

Some of that was because of us but a lot of it was because they were just crap. The statistics are eye watering from their perspective. We only kicked 4 times more than them (27 to 23) but had twice the distance kicked. They made almost 120 tackles more than us. They lost 5 of their own lineouts. The most shocking one to me though is their pack's carrying performance. All of them combined, including subs, carried for 19m from 21 carries. VDF made more ground in his 14 minutes off the bench.

It was a really solid win and we did what we needed but I can't help but feel we were allowed to look good for long periods without having to get out of third gear. England's defensive structure won't give us that time to settle at all and we'll need to be sharper again.

The positives are that the game will be a boost in confidence for multiple guys who will be going into the break in a great place mentally. That will stand to them and I'm sure there will be additional work ons identified in team meetings. The set piece has been running incredibly smoothly and the scrum was on top yesterday which was a nice change. Reportedly, they've stripped the lineout back significantly from a far more complex system they tried to initiate for the RWC with less movement and fewer decoys. Much more straight up and down which makes complete sense with some of the jumpers we have available.

thebaz

Whether its a World cup hangover, or lack of quality of opposition, I cant get excited about this tournament. Hats of to the Irish they have been great, but the world cup is the big one, and we have to wait another 4 years . Bar Ireland and maybe Scotland this tournament has been very poor, so far

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121755211#Comment_121755211

I was with you up until you started wallowing in pathetic negativity at "we are never to win it". We narrowly lost a QF to a NZ team playing out of their skin in one of the best RWC games ever. If any player in our squad had that mindset they'd watch their international career end very fast. Win a GS this year then we've another three years to reload and go again.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754361#Comment_121754361

Byrne did play very flat to the line and threw some nice passes but I wouldn't say it was all positive. He didn't appear to be doing much to impose structure on our backline, he got in his forwards way at times in attack, and some of his passes were shovelling ball rather than adding value. Between the ragged Italians and our substitutions the game had lost some structure. He gets some leeway as a result but I don't think I learned much more about him.

Edit: I don't actually care who has the 10 jersey so long as we can get two or more quality options into competition with eachother while we develop our other talent in the club game.

flatface

I think Italy went into that game half heartedly. For them they need to focus all their energy on picking off one team and Ireland is not it. I think irelands current dominance brings either an incredible performance or a weak one. I think England will raise their performance massively for us, and it won’t be as easy.

Danny Drier

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121756982#Comment_121756982

Not anymore consider how useless England, Scotland, Wales and Italy are and the French just don’t care this year. Ireland were 4/6 for Slam after France game. Not that much of an achievement tbh to win GS this year

Shehal

https://twitter.com/SimonGleave/status/1756952943310295170

Pretty eye opening!

phog

5 Irish players make the MO team of the weekend

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121757384#Comment_121757384

It's a huge achievement. Winning back to back would be record breaking and a massive boost for rugby in ireland

I can't over estimate how big it would be to win a second Grand Slam

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121757384#Comment_121757384

Pretty weird take to suggest doing something that has never been done is not an achievement.

sydthebeat

ireland were 2/1 to win the grand slam BEFORE the France game. France were favourites to win.

it's ridiculous to downplay the achievement of winning away in france by a record score, and put us on the path of another record (B2BGS).

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121757384#Comment_121757384

It's very hard to please some people.

ersatz

Yeah, it is extremely easy not to win a grand slam or the championship. We have a hundred years plus of experience at this.

Seadin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121757253#Comment_121757253

I know what you are saying about my comment but maybe we as a nation become too obsessed of trying to win the world cup when we haven't gone past the QF stage of Rugby World Cup? I think there is a pressure built up about the team that they don't perform. NZ were poor that night but we found some way to lose that game from moments like Sexton being unusually nervous and missing a penalty kick to Sheehan not getting the ball down on the try line to the malfunctioning lineout and to Doris trying to catch a route ball and making a meal out of it and knocks it on. Yes we lost narrowly but that's the margins that counts and you don't get those chances too many times. We are not yet totally comfortable of playing in the world cup and it reminds me of Ireland in the 2000s when we tried desperately before winning a Triple Crown to getting over the line against Wales in 2009 GS. You need a breakthrough and hopefully one day we do it in a World Cup. Until then I am happy for Ireland to dominate the 6 nations. It wont be long before England Wales and France start winning championships and Grand Slams again.

Pete_Cavan

A GS this year would be a huge achievement, particularly as it would mean beating France and England away. We also have a good opportunity to do a Perfect Slam and given the attacks were are yet to face, we could potentially set a record for lowest points conceded. Winning a GS is one thing but doing it in emphatic fashion would be incredible.

Obviously the team's sole focus is this year's competition but given France and England will come to Dublin next year, 3 in a row would certainly be a realistic goal. A lot will happen before that but my point is that a GS this year would be a step towards this Irish team becoming the most successful team in the competition's history. More high potential youngsters will be integrated into the squad over the next couple of years, coming into such a winning environment would be a big help for them. Another GS would be a fantastic base to build from for the next WC cycle.

Sheep breeder

Having just read this from the start, the moaning about players Conan useless and Casey to be hooked off and Byrne so flat and great and Jack not up to the standard. the game was won and the management got to look at different players in a six nations game and see how lads performed in switched positions, this was a great opportunity to do this and learn, Ireland at present have a great squad of players for all positions and lots of back up, Andy has to be very happy what he seen and going forward to tougher games, Irish rugby is in a good place at the moment with the under 20 performances for the future, less moaning during a game and watch the whole game and at the end of day it’s the winning result that matters, have yet to see the perfect game without a knock on or penalties conceded or kicks missed, enjoy the rugby. A GS would be brilliant for this group of players that’s evolving.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760482#Comment_121760482

NZ weren't poor. It was possibly their best performance in the entire cycle since the previous world cup - something I am sure our series win down there played a part in.

Also it was Kelleher who didn't get the ball down.

pickarooney

NZ made 0 handling errors in that game and were strong in the lineout, scrum and breakdown. It's foolish to imagine they were poor.