Scotland v Ireland match Thread by. chat GPT.

That is madness. He would have been MOM except Hansen was exceptional. He did everything needed for the full 80.

McGrath is an excellent rugby player. He has great vision, strong in the tackle, a good kicking game. If he could pass consistently, he'd have been the Irish starter for a good while.

Sadly that if is a mountain.

I thought Ireland did really well yesterday. Was watching in a pub in Rome so had no commentary. But it looked like a phenomenal performance. Pearce was giving Scotland as much as he possibly could and add in the injury crisis during the game. Ireland had to dig really deep yesterday to weather a storm. Once they settled after everything that could've gone wrong did go wrong, I think Ireland showed Scotland to be the bang average team that they are. Ireland were inches from a 4try bonus point. I think it will serve them well this week that they have it all to do on Saturday.

On Farrell, you have to really commend what he has done. He was part of a coaching ticket where the system was the be all and end all. I think it has been well documented at this stage that it wasn't the most player friendly culture or environment. To see him take the lead and completely flip it is unbelievable. There's no way those players under Schmidt could've played and won in that situation yesterday because there was no deviation from the plan allowed. Under Farrell, it seems clear that the players know how to play what's in front of them. I used to work for a manager who used this line regularly "if there's going to be chaos, let it be organised". Farrell referenced the same yesterday. All the players genuinely seem to enjoy the environment he has created and they're thriving.

The entire pack did an unbelievable job and the back 3 were outstanding. Hugo Keenan is so boringly consistent that I don't think he's getting the recognition he deserves.

Someone made the observation before that McGrath is an excellent rugby player but not an excellent scrum-half, which sums it up nicely for me.

Honestly I think if JGP had started the game would have been over by half time. Farrell will start JGP v England. Murray has an improved the speed of his delivery this six nations but yesterday was a step backwards.

Keenan is the best 15 in the 6 Nations for sure. I do think he missed an opportunity to stop Jones in the Scottish try. Ringrose also let him through but neither will be happy. I read that Henshaw managed 8 tackles in 16 mins, good sign for England who could have Tuilagi in midfield.

One pass that was a peach was Hansen to Conan for the last try. He half dummied and pulled in VDM (poor read) and then zipped it to Conan in space. Intelligent rugby.

Theres nothing passive aggressive about my comments. I'm blatantly calling out posters for abusing the ref. I would have quoted all of them but multi-quote wasn't working for me. Criticise a decision but ref abuse shouldn't be part of the game. Just look at the **** storm caused by Rassie's antics.

Heat of the game?? Give me a break. They're not on the pitch, they're from their living rooms. And some of the abuse was post match.

I know ref abuse is perfectly acceptable to some people but it's a bugbear of mine and I call it out. Maybe it's because I've been a referee in the past (not rugby).

As for the match yesterday, I thought it was a great performance by Ireland in the face of some trying circumstances. Also thought Scotland screwed up by not taking advantage of Ireland's issues around the lineout.

I agree. No need for labeling officials corrupt for errors you believe they are making.

Are you sure JPG would have coped with the early pressure like Murray did? I'm not. Theres more to the scrum half role than a quick pass.

My thoughts on the game:

Halftime came just in time for us (even down to the fact we didn't have to take the lineout after bundling the Scottish attack into touch). With the front row disruption, it gave us 15 mins to work through the "what now" - JVDF throwing, Healy could go on at 2 etc etc. I'm also not entirely sure, but that also felt like Scotland's last visit to the Irish 22 of the match.

Murray didn't look great, but its hard when the ball is a pisspoor and disrupted. JGP did bring a change, but Scotland were clearly off the first half intensity by then.

JVDF did unreal at lineout time, but for the all the credit he is getting, I though POM did amazing as a receiver for a lot of them. He was always going to be tightly marked at the front, and his spring, timing and aggression to grab the ball were brilliant and helped JVDF "hit his man".

I was a bit deflated at the final whistle, partly because of Ringrose's injury, and we missed 3 chances for BP. But this morning I'm much more content. So many lessons learned yesterday and characters built.

2007 Blues v Western Force in Super Rugby - Kevin Mealamu scores from a quick throw in from Ali Williams (illegally as it was a different ball handed to Williams by a ballboy).

Ref was Jonathan Kaplan

2011 Wales v Ireland in 6N - Mike Philips scores from a quick throw in from Matthew Rees in exactly the same circumstances.

Ref was Jonathan Kaplan

You'd wonder sometimes ..