Ireland v England Grand Slam Decider 2023

If I remember correctly, Ireland found it hard to beat England at the third game of the Slam also in 2009. Things were so desperate that BOD had to take a drop goal to establish a lead in that game. It was a very tight and physical game that day as well. BOD got a battering that day physically by England but the great man survived it.

2018 was more of a convincing campaign except at Paris where Sexton magic saved us the day. They were almost beaten that day. I remember having a great feeling after that game with Ireland had a great shot at the Slam and that turned out to be.

We won 2023 Slam in convincing fashion, maybe the negatives were the first 20 minutes against Scotland where they struggled to get control of the game and today's game against England wasn't their best performance but Ireland still full deserving winners overall.

Hopefully they can now continue the form into the RWC and with a bit of luck along the way get past QF stage of RWC. It's the next milestone the Irish team needs to achieve before having a shot at the RWC title. Only time will tell I guess but we are in a good position to challenge for that.

Have to agree with those saying the crowd were poor, and the whole "tense, holding their breath" thing is bunkum. Those tense, tight games are where the atmosphere is needed most, thats the last place you need the crowd getting quiet just because their butts are clenched.

No point singing when the game is done for **** sake.

Fair play to Ireland, but without the cards they don't win that game. Personally I couldn't give a shite about it because for me its all about the world cup, but what I seen today didn't reassure me at all. Thats exactly the sort of performance gets you dumped on your ass among the world cup also rans.

The same lads blowing all week about how easy today would be will piss all over this post as well. No worries. I know they will disappear come the inevitable.

Our corner of the lower east was hopping ! Thought the atmosphere was good actually, anthems spine tingling

Don't really post or read here much anymore but I'll always come on to lol at t*ts like this after a legendary win ♥️ ☺️ 😊

Edit, don't think I replied properly but obviously i was replying to the negative t*t above

Would have been closer if we’d faced 15 for the whole match. England played their natural game and were better for it, Itoje was closer to his best and Tuilagi showed some spark. We had a few problems in the set pieces. Let’s hope Furlong can recapture his form - he put in lots of tackles but made quite a few errors today. Doris didn’t shine. What a player Sheehan is, though. I didn’t think we’d see better than Kelleher for a long time. Bundee anchored the team when we were wobbling and Henshaw looks like he’s coming back. Baird is incredible in the loose and seems solid enough in the scrum too where I doubted him. Hansen was superb.

If Farrell can keep this form up in France, he’ll deserve inclusion in that strange Irish sporting pantheon of gruff English northerners alongside McCarthy and Big Jack.

I wasnt at the game, watched it on tv. They broadcast the refs mic during the checks.

If we were to win the World Cup, nobody would give a flying figroll if the performance was flawed, flawless or flukey.

Neither should they care today regarding points etc, it’s still England.

remember we had an opponent who was playing for large parts of the 80, up to the line and over it as regards the laws, because good old Jaco and co. facilitated it… a team of officials who enabled it consistently…. Should clearly have been another red, a few English forward passes missed by the touch judges and other craic.

We won every game, on average 30 points scored per game, on average 14 conceded….

job done.

Appreciate this was a 4am post but the penalty count was 13-7 in our favour, and England had a red and yellow card. A lot of refs would have given Steward a yellow if even that.

Not sure how Peyper was "facilitating" England.

What was the offence that "clearly" should have been another red?

In the 2nd half England did a great job of trying to disrupt us by slowing the game down and kicking at every opportunity, but it shows how good this irish team is that they hung in there and still showed their class over a mediocre team, the handling mistakes were a worry and I think the co-hesivness that Rongrose gives the backing was sorely missed although Henshaw had a great game considering how little rugby he's played, also what's to be done with Baird when Beirne returns, surely he had to fit in somewhere in the starting line up

What was the atmosphere like? Sounded poor for a lot of it? Edit read your response to someone else. Maybe the TV sound was turned down for crowd noise.

You have to factor in the incompetence of Virgin media when discussing the sound quality. They have form for getting the sound mix all wrong. The crowd noise was damped down way too much and McIntyres mic was dialled up way too high. The usual from them.

So, a GS is meaningless to you, and only a WC championship trophy counts?

Nah people love complaining about officiating , I am often one of them. Any other fanbase would have the exact same section of fans.