Rugby world cup post mortem

Those 8 days were non-consecutive, 8 different reasons we lost those quarter finals, some we were just unlucky, 1991 for example, some we lacked depth, 2015 for example and some we were just shite, 2019 and 2023

Most years was a mix of these reasons

Wait, Zebo would have been the difference against NZ? Maybe he could have replaced Porter.

Grow up FFS.

Ah brilliant - you're allowed come on and call people a Muppet.

Thats lovely Boards, thanks very much. I'd hate to see the bit that was edited out😂

I love how people on here twist things to try make their own argument.

Did I ever say someone on the Irish team should have been pulled at 30 minutes?

Please tell me where I said or alluded to that?

What I did use as argument is that players who are not playing well, making a real contribution should not be immune from being subbed.

And yes I think Sexton should have been subbed.

All he did for a lot of the match was offload, something different was needed to at least make the Kiwis think a bit.

I also wonder if Hanson should even be on the pitch at all.

As for match other night.

AFAIK Libbok's out of hand kicking is usually not that bad, his major issue appears to be off the tee.

But get this, the SA management copped on it was a mistake and changed it.

Good management teams realise when things are going wrong and not working meaning changes are needed.

They are quickly reactive.

Irish management teams, and as we have seen recently it aint just rugby, appear to sit there thinking things will miraculously change.

Yes Kolbe was on the pitch and ideally if they had the luxury could have been subbed for someone way bigger, but maybe the management saw the need to sub others in preference.

After all it is a management team that have managed to win a world cup, so I would give them benefit of the doubt.

Also probably every management team that has won a world cup have rotated their squad more than us.

Isn't it about time some people cottoned on to the fact that it appears to work out better than just always using the tried and tested first team.

Im sure the coaches are not happy, but you can be sure the SA fans are happy that the coaches had the courage to make big changes and take off big names and now they have a final to look forward to

I didn't twist anything, when I read the post it seemed to suggest Ireland didn't pull off players early in NZ match like SA did. My mistake if I read wrong

Libbok was a mistake before the game even kicked off. It was silly of the Bok management team to not check the weather and know about the rain in forecast. it was no surprise it was raining, was called for days plus the game plan England have is the same as Borthwick has played since he became a head coach.

You can spin any match to suit the argument you want to make but the semi final IMO was poor coaching from the SA team from the start. If they didn't have a scrum at the end they would have lost that game and they would be crucified now by their media for not checking the weather.

Players don't get hooked off after 30 mins because most teams put in proper preparation and normally it happens if they are getting battered, like SA. Just see the images of Rassie before and after half time, have you ever seen him so irate while trying to change the game plan. It also leave them with a huge problem with Libboks confidence and a final to play

Hansen played well till he was taken off, Sexton was also instrumental in the Ireland fightback. Including the long play at the end when he worked the team up to the NZ 22 but then ball was turned over, not Sextons fault.

And the dupont decision was a bad call as well, and hes 12 years younger.

No unforced errors, despite Aki strolling through 5 defenders to score. NZ made plenty of mistakes, we had them under massive pressure. Did you miss the parts where we went coast to coast with the ball on numerous occasions?

You keep posting about the two teams that kept on their tried and thrusted as if they won, they lost. Maybe, if either of the coaches had taken a punt on a fresher pair of legs. Farrell in particular could have tried Crowley as someone who can create something, maybe we'd have been in a Semi Final last weekend but no, we left on a tired Sexton and lost. We can die wondering about losing out on our best opportunity

From the match thread

Sexton looks totally gassed.

Sexton looks wrecked.

Sorry, but 2023 Sexton is not on the same planet as Dupont, even an injured Dupont.

It's a huge ask for pro players, especially Irish pro players. Most Irish players never play games to that level of intensity in such a short space of time. Expecting Irish players to play 4-5 high intensity games week after week is a massive ask.

Every other teams rotate to keep their to rest them and avoid injuries. Again I've no idea why Ireland think not avoiding injuries is important. There's absolutely no reason to not rotate at a World cup, it just doesn't make any sense to play the same core group of players ane expect to go far in the tournament. Again, I don't know we'd play a full team against Scotland either, they're a fairly average team and we should be able to rotate for games like that.

They didn't need the luxury of hindsight. They just needed to watch Scotland vs SA or any recent game we had against Scotland. They're a fairly average side and always have been. There's a reason they haven't won a 6nations this century.

The point of the preseason games is so the players don't come in cold. How many warm up games do they need? It'd not like they need to learn how to play together either. You rotate for the Romania, Tonga and Scotland games. Also, rotating doesn't mean playing a completely different 23 players. New zealand played Uruguay the weekend before Ireland. They had players who started both matches, so 7nof their first team against Ireland hadn't played in over 2 weeks. Didn't seem to do them any harm.

11 of our first team who started against New Zealand played against Romania. Given was an afternoon game in those blistering conditions I really don't understand why that was necessary. And then seven days later 10 of the same players start against Tonga. Either pick up or the other to give the main players a run out but starting the majority of our first team players in both games was completely unnecessary. Even games against the likes of Tonga and Scotland will take a physical toll on players.

Saying it is a huge ask is based on the fact it's never done. Irish players rarely if ever are asked to play 3 international mstches in 3 weeks. They just simply aren't used to those sort of demands. I'd say it even rarely happens at provincial level. And that's before we even get into the hypothetical of them beating NZ and having to do it for 4 or 5 weeks in a row.

In which world cups did we rest players?

I think the other person answered the question in terms of the Scotland quality.

Two games in 2019 World Cup. Can you spot the rotation?

Irish player do it every 6 nations by the way.

Forwards

• 1 Dave Kilcoyne
• 2 Niall Scannell
• 3 John Ryan
• 4 Tadhg Beirne
• 5 Jean Kleyn
• 6 Rhys Ruddock
• 7 Peter O'Mahony
• 8 Jordi Murphy

Backs

• 9 Luke McGrath
• 10 Jonathan Sexton (Captain)
• 11 Keith Earls
• 12 Bundee Aki
• 13 Garry Ringrose
• 14 Andrew Conway
• 15 Rob Kearney

Forwards

• 1 Cian Healy
• 2 Rory Best (Captain)
• 3 Tadhg Furlong
• 4 Iain Henderson
• 5 James Ryan
• 6 Peter O'Mahony
• 7 Josh van der Flier
• 8 CJ Stander

Backs

• 9 Conor Murray
• 10 Jonathan Sexton
• 11 Jacob Stockdale
• 12 Bundee Aki
• 13 Garry Ringrose
• 14 Andrew Conway
• 15 Jordan Larmour

Arguing over not resting players enough when we lost the game largely due to Kelleher breaking off and getting held up. That was arguably one of the most intense games ever played at the WC, both teams were absolutely shattered by the end.

Well at least we all we know, you and some others will be bitterly dissapointed.

I do apologise. I must start posting gibberish from now on :-)

24 Teams? How's that going to work? Interesting because if they have a Round of 16 we can finally win a knockout game

The point of rotation is not just to give some players a break, more importantly its to give other players game-time.

You can't learn from your mistakes without game time, and Sexton is the perfect example of this. He was prone to nerves and mistakes when starting out. But with enough game time and experience he turned it around. Porter is another who improved with experience.

We need to sacrifice at least the next two 6 nations to give some fringe players a chance to get a lot of game time.

Unfortunately there is a cohort of supporters who say we need to win everything, including every 6 nations.

I'd take a WC Quarter final win over several 6 nations wins at this stage, because we've already ticked that box, numerous times.

I'd take their last 35 years over ours - 4 world cup finals, numerous semi-finals. You'd imagine they have a pretty good QF record, at least 50% win ratio.

Regards the last 4 years over ours, I think if we beat NZ, we had a great chance of winning the WC.