England v Ireland. Twickenham. Sat 9th Mar, 16:45. RTE2

I think u need to take a good long hard look at yourself

I find it amusing that the very thing some fans were saying Jean Kleyn should be picked for (ballast, grunt, tackles, rucks) that was laughed at, despite him being probably the player of the season for the URC winners... but deemed valuable enough for the World Cup winners to nab him from us... is now the same reason Joe McCarthy should be picked only a few months later (I agree with the selection btw).

We are lacking in power compared to the likes of England and SA, the likes of Kleyn/Porter/Coombes/McCarthy/Edogbo (I posted before how his stats were comparable/better than McCarthy's this season up to when he got injured) are some of the few we have that have that sort of natural heft that England and SA seem to churn out with no bother. SOB, Ferris, Wallace, CJ all had it, Healy too. Henderson's power was evident when he came on, as were his stupid penalties but that's a whole different issue. Maybe starting McCarthy in an environment like that wasn't the call in retrospect, he's still quite young. He started the tournament well but I'm not sure he's hit those heights since.

Not saying we just pick the powerful fella the whole time, that wouldn't dovetail with our style of play (which may be the nub of the issue here?) but we need more balance. Beirne and VdF aren't the most powerful in that pack but they were head and shoulders above the other 6.

It's simple to explain why we lost. We lost because Murray kicked the ball to them with 90 seconds left. We played badly but were winning up to that.

Good points. McCarthy deteriorated from the first game, too much too soon and should have been rested, I'd question whether he should start next week.

That Murray is still first choice replacement for Ireland when Casey is first choice for Munster and the fall off from Casey to Murray is already evident for them is baffling. A couple of times off England box kicks Murray still looked to block players despite what happened in the WC, just seems brainless nowadays.

I do wonder whether coming back off injury affected both POM, that was a mare, and Keenan, who didn't look as dynamic, should be given more consideration. Maybe both should have been on the bench.

Nash. Doesn't seem to be much made of his incident but putting yourself out of the game having had the time to lineup a blind opponent is poor execution to put it mildly.

Furlong shouldn't be starting now, for me Bealham is ahead, Sheehan is world class, but loses confidence throwing into the lineout very quickly once a couple go wrong. Porter fell off a couple of tackles. I think the front row are suffering from a bit of well our places aren't in doubt and could do with a bit of competition.

Careful with your Nash comment, I got savaged over suggesting similar about Ringrose before on here 😀.

Yeah I'd love to see Bealham start. Loosehead is a real depth issue - Porter is first choice but scrummaging is an issue. Healy should have been out to pasture after the World Cup along with Killer. Loughman is in the mix, the Leinster brigade on here are bigging up their lads coming through as is their wont but I liked the young Ulster lad in the few games I saw him (name escapes me). Reminded me of Schoeman in the loose. How's his scrummaging?

The only excuse for Murray over Casey I can think of is A) experience B) style. Casey is a little too similar to JGP in style of play. I think Murray's race is run after this tournament anyway bar a resurgence. Casey has the best pass of any 9 on the island imo. I really like Blade too. I don't see the hype on Doak to be honest.

Connacht have some great young lads in their team but it seems like you've to be absolutely exceptional to get an ounce of recognition if you're from that province.

Some first posts can be powerful others can be just so obvious.

I came here expecting to see page after page of bitching about the ref and I was pleasantly surprised. Apart from a couple of idiots early on, no one seems to have an issue with the ref.

So sorry @OldRio no entertaining post from me bitching about Irish fans bitching about the ref 😁 Do they only complain about the ref when Ireland wins? Very strange.

On the game, I thought it was a cracker. Very entertaining with a thrilling finish. Best England have played in a long time and Ireland couldn't cope. The fact Ireland were leading at the end shows how good they are. They were out played in every facet but still winning. Pretty impressive.

The majority of people and pundits I have seen or heard have said England was the better team etc

So who hasn't said that?

Prior to the match.

Having watched lots of bits of the game again (and again) I don't feel as dispirited today. Bitterly disappointing that the Grand Slam is gone.

Performance wise England brought a ferocity that Ireland didn't match. Plus England were able to catch and pass! They hadn't done that v Scotland.

England also capitilised with those 2 tries when Nash was down concussed and Frawley was chasing the ball concussed.

England played well but Ireland should have closed out the game. Esp. with the 6 forwards from the bench.

Interestingly it was the coaches call to the players for the end game. Which I still think was poor clock management.

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Alternatively, Murray or James Lowe could have kicked long or found touch. Easterby confirmed that the call for Murray to find touch had come from the coaches.

“Yes,” said Easterby,

“Listen, you know what, those decisions will always be reflected and hindsight’s lovely isn’t it? ‘It was the right decision because we didn’t concede.’ ‘It was the wrong decision because we did concede’.

“But we back the call. There’s a conversation between the coaches and the players and then it’s ultimately players that go, ‘okay, this is what we’re doing’.”

Noting that the inexperienced 23-year-old English replacement hooker Theo Dan had not been on long, Easterby said: “The context is, we back our lineout D to go after them, we back out defence to stop them getting to where they got to.”

But Ireland didn’t contest in the air. “Then, when they got wide we had a situation where we thought we’d held them up, They get to ground and we don’t hold them up and we don’t react accordingly when they get the ball to the edge to [Immanuel Feyi-] Waboso. It’s such fine margins. Had we kicked it long and they’d broken us and made 90m then you’d say: ‘Well, you should have put it out’. You can pick holes in every decision,” argued Easterby, not unreasonably.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/2024/03/13/conor-murray-was-following-instructions-to-clear-ball-against-england-says-easterby/

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& this was big from Tadgh Beirne. Fair play.

“We just didn’t get in the air when we should have and there was one or two where I could have got in the air and just for a split second I doubt myself and I don’t jump.

“Earlier in the campaign, I probably wasn’t doing that and I don’t know why I did it in that moment. Same with later in the game when the same thing happened for a number of us. We said at the start that we would back ourselves in defence and we will certainly be going back to that again.”

https://www.the42.ie/ireland-lineout-oconnell-6325486-Mar2024/?utm_source=shortlink

Exactly.

I had mistakenly thought the rep Eng loose forward was off the pitch for the Irish LO (but it was for the Eng LO)......

...but even still, try and maul at least 1 or 2meters!

Isn't that one of the advantages of picking 6 forwards? If the maul doesn't get going. Just wait!!!

Ref will then say "Use it once".

... Conan got upended with the ball...

Tip tackle from Genge (not reviewed)

Yep, involved in 2 incidents which on another day could have cost his team. His committment and energy is admirable, but he can lose control of that energy.

But it hasn't, it was strong up till World Cup, ha a few wobbles, was strong again and lost 2. I was critical of the lineout during and post WC but they looked to have steadied the ship.

I wouldn't say it is a shambles at all. Not great and teams have found a weakness in the team and they need to resolve it. Also need to work out how to work with ref's in terms of closing the gap which seems to be a tactic now used by most teams against Ireland.

It still doesn't change the main point that people post on here for months about throwing the 6 nations, only working towards the WC and one loss later we see the reaction.