Absolutely up to my eyes this week so this is not going to be much of a report. Not that the ever are I hear you reply!
Anyway, things on Saturday went pretty much as expected with Ireland having enough class to see off the brute force and ignorance of the English pack.
Bowe (2) and Earls (1) scored the tries for Ireland despite England dominating most aspects of the game and while a win is a win Ireland still have a lot of concerns to take out of this game.
The chief problem is still in the front row and with the commendable Hayes now reaching the milestone of 100 caps the coaching staff must now start and look at the alternatives for the world cup.
Buckley is not the answer, for despite being more involved than usual when he came on he still contributed very, very little and Ireland were fortunate that scrums didn’t feature more often in the closing quarter. He really is a lazy player and contributes little outside of his customary 10 minute burst when he plays. Court and Ross must now be used extensively for the remainder of the six nations and while scrummaging ability has to be worked on in both cases at least you are assured maximum effort throughout from both.
The absence of Kearney and Fitzgerald and the brutal injury to O’Driscoll shows just what lack of experience there is outside the chosen few in the back lines. Murphy did all that was asked but Wallace, Cave, McFadden and Mathews, even Whitten, Carr and Johne Murphy, all need to be looked at for extended periods at this level and results must be considered secondary to player development.
Results, however, seems to be the name of the game for Ireland at the minute but they must look to France and Australia to see that sometimes this bullet must be bitten in order to develop sides. Both France and Australia have had a rocky enough couple of years but are now in the position where they can developing their young sides over a series of games leading up to the world cup finals in eighteen months time whereas Ireland seem to be in the position of keeping enough of their aging team serviceable to make one last “great” appearance.
My chief concern with all this is that I get the impression that the Ireland management feel they do not have the quality of personnel at their disposal for a world cup challenge and putting together an impressive run of results between now and then by squeezing the last drop out of the current incumbents is the best they can hope for.
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4 Responses to “England 16 Ireland 20”
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Scary thing is that England could have won on Saturday. Stats regarding territory (England) and tackle count (Ireland) were incredible. England have the players but – luckily for us – a mind-numbingly unimaginative coach.
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The English players are also incredibly stupid having been force fed the biff bash bosh of the Guinness Premiership most of their careers.
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Well let’s hope its stays that way!
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As an aside, the Irish front row – particularly the props – has been a source of concern even before the last RWC. Is there any indication from the IRFU that this area is being given priority? Cian Healey looks like a talent but needs expert schooling in the “dark arts” – who will do this? Equally, is there a succession plan to replace Hayes?
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