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[2015 Six Nations] Wales vs Ireland (Round 4)

I think the Irish gameplan of 'kick it up in the air' (that they did vs England) came undone vs possibly the best 'catchers' in the game.
Unfortunately for them, they had no plan 'b' afterwards.......
Stats don't back that up. Wales kicked twice as much ball as Ireland (22v11). They also passed less than half the amount that Ireland did (123v254). Ireland didn't play a kicking game, Wales did and it was extremely successful for the home team. For Ireland, Plan A was to run with the ball. Unfortunately for them, they lacked penetration, executed poorly, were second best at the breakdown (Wales had almost twice the number of turnovers Ireland did) and were clearly second best when Wales took the aerial route. Ireland played fairly positive rugby today which made for a pleasant change.
 
Ireland bottle it away from home...surprised thought this Irish team was the real deal.
Bottled it or lost to the better team on the day? To say Ireland bottled it doesn't give Wales the credit they deserve in my opinion. It was a terrific performance from Wales.
 
Stats don't back that up. Wales kicked twice as much ball as Ireland (22v11). They also passed less than half the amount that Ireland did (123v254). Ireland didn't play a kicking game, Wales did and it was extremely successful for the home team. For Ireland, Plan A was to run with the ball. Unfortunately for them, they lacked penetration, executed poorly, were second best at the breakdown (Wales had almost twice the number of turnovers Ireland did) and were clearly second best when Wales took the aerial route. Ireland played fairly positive rugby today which made for a pleasant change.

Sorry, I was trying to be 'sarky' regards those Ireland fans who complain that Wales are one dimensional and have no 'plan b'.
 
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Reading WalesOnline is so painful right now. They are on a high, and rightly so. As they say "Tub of Flora 1, Clover 0" :eek:
 
Reading WalesOnline is so painful right now. They are on a high, and rightly so. As they say "Tub of Flora 1, Clover 0" :eek:

Yeah might be a good idea to avoid single nation based forums after a victory.
 
Up there with one of my top 5 games I've personally witnessed in the Millennium Stadium. For me both teams tried to at times play rugby, and I thought the game was a little spoilt by the pedantic Wayne Barnes. Sexton didn't look fit, Ireland had Madigan warming up from 30 seconds onwards.
 
For me both teams tried to at times play rugby, and I thought the game was a little spoilt by the pedantic Wayne Barnes.

You really don't think Barnes' supposed pedantry was at all a reason for both teams actually playing?
 
You really don't think Barnes' supposed pedantry was at all a reason for both teams actually playing?

I think it was more the fact that said pedantry resulted in Ireland going 12 down, Ireland then knew they had to play rugby and score tries and Wales soon realised they'd lose the game if they failed to score. Both teams still slowed the ball down at times and Barnes began to allow it, Barnes is the worst ref in rugby for picking one aspect of a game that he's going to officiate extremely harshly. It's decided a lot of games before and was a factor yesterday, the fact that we're talking about Barnes so much shows he had a bad game in my opinion. It didn't effect the result, Wales were better on the day, but Barnes influenced the game and took a lot of attention away from the rugby.

As for Ireland, Joe Schmidt finally made a few mistakes! The biggest one being Johnny Sexton, he was at 60% at best and the game could have been won with Mads at 10. He also gave up the kicking game completely which led to the team not playing cohesive and accurate rugby like they had been in the 10 games previous. It was also pretty clear he didn't want to revert to the kicking game or have another way to beat Wales. A bit to be learned.

As for individual performances...
Best's throwing cost us big.
Murray was slow, ineffective around the fringes and looked like his pre-Lions self, not good.
Zebo was muck, had very few positive inputs to the game.
Sexton was most likely unfit so I'm reluctant to question what went wrong.
McGrath probably handed the 1 shirt back to Healy.
The second row was great and matched Wales which says a lot!
POM was poor by his standards and Henshaw looked out of position.

A great shot at the slam lost, next week should be seen as a RWC warm up rather than a championship chaser because 4 w's with a championship isn't any better than 4 without one in a World Cup year.
 
McGrath probably handed the 1 shirt back to Healy.

Just to pick out this one thing but what? McGrath was one of our better players I thought. Some of his rucking was fantastic, as was his workrate and scrummaging. Healy meanwhile was pretty ****e really when he came on, made some brainless decisions.
 
Just to pick out this one thing but what? McGrath was one of our better players I thought. Some of his rucking was fantastic, as was his workrate and scrummaging. Healy meanwhile was pretty ****e really when he came on, made some brainless decisions.

Ran 9 times for 6 meters, conceded two penalties, no turnovers. He wasn't bad but he needs to sustain a higher level than that to keep Healy out.
 
P.s to whoever suggested Earls at 13, please mother of god no. I want Olding 12 Henshaw 13 or vice versa, Fitzgerald is too injury prone and we'll never cement a partnership with him being out constantly.

Olding's injury profile in his brief career has hardly been great either.

I'd be happy with Fitzgerald or Olding partnering Henshaw. I wouldn't be completely against Earls there but I'd rather him on the wing.

At the very least Jones has to go from the 23 I think. He's been in good form this year and he's a hard worker but despite some talk about him being a Schmidt player he clearly has been unwilling to use him. He's shown himself to be fans of Earls and Fitzgerald in the past as well anyway.
 
You really don't think Barnes' supposed pedantry was at all a reason for both teams actually playing?

Yes, yes I do. What is the issue with that?

I think it was more the fact that said pedantry resulted in Ireland going 12 down, Ireland then knew they had to play rugby and score tries and Wales soon realised they'd lose the game if they failed to score. Both teams still slowed the ball down at times and Barnes began to allow it, Barnes is the worst ref in rugby for picking one aspect of a game that he's going to officiate extremely harshly. It's decided a lot of games before and was a factor yesterday, the fact that we're talking about Barnes so much shows he had a bad game in my opinion. It didn't effect the result, Wales were better on the day, but Barnes influenced the game and took a lot of attention away from the rugby.

+1
 
Ran 9 times for 6 meters, conceded two penalties, no turnovers. He wasn't bad but he needs to sustain a higher level than that to keep Healy out.

That's the problem with relying on stats. For a tight five forward 6 metres is fine. When you're carrying in tight you're usually going to be below 10m. His first penalty was one of those in the first 10 minutes where Barnes basically said it was harsh saying he was trying to roll away (and later didn't give a penalty against a Welsh player because he was 'trying to roll away...) and his second was for dominating in the scrum where Barnes said he was wheeling, it was a fair enough call but I don't think you'd expect it to be given most times. 22 Irish players didn't have a turnover, so pretty harsh to hold that against him. I'd say Murray Kinsella's ruck marks will have him in a very good light.

Healy probably did more damage to his chances really I'd say.
 
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