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Anyway, the round up youve all been waiting for!
First of all in a game of such fine margins where we looked dead and buried when France could have gone four up it was a perfectly executed possession to get the win, the perfect kick off from the 22, risky play with the crossfield and a fantastic DG to win. It felt like overdue revenge for the bleakest moment in Irish rugby back in 07. A lot of people commenting here and elsewhere that we shouldn't have needed it and they're damn right, Johnny makes that penalty from his black spot or we cover that counter attack properly and the game is won easily.
I think the lack of try scoring ability is being overstated, with the exception of an absolute gift (both the defensive **** up and Owens not giving that obvious penalty) neither side looked like creating anything in greasy and slow conditions, both sides were making ground off 1st phase and then generally went backwards. That said there were a few nice aspects to the attacking game, Stockdale was used more than a few times on an inside ball that made good metres, Earls was given the ball in space and made ground but with Henshaw having a stinker with ball in hand, Bundee not having the skill level to create without him and Murray providing Sexton with very slow ball due to the weather and Owens' interpretation of the breakdown lying somewhere in between loose and inconsistent with the laws of the game, momentum couldn't be gained. These are things out of the players control or individual errors more than a system failure. I don't think I'd agree there's huge need for change, Porter for Ryan because Ryan doesn't look as fit as he can be and Conway for Ferg would be all I'd consider right now. I agree we need a creative presence but think it's needed in the centre and Ringrose is the only man, Scannell is yet to strike me as international class, Larmour couldn't have done much from 15 yesterday and while Carbery may have I think it would have been costly. Kearney's presence in that side is huge, he was out of position and not in the backfield once because he chased his kick rather than sending Stockdale and we were in disarray, Donncha O'Callaghan spoke of how he directs the defence from behind and anyone can see he's always in the right position to cover a kick or a line break and I think it's a huge huge asset to Ireland's defence and territorial game, a 6n with a grand slam still alive is not the time to toy with this if Italy show any promise later. Trying to get Carbery a bit of time at 12 next year when RK, Larmour and Lowe can all play 15 might be worth a punt. The Oz tour might provide a chance through injury or a 2-0 series lead to rest RK too.
Yesterday wasn't a perfect performance by Schmidt, he should have started Leavy and you'd presume he felt he was match fit to pick him ahead of Conan and Murphy and I'm starting to think POM should be in the home team and not the away team but I need to see more. Yesterday's game needed better and quicker ball retention but going against an unknown quantity and Nigel Owens' rules of rugby it'd have been impossible to see that Jordi Murphy and Ferg would have been better selections for their prowess in hitting rucks and securing ball. Huge credit must be given for the players knowing exactly what they had to do in the late game scenario where they were like clockwork for 40 phases, that requires special coaching with some players of extremely high rugby IQ. I also thought there was a noticeable drop from Ryan to Toner which justified his ballsy call. (Not that Toner was poor)
There's not a whole lot of contentious issues even after a bad win, I don't think Stockdale should be dropped, he made one costly errors but was good attacking in field in a way Earls, Ferg and Conway can't and his kick chase and tackle was superb, he'll learn from this; Best is the captain and again I didn't see much wrong with him, try to win something this season before replacing him because on my count 7 of yesterday's starting 15 haven't won silverware in green and only two players off the bench have, a strong leader is needed for at least the next few weeks; McGrath and Healy are horses for courses; Leavy comes in, Murphy to the bench to cover all bases; Ferg just about loses out to Conway. It feels good right now, winning away in the 6n isnt easy north of Rome these days.
First of all in a game of such fine margins where we looked dead and buried when France could have gone four up it was a perfectly executed possession to get the win, the perfect kick off from the 22, risky play with the crossfield and a fantastic DG to win. It felt like overdue revenge for the bleakest moment in Irish rugby back in 07. A lot of people commenting here and elsewhere that we shouldn't have needed it and they're damn right, Johnny makes that penalty from his black spot or we cover that counter attack properly and the game is won easily.
I think the lack of try scoring ability is being overstated, with the exception of an absolute gift (both the defensive **** up and Owens not giving that obvious penalty) neither side looked like creating anything in greasy and slow conditions, both sides were making ground off 1st phase and then generally went backwards. That said there were a few nice aspects to the attacking game, Stockdale was used more than a few times on an inside ball that made good metres, Earls was given the ball in space and made ground but with Henshaw having a stinker with ball in hand, Bundee not having the skill level to create without him and Murray providing Sexton with very slow ball due to the weather and Owens' interpretation of the breakdown lying somewhere in between loose and inconsistent with the laws of the game, momentum couldn't be gained. These are things out of the players control or individual errors more than a system failure. I don't think I'd agree there's huge need for change, Porter for Ryan because Ryan doesn't look as fit as he can be and Conway for Ferg would be all I'd consider right now. I agree we need a creative presence but think it's needed in the centre and Ringrose is the only man, Scannell is yet to strike me as international class, Larmour couldn't have done much from 15 yesterday and while Carbery may have I think it would have been costly. Kearney's presence in that side is huge, he was out of position and not in the backfield once because he chased his kick rather than sending Stockdale and we were in disarray, Donncha O'Callaghan spoke of how he directs the defence from behind and anyone can see he's always in the right position to cover a kick or a line break and I think it's a huge huge asset to Ireland's defence and territorial game, a 6n with a grand slam still alive is not the time to toy with this if Italy show any promise later. Trying to get Carbery a bit of time at 12 next year when RK, Larmour and Lowe can all play 15 might be worth a punt. The Oz tour might provide a chance through injury or a 2-0 series lead to rest RK too.
Yesterday wasn't a perfect performance by Schmidt, he should have started Leavy and you'd presume he felt he was match fit to pick him ahead of Conan and Murphy and I'm starting to think POM should be in the home team and not the away team but I need to see more. Yesterday's game needed better and quicker ball retention but going against an unknown quantity and Nigel Owens' rules of rugby it'd have been impossible to see that Jordi Murphy and Ferg would have been better selections for their prowess in hitting rucks and securing ball. Huge credit must be given for the players knowing exactly what they had to do in the late game scenario where they were like clockwork for 40 phases, that requires special coaching with some players of extremely high rugby IQ. I also thought there was a noticeable drop from Ryan to Toner which justified his ballsy call. (Not that Toner was poor)
There's not a whole lot of contentious issues even after a bad win, I don't think Stockdale should be dropped, he made one costly errors but was good attacking in field in a way Earls, Ferg and Conway can't and his kick chase and tackle was superb, he'll learn from this; Best is the captain and again I didn't see much wrong with him, try to win something this season before replacing him because on my count 7 of yesterday's starting 15 haven't won silverware in green and only two players off the bench have, a strong leader is needed for at least the next few weeks; McGrath and Healy are horses for courses; Leavy comes in, Murphy to the bench to cover all bases; Ferg just about loses out to Conway. It feels good right now, winning away in the 6n isnt easy north of Rome these days.
