[2019 Six Nations] Scotland vs Ireland (09/02/2019)

[munstermuffin]

Every 9 and 10 in the game is targeted. Putting them off their stride is part of the sport.

Sexton gets more attention cause the Irish coaches and media are always whinging about it, plus Sexton is held together with duct tape so usually stats down after a clattering, compared to like when Farrell got hit half an hour late by Moriarty and just got up and laughed it off

Agree on this. I don't think any hit was very late or illegal. It a case of if you get up to being 1 pf best on world you better be prepared with that bullseye on you

 

[McTallshort]

None

Yeah that's what I thought. She reminds me of the middle class mums and dad's that come up to the junior rugby on a Sunday in their BMW X5's. Never played the game but think they can tell their kids and their kids coach how to play the game

 

[Leinster Fan]

Kearney was awesome, really showed his class today. Really helped the wingers who both had improved games. Farrell started really well but drifted out of the game and he's not really a 'cutting teams open' style 13. Not helped with a terrible performance from Aki though. Sexton wasn't fully fit bit was decent in spite of that before being forced off. Murray is in terrible form.

Healy and Furlong were very good as usual. Best was decent but should be making way for Cronin with 25 minutes to go. The sub props were decent but that replacement front row aren't strong enough in he scrum.

Ryan, O'Mahony and O'Brien were good but not at their (admittedly brilliant) best. Roux was good as was Dillane when he came on. I was worried about our second row but it worked well. Conan had a good game and Van Der Flier brought great energy.

 

[Reiser99]

Kearney was awesome, really showed his class today. Really helped the wingers who both had improved games. Farrell started really well but drifted out of the game and he's not really a 'cutting teams open' style 13. Not helped with a terrible performance from Aki though. Sexton wasn't fully fit bit was decent in spite of that before being forced off. Murray is in terrible form.

Healy and Furlong were very good as usual. Best was decent but should be making way for Cronin with 25 minutes to go. The sub props were decent but that replacement front row aren't strong enough in he scrum.

Ryan, O'Mahony and O'Brien were good but not at their (admittedly brilliant) best. Roux was good as was Dillane when he came on. I was worried about our second row but it worked well. Conan had a good game and Van Der Flier brought great energy.

You say Kearney is awesome, but he also has a low ceiling, by which I mean he's a great player, but what you see is what you get. He's not going to give you something special. It suits Ireland's control tactics but isn't going to turn a game on it's head. This is the issue I alluded to last week.

 

[Jockstap]

He doesn't need to turn a game on it's head, when he's not playing we lose the big games. Simple as that.

 

[munstermuffin]

You say Kearney is awesome, but he also has a low ceiling, by which I mean he's a great player, but what you see is what you get. He's not going to give you something special. It suits Ireland's control tactics but isn't going to turn a game on it's head. This is the issue I alluded to last week.

It is more his organisation and settling of 2 wingers. They seem much more at ease compared to last week with Henshaw at 15

 

[big ginger 8]

You say Kearney is awesome, but he also has a low ceiling, by which I mean he's a great player, but what you see is what you get. He's not going to give you something special. It suits Ireland's control tactics but isn't going to turn a game on it's head. This is the issue I alluded to last week.

European player of the year and a Lion is hardly a low ceiling. You say he won't offer something special presumably because he won't jink through a defence at will. He's still a dangerous strike runner and after Folau is exactly who you want chasing an up and under or box kick to win you ball and 20 metres. He also allows you defend with 13.5 men in the line making it harder to score against us. He's not a limiting factor.

 

[Reiser99]

European player of the year and a Lion is hardly a low ceiling. You say he won't offer something special presumably because he won't jink through a defence at will. He's still a dangerous strike runner and after Folau is exactly who you want chasing an up and under or box kick to win you ball and 20 metres. He also allows you defend with 13.5 men in the line making it harder to score against us. He's not a limiting factor.

Again I'll say he's a great player and would get into almost every side. But he won't do something special like Hogg. Kearney suits Ireland's game plan, Hogg suits Scotland's.

 

[Leinster Fan]

This is more of a general Kearney love-in than a reply to anything in this thread, but personally I'd rate the ability to field kicks and not make stupid f*** ups as for more important in a fullback than scoring the odd try off a counterattack. Sure he's not an amazing counter attacker but his ability to organise the defence is vital and his positioning is the best in the world (and his fielding is better than everyone except Folau) imo. He makes a big difference to the players around him too.

He ran very well with the ball in hand today, it'd be nice if he made linebreaks for fun but at the end of the day that's a bonus at this level.

The amount of criticism he gets is ridiculous considering he's a test lion, was European player of the year in 2012 (when he was the most dangerous attacking player in a Leinster backline that included O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Nacewa and Sexton) and has 80-something Ireland caps. There's a reason that in the four Six Nations we've won in the professional era (09,14,15 and 2018) he's started every game along with both wins over the All Blacks and two victorious Heineken Cup finals. Players don't end up with records like that without being very very good.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Yeah, Kearney has always been my dawg. A few times today Scotland tried some kicks that England got loads of change out of last week and either he had it covered or Stockdale was positioned infinitely better than he was last week, some of that is his own level of focus but Kearney 100% organises his back three better than any other 15.

Solid win, after last week the world was never going to be set alight, win three more games with a big performance in Cardiff and we can mark this 6n off as a positive regardless of whether we come 2nd or 3rd.

 

[Scotty]

Kearney is a great FB i dont deny that at all but i noticed a few occasions where he had the likes of stockdale outside him in some space and he choise to step and then get tackled. With his experience level he should be making the them passes, its the same problem i have with brown for england.

 

[Hanley!]

I was calling for Kearney to be replaced as our starting 15 for quite some time, because he was injury prone and he just didn't play up to his old standards anymore. Then around the November internationals in 2017 he hit a run of form, and he's been almost undroppable since then. I have no problems with him anymore, he's been very consistent when playing for Ireland and we always miss him when he's not there. He's not a good attacking threat, but that's not what's being asked of him from the team, and Stockdale and Earls are better suited to fill that sort of role anyway from the wings.

I do think we could do with giving a back-up 15 some game time before the world cup though. Henshaw just isn't a viable choice there for me.

 

[Amiga500]

Starting to worry has Joe started to stagnate.

There is trusting fellas to turn their game around and there is sticking with undroppables.

- Rory Best can't really go beyond 50, why is he playing till near 70 mins in? Does Joe not trust Cronin at all? If so, why is he there?
- We are struggling to clear attacking rucks and break gainlines. Yet we have never considered even examining another man at 6.
- How bad does Conor Murray have to be before he gets hooked earlier than 76 minutes?
- Bundee Aki has left his fingers in Galway. How about playing the Connacht 12 at 12 for ireland? Even look at McCloskey (who did OK in Twickenham then was never seen again).

 

[Reiser99]

This is more of a general Kearney love-in than a reply to anything in this thread, but personally I'd rate the ability to field kicks and not make stupid f*** ups as for more important in a fullback than scoring the odd try off a counterattack. Sure he's not an amazing counter attacker but his ability to organise the defence is vital and his positioning is the best in the world (and his fielding is better than everyone except Folau) imo. He makes a big difference to the players around him too.

He ran very well with the ball in hand today, it'd be nice if he made linebreaks for fun but at the end of the day that's a bonus at this level.

The amount of criticism he gets is ridiculous considering he's a test lion, was European player of the year in 2012 (when he was the most dangerous attacking player in a Leinster backline that included O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Nacewa and Sexton) and has 80-something Ireland caps. There's a reason that in the four Six Nations we've won in the professional era (09,14,15 and 2018) he's started every game along with both wins over the All Blacks and two victorious Heineken Cup finals. Players don't end up with records like that without being very very good.

I agree with this, my point was purely a comparison about creating something from nothing. Hogg can, Kearney is able to, but unlikely. I would take Kearney over Hogg for close games, with Hogg over Kearney for games like Italy. However I do think I Ireland have an issue in that they haven't blooded another 15 properly so either have to commit to one now or hope Kearney stays fit.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Starting to worry has Joe started to stagnate.

There is trusting fellas to turn their game around and there is sticking with undroppables.

- Rory Best can't really go beyond 50, why is he playing till near 70 mins in? Does Joe not trust Cronin at all? If so, why is he there?
- We are struggling to clear attacking rucks and break gainlines. Yet we have never considered even examining another man at 6.
- How bad does Conor Murray have to be before he gets hooked earlier than 76 minutes?
- Bundee Aki has left his fingers in Galway. How about playing the Connacht 12 at 12 for ireland? Even look at McCloskey (who did OK in Twickenham then was never seen again).

Aki has been iffy but it's not Joe's fault every other centre gets injured every other game. McCloskey was poor against the USA, he's better than Scannell but I'm not convinced he's international standard. We should just play Henshaw and Ringrose together withcAki and Farrell as backups which is more than good enough.

Murray should definitely have been off earlier but him and Sexton deserve the chance to play his way into form. It's not going to improve without game time.

Cronin should have been on earlier, completely agree. Should be coming on around the 50 minute mark. Him and Scannell offer much more. I've never been sure about O'Mahony at 6 but we're much worse without him in the team in general. Leavy and Beirne are viable alternatives but they're both injured and with Toner out I'd say O'Mahony is a must for the lineout.

 

[Zander Johns]

Referee was Ireland's 16th player. Hogg was a foul. No knock on and Laidlaw called in and led to the second half try. Poor second performance by both teams. And let's face it, Ireland was just very lucky to come away with the win. You can tell by all the commentary by even those in the BBC box. So seriously stop acknowledging great play by anyone unless it is talking about the first half. First half set the game up to be a potential classic. It then became so flat with Ireland choosing to play the boring game they are now getting slammed for. The ref gave them the opportunities and the second half was just dull! Everyone in the stadium (Scots and Irish all said the same - crap second half). It was flat and no real celebrations from the Irish fans. You know you got away with one. Go give your pay-off to the ref now and look forward to seeing you in the World Cup. Nicely set-up now. SCOTS WELL AND TRULY ****** OFF!!! Bring it on....

 

[Leinster Fan]

Anyone see the Laidlaw's 'stamp' on O'Mahony? A citing would be harsh but at the same time there should be zero tolerance for stamps in today's game.

 

[Zander Johns]

Genuinely didn't know they were literate enough to have their own media.

Alpha Bro - Single handedly fronting the Irish/Scots Celtic banner! Relationship between the Nations obviously in good hands!!!

 

[Zander Johns]

Anyone see the Laidlaw's 'stamp' on O'Mahony? A citing would be harsh but at the same time there should be zero tolerance for stamps in today's game.

Nor should slowing the ball down holding onto it whilst off your feet. All for stamping if it gets some cheating paws of the ball!

 

[Zander Johns]

In fairness every Scotland throw so far has been crooked, if Poite is going to let them get away with it then we might as well just stay defensively solid

They don't need to because the ref. is giving all the penalties to Ireland in the rucks and open play anyway and also playing penalty advantages for the whole length of the field for Ireland! Did the Irish Coach threaten his family at half time or something...