Seaton
First XV
Weel done to Giteau for 600 test points
Pretty much doing the same, but he gave 3 yellows.
Why kick. Try thrown away with an epic brainfart
Probably just knackered.Brainfarts aplenty from both sides stopped this from being a good game.
Was it just me, or did Murphy look a little half-hearted?
Positives:
Debuts for Chris Henry, Damien Varley and Rhys Ruddock.
Sean Cronin picked up aftr a poor start.
Jonathan Sexton's goalkicking.
The season is over.
Rhys Ruddock won't play for Wales!
Negatives:
Poor scrum.
Poor lineout early on.
Not challenging the Australian lineout.
Shag all line breaks.
Tomas O'Leary was ponderous in attack (decent in defence though).
Rob Kearney, Brian O'Driscoll and Shane Jennings looked off the pace.
Alan Gaffney's coaching of the backs- Ireland and Leinster have gone backwards in Gaffney's two years with each side. Time for him to shape up or ship out.
Andrew Trimble once again looked Ireland's most dangerous back, Fitz will have to work hard if he wants his place back. The Scrum looked not too bad before Buckley went off, Cronin had a decent game. Also how awful was BOD tonight, couldn't catch a pass and looked incredibly slow?
The match was pretty tough to watch at times. We gifted them 2 tries. Henry's brain actually farted and a little poo came out for that 1st try. And then Ronan and Jennings both simultaneously lost the use of their arms for the 2nd with Kearney there as the last defender, ready to THROW himself in the wrong direction. Ireland panicked when in space. On several occassions O'Driscoll or Paddy Wallace had managed to break the line of defence only to throw the ball into the hands of a grateful Australian or to, more often than not, just simply knock it on. Cronin's throwing into the line out was a joke. The scrum was embarrassing. But worst of all was Tomas O'Leary. The man is going to put me in an early grave. He is a walking time bomb ready to explode at any moment all over Ireland's dreams. Stupid decision after stupid decision. There's too many to mention but the ones that stick out in my mind were his brainless pass into Rob Horne's hands which, luckily for O'Leary, didn't result in a try due to a supposed knock on by an Australian. Another 1 was when he panicked at the Australian restart and allowed the ball to bounce which resulted in Ireland being pinned back in their own 22. Just moronic. And his passing was way off. Too many times Sexton had to pick the ball up from his feet. An awful performance by O'Leary in my opinion. I would genuinely start Eoin Reddan ahead of him any day.
There are a couple of possitives to pick up though; It was only a disaster, it could've been a catastrophe. Despite his throwing in Cronin was alright. Buckley looks good despite the scrummaging. Trimble is proving himself to be a classy player. Bowe was good. Sexton was actually a ton of sex. He made 1 or 2 small mistakes but besides that his place kicking was phenomenal, his kicking from hand was good and his play making and running were good as ever. Little baba Ruddock looks a real hope for the future. We may never have to see Mick O'Driscoll in an Ireland jersey again and we have POC, Cullen, Ferris, McLaughlin, O'Brien, Wallace, Leamy, Heaslip, Flannery, Earls, Fitzgerald and probably more I haven't thought of to look forward to seeing come back and, hopefully, redeem us.
My 1st choice Ireland XV:
1. Healy
2. Flannery
3. Buckley
4. O'Connell
5. O'Callaghan/Cullen
6. Ferris
7. Wallace (O'Brien??)
8. Heaslip
9. Reddan
10. Sexton
11. Trimble/Fitzgerald/Earls
12. Fitzgerald/Earls
13. BOD
14. Bowe
15. Murphy
End of rant
where is the king.......?
Sigh... Prince Luke has to take the crown some day I suppose... D'Arcy will always be king to me though
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EDIT: Just so you're not confused, I felt this photo best represented D'Arcy's monarchical style of play