RBS 6 Nations 2017

[justinr73]

That should have been a championship winning match. The smart money was on Ireland losing the first game and then winning the title and would have been if not for Henshaw. Am just glad i didn't put my money were my mouth was.

Goodness knows about the Lions.

[BR]

Shamalicious, two posts I agree with wholeheartedly.POM is ano brainer

Now who do you pick forLions Captain-

a) A player who was understudy to a captain who got destroyed on a NZ tour
b) A player who just got schooled, has a habit of getting sent off and banned, and just got schooled
c) a player who just got stripped of his national captaincy
d)......Rory, who has experience of beating NZ

Fixed that for you Eggs [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

Rory needs 3 lineout jumpers

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Rory only needs one lineout jumper, provided the opposition are kind enough not to compete for the ball at lineouts. WTF were England playing at today?

[UlsterAreBrill]

Just back, what a day. Cant remember an atmosphere as good as that probably ever, great stuff

Need to watch it back on the box but a few observations from the stand

Brutal, physical match but 1-8 were brill, hard to look past a back row of POM/SOB/Stander now - as good as Heaslip once was his days are numbered. Scrum was solid and we looked to have the nudge on England a few times, line out was super, no coincidence that was the case with no Toner

Marmion capable to back up Murray, Sexton has to play flat but ends up worse because of it, centres were excellent I thought, Henshaw especially but Ringrose is the future, all we need is some more pace on the wings but I thought Earls had a good game till he was hooked

Consistency is my main issue now, that should/could have been a championship match but for a few mistakes of our own, i'm not sure how we can serve up the dross against the likes of Scotland etc and then the week after beat England playing like that. moving forward we need to get the likes of Bryne/ROL/Sweetnam involved and possibly even Stockdale to give us better back three options. Our narrow drift defence can get caught out very easily, i'd like to see a change of tact there too

[Dublin4]

Not long in from the stadium and post match festivities.
It was some day.
I was derided over the last week for stating that we were going to see something special but I don't mind enjoying a little vindication! It was definitely nearer 2011 than 2003.

Joe's decision not to give them any lineouts worked pretty well. Payne grew into the game. Line speed was extraordinary at times. Hendo's all round play was spot on for this one.

I know you don't have much time for him but Sexton was excellent and takes a huge amount of punishment being double tackled repeatedly. Henshaw made up for last week.

How did we ever lose to the Scots?

[BaggyTrousers]

In showing generosity of spirit I will say this:

Lucky coaches are coaches who accidentally come to have the right man for the job through no fault of their own. Very Lucky Joe had such an event with O'Mahony today, the real big difference in addition to Donnacha Ryan having one of his very best games for Ireland and Hendy having the first real 80 minute focused game for Ireland I can recall, for often when starting he has seemed to go in and out of games, hence he hasn't started as many as his talent suggests should have been the case.

Add in that several had their best game of the championship, in particular Rory Best and Jack McGrath, also SOB and let's not forget Sexton who despite sycophantic media acclaim has been modestly efficient at best.

Today I had to admire Sexton getting his lumps fractionally late time after time in a clearly planned manner and rising above it and getting stuck in physically himself, I'm particularly delighted that he played 80 minutes & trust that Paddy may now be available next week. Great captaincy by Rory to talk to the ref about his responsibility for his players, clearly telling the ref with that, that this isn't the odd late hit, it's repeated late but not disgraceful hits on a key player.

Kudos too to both scrum halves, Marmion was very good, better than I thought he would be capable of, mind you if you had to pick a weak 9 to play an important game against YBY aka Cry Baby would be near the top of the list, and McGrath in his brief spell did well also. Importantly, nobody was crap, there was no Bob playing, Girrid being precisely 11 times better than BOB, even when shaking off the rust. If Schmidt had the brains to stop the bullshit with his personal favourites, that full back & those centres show great promise, despite what Russ might suggest.

Got to love the Jeremys. Worthy Champions. Oi, Schmidt...........how do you lose to Scotland? Chube.

[BaggyTrousers]

It occurs to me now that each of the other three provinces now have a very good quality scrum half, yet in his season of generosity in tossing NIQs like confetti to Munster, he has stripped Ulster bare.

It's as well to remember on an evening where many are probably thinking the world isn't a bad place that this win has set back the moment when the enemies of Ulster get their just deserts

#fuc'kthe FIRFU
#deathtoNucifora
#Schmditpoorselectorluckybastard

[rumncoke]

Leavy being in the ground is not the surprise ,

But that he had his boots and jock strap with him now that is a surprise !!!


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[againstthehead]

Shamalicious, two posts I agree with wholeheartedly.POM is ano brainer

Now who do you pick forLions Captain-

a) A player who was understudy to a captain who got destroyed on a NZ tour
b) A player who just got schooled, has a habit of getting sent off and banned, and just got schooled
c) a player who just got stripped of his national captaincy
d)......Rory, who has experience of beating NZ

Fixed that for you Eggs [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

Rory needs 3 lineout jumpers

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Rory only needs one lineout jumper, provided the opposition are kind enough not to compete for the ball at lineouts. WTF were England playing at today?

Likewise I thought it pretty odd. One of the worst all round England performances I have seen in a while. Not sure if the occasion was too much or if they didn't take Ireland seriously. Yes Ireland were very good defensively but England did not look like a side that had just won a bucket load of games.

[Russ]

Not long in from the stadium and post match festivities.
It was some day.
I was derided over the last week for stating that we were going to see something special but I don't mind enjoying a little vindication! It was definitely nearer 2011 than 2003.

Joe's decision not to give them any lineouts worked pretty well. Payne grew into the game. Line speed was extraordinary at times. Hendo's all round play was spot on for this one.

I know you don't have much time for him but Sexton was excellent and takes a huge amount of punishment being double tackled repeatedly. Henshaw made up for last week.

How did we ever lose to the Scots?

Bobbo
SOB
Heaslip
Toner

All reasons we lost to Scotland

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[rumncoke]

The reasons we didn't beat the Scots

firstly the Backline was a mish- mash , two centres who had never played together at International level ,two wings and a full back whose defence is questionable when facing players running at pace at them.. secondly it was the first match and finally it was away from home.

We gave the scots an early lead and lacked the ability to score.

The fact is the Irish centres provided nothing to the players outside them in the whole 6 nations neither can time time a pass both have pace but have forgotten that the primary function of centres is to feed the wing in space and support.

Yes Irish wingers scored most were either kicks or passes from other players non were from passes provided by the centres there is little point in playing wings who are finishers rather than defenders if they don't get the ball from the centres.

The welsh game exposed the sterility of the Irish back line attack and the weakness of the wide defence.

Thus I can only see two Irish backs heading for New Zealand with Henshaw a real outside bet due his size and possible defensive qualities .

While there has been criticism of Jackson for one of the Welsh tries the fact is that Jackson had marking Bigger whose place was taken by Williams when Bigger looped round the on coming centre by marking Williams he actually was making the logically choice of player.

Sexton had been rushing Bigger prior to Jackson coming on to the pitch and all Jackson did waste continue that approach would Sexton have chosen not to rush ??

My take was the failure of SoB to put pressure on the scrum half which allowed the scrum half to shield the the centre and wrong foot SOB who should have been able to cover Jackson rush .

[BaggyTrousers]

Whilst you all get your panties in a bunch about Ireland being great, this is the reality:

- an appalling 40 minutes to start the championship and not enough cutting edge to pull back the deficit when dominant
- a facile slaughter of the innocents in Rome, about as impressive as Ulster beating Zebre
- 3 pretty grim matches, enjoyable in their own way as tough contests, Ireland scored 2 tries in 3 matches, a 2 metre sneak from Murray & Hendy off the back of a maul.
- Can anyone remember any semblance of a back move in the last 3 games that looked like producing a try? I can't.

So all is well then, eh?

[Setanta]

Yup, he's not only a great coach but is lucky as well! Kearney and Heaslip injured allowing the two changes he should have made anyway! Still say he can't pick his nose. Mind you, being a great coach and lucky is hard to beat. How can we improve his selections?

[Russ]

Yup, he's not only a great coach but is lucky as well! Kearney and Heaslip injured allowing the two changes he should have made anyway! Still say he can't pick his nose. Mind you, being a great coach and lucky is hard to beat. How can we improve his selections?

Is Heaslip injured?

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[rumncoke]

Take Byrne, RoL, and Stockdale on tour in the Summer and leave Earls and Zebo at home for a start . Then in the centre take Marshall McCloskey Olding and Ringrose , Out half Jackson and Carberry , the only experienced back on tour should be Payne , because in all honesty he is the most vocal teacher of young players available .
When He first came to Ulster I notice how he in the first couple of games kept telling Gilroy how to position himself in attack and defence.

In my opinion Trimble and Bowe have played their last games for Ireland and neither Zebo or Earls are the present never mind the future wings for Ireland. the alternatives of Kearney and McFadden have had their day and been found wanting when denied the luxury of BoD inside them making the touch downs possible by taking out the cover defence.

A tour of Japan is the ideal opposition to give youth its head because Japan will provide lively opposition without the physical hardness of any of the SHs sides.

The Irish pack bar Heaslip and Best have a few seasons in front of them, the problem is creating an attacking try scoring backline.

The irish in the 6ns dominated posseession in most games and as Baggy points scored few trys except for the Italian game 3 trys by a back row and 3 by a winger living off the bounce of the ball.

now while "jonny the loop" has taken a lot of stick Ihe must be admired for the way he stood up and took the late hits yesterday.

[Dublin4]

The fact is that Lucky Joe has never lost a home 6N match in four seasons.
Put that in your pipes and smoke it.