Posts Tagged ‘ New Zealand ’
Dual blogged on I’m Talkin’ Here
After four rounds and some pulsating rugby coupled with the dour we now have a three way tie for the championship going into the final weekend. On top of that, if a mass sequence of miracles occur we could even see France sneak into contention, though Wales aren’t likely to fall to Italy. Break out the calculators guys, we’re going number crunching.
Hats off and all that jazz, Wales were superb. The most fair outcome of Saturday’s fixture was that the scoreline for Wales’ yellow card was 6 – 3 Ireland. Not that the yellow wasn’t deserved but it would have been an injustice to nab a lead against a Welsh side who were deserving winners from the first second in such unceremonious circumstances. There is also the issue that Ireland were extremely below par which all led to this absolutely enthralling spectacle in Cardiff.
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Ah here c’mon now, how negative can we be? All the buzz since our emphatic win over France, Irish rugby fans all over have been harping on about how we still don’t look great and there is still work to be done. I won’t disagree with that second point but, we’re looking better than ever guys and here’s why.
Remember back a few years, just before David Wallace’s career ending injury? Remember when The Bull hung up his boots and we crawled into a humiliation in Twickenham two years ago? Do you remember, this time last year, wondering what the hell we would ever do without that fella wearing 13 on his back? Well what we have done since all of these things is win five games in a row, two against top three southern hemisphere teams and one against a side who up until last year had only suffered three defeats from us in this century. What I’m saying is – stop focusing solely on what happens on the pitch and take a step back. Ireland are neck and neck with England for the title of best team in Europe, neck and neck in the Six Nations race too and most importantly – they’re winning. Up until the “Golden Generation” arrived we would always be happy with the win. Dirty wins like Scotland 07, it didn’t matter. Then we became seriously good, always managing to score but more and more we couldn’t manage to win. Now it’s all about the win. Not that Ireland at this moment in time are playing ball up the jumper rugby and that’s that rather there are tailored game plans (and cards being held with a World Cup later this year). Ireland scraped past France and should have had another point or two on Italy but they won. Continue reading
Far from perfect, anything but simple and in general; tense as hell. Ireland VS France has always been anything but a straight forward fixture and yesterday in the Aviva reached lofty new heights. It didn’t have as much riding on it as last year of course but it was the chance for Ireland’s first back to back win over Les Bleus in 13 years and you could see every inch of that on the pitch. Continue reading
It couldn’t entirely be classed as debatable to begin with but it looks like the question of whether Jonathan Sexton returning straight into the fold for Ireland after 3 months concussion rehab only ever had one answer. With little change from the team that faced Italy last week Sexton is due to return to the driver’s seat for Ireland this Saturday.
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Of course Irish fans want one team only to run in as title contenders when the Six Nations kicks off, but there can be up to four potential victors in a given year. Even Italy, when they started in 2013 with that famous win over France, looked hotter than ever. England are without doubt second favourites and Wales, well they’re just always a threat in this tournament year on year. Scotland have that Vern Cotter fella in charge, maybe you’ve heard of him. Yes it’s not plain sailing for Ireland by any means. Continue reading
Abrakebabra or Macaris? You decide! (image: soundtrackcollector.com)
Up first in our brief news this week a classic crime story that could only happen on our fair Isle. A dangerous criminal escaped from Garda custody as the lads in blue pulled their van over at a chipper. Sure you can’t fight crime when you’re starving! The public have been warned not to approach the criminal who is potentially dangerous, while the Gardai released a statement saying they preferred Abrakebabra to Macari’s.
Google have released the results of top searched for items in Ireland this year. It included such news stalwarts as the World Cup and Garthgate as well as the Greyhound recycling debacle. Amongst the predictable searches was Kim Kardashian’s arse and the death of Robin Williams but the real state of the nation was demonstrated in our second most popular googled question? How to… shift. What a romantic bunch we are. Continue reading
Dual blogged on I’m Talkin’ Here
Aside from Joe Schmidt, who we now know took off for an appendectomy after the game yesterday, it was all smiles for Ireland as they thwarted Australia and secured a November clean sweep for the first time in eight years. Yes we do need to keep ourselves in check, last time this happened nothing but misery awaited in the ensuing World Cup, but for now there’s no shame in a little basking.
We have seen many shades of Ireland over this Guinness Series, including the stoic defenders against South Africa, the free running scorers against Georgia as well as some super subs and now against Australia we saw that this is now a team that, regardless of performance, will win a game. It wasn’t a complete performance, it wasn’t near perfect, but it was the result that was needed. Beating Australia for the clean sweep was crucial, so too was banishing the New Zealand game from last year. There’s a Six Nations to look ahead to of course, and that looming World Cup of course too. Regardless of how, Ireland snared a crucial win this weekend. You cannot underestimate this Australian side either, albeit they are still in a transition of sorts. This was a serious test match, unquestionably the highlight of the weekend, and Ireland are on their way to becoming a rugby super power. God forbid we should ever believe that one though. Continue reading
Yes we beat the second best team in the world, after they just beat the best. Yes the hype and hysteria was completely justified. Yes – all talk of winning the World Cup has ramped up massively. Maybe that isn’t quite so justified. Either way questions of whether or not Georgia can cause an upset here should be gone now. Without wanting to sound too cocky, the question is how much Ireland will win by.
Seven years ago Ireland nearly suffered a fate worse than death – elimination from the World Cup at the hands of Georgia. They were only squaring off in the second game of the pool, but suffice to say had Ireland fallen in that game none of the residual hope would have spilled into the games against France and Argentina. But the times have changed, as last week showed, and the chances of limping home by four points this time are nil. Continue reading
When Joe Schmidt took charge of the national team the primary lament from most was that he will have merely two Six Nations and a Guinness Series to get to know his squad. Not an ideal amount of time or experience to get a proper handle on his players and put his stamp on things firmly. 9 months and an All Blacks near miss later, he guides the team to a Six Nations trophy. Now with the second ranked team in the world coming to Dublin on Saturday, you would have to wonder if maybe we were worrying over nothing. After eighty minutes are up tomorrow, Joe Schmidt will have more answers than he has until this point. Continue reading
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