Category: General

🏉 Slow starts

🏉 Plenty of positives

🏉 Decisions, decisions

🏉 ABs performance

🏉 Our best XV now

Gerald Williamson

Disappointing display from the team. Has the player burn out set in among some of the players ? Is the playing/training NH season to long for some of the players ?

Liz Power

Too many unforced errors. Against a team as clinical as the ABs, you pretty much have to be step perfect and not give them unnecessary possession. They are quite able to get that for themselves without us gifting it to them. Improvement on line out and scrum which is a positive

Colin McConaghie

Not despondent, individual mistakes/ poor decision making was a major issue but that can be rectified. A few of our normal reliables hadn’t their best performances but they’re still good players.

We butchered a couple of great opportunities especially the non pass to Balacoune and give them a walk in try by trying to play in the wrong area.

Breakdown was taken out of the game by Berry who wouldn’t allow a contest.

A lot to work on yes but definitely not all doom and gloom.

Eamon Saunders

Beaten by a better team but there are green shoots going forward 🤞

Terry Mahoney

We tried to play a physical forwards game when we should have used our speedy backs

Greg Kelly

Overall we looked tired and jaded after a long draining season for most of our players. Accuracy was well off and there’s not a lot to be said otherwise.

Que the eye rolls when I bang this drum but watching both Ben O”Keeffe and Nic Berry in the Oz and AB games respectively my thoughts go back to to Raynals statement on refereeing to WR earlier in the season. Super Rugby are playing a completely different set of laws and interpretations around tackle and breakdown. It was evident on last years Lions tour too. Ireland seemed to struggle badly to adapt to some of the extra-legal interpretations around clearouts and tackle. Surely there is only one game and one lawbook and WR need to make sure standards are enforced across the board.

Brendan Fogg

We struggled through poor handling , decision making and slow ball , limited line breaks yet at times we pressured , hope is there

David Cassidy

New Zealand the better team Ireland at the end of a long season they looked tired Ireland missing 6 players the referee was very poor but New Zealand would have won anyway

Christy O’Connor

We made NZ look much better than they are/were today. I worry about so many players being at the end of their careers now and we are still a year out from the WC, we are far below the standards of the Boks, France and NZ.

We have no definite replacement for Gibbo and no definite back up at 10.

The ref/tmo needs to be sent back to ref school. Not the reason we lost but the standards are shocking

Kettlebell Padawen

We’re deluding ourselves. Without penalty access we cant get into opposition 22 of the top tier nations. From 5m out Ireland can score but outside of that we cant create. Thats not a great nz team and its only the 3rd game under a new coach and still put 19 points on Ireland. No ball carrier threat, no one getting over the gain line. Sam’s best defensive display. Took some good options but no world class pace in the backline to exploit. We’re playing tactics from a few seasons ago and rugby is moving on with out us

Joe Lyons

I’d like to comment but feel my words would come screaming over as the ref was 💩 and please explain how James Ryan gets a red in SA game and NZ were complaining about their yellow even getting a yellow when it was a clear red as for the superman lunge knock on with a 3 player advantage and only Damien Mc to beat I’m again at a loss the breakdown was officiated so lob sided it must have frustrated thee Irish players who use this as a main source of possession but why was Taylor not penalised for running into ruck pushing Sheehan in back and the ref not even looking at Sheehan when he tried to talk to him all in all ABs were better but Ireland were referred off the park today

Mark Hunter

Only saw highlights and the gaps in the defence were very poor. Coughing up to Will Jordan 10 yards out is criminal. Decisions went too and fro apparently but Jacobson – that’s as red as red can be – wtf was the bunker/TMO thinking? Very very poor .

Player safety – what’s that ? Ask World Rugby – no don’t bother they don’t give a flying f**k.

Paul Clancy

I’m Irish, didn’t expect a win. The ref was terrible.

Odran John O’Brien

Outstanding at some things poor at other but New Zealand were just untouchable today

Pat Foley

Scrappy game from Ireland v Japan, but a win for Ireland 36 -20

Craig Grehan

A win is a win

Joe Lyons

Casey is just not at the standard needed Doak needs to be in asap

Frawley showed what Leo Stu and Faz have said for past 8 years he’s NOT A 10 he’s a good utility player

Jansen looks like a good option at 6/8

Illo was impressive both in open play and set piece

Gavin Little

Post World Cup I can see a big shake up in Farrells assistant coaches. Scrum, Lineout and Attack all going backwards.

Jackie McEachern

Great to get the BP win but lots and lots and lots to work on.

David Keyes

If WC was on now and we had to use that team versus the minnos we are due to play we’d struggle and as no 3 in the world its not good enough. We produced so many schoolboy errors today I lost count.

Christy O’Connor

The coaching staff have had 3 years to get the set pieces sorted out and it’s only gotten worse. Something drastic needs to change. We have so many Irish coaches that are plying their trade with top teams in Europe and SA, but yet we have a bunch of lads that have never coached ever at any level and are now coaching the Irish team. It’s bonkers

Richard Farrell

Line out has gone from stable to a mess

Greg Kelly

Casey doesn’t have the pass selection, quality or variety for this level and it hurt our attack. Never a game you felt we would lose and Japan actually brought very little to the table.

A serious worry going forward is our reputation at the scrum. All the 50/50s go against us now and it’s hurting us.

Wednesday

80+ column

Thursday

New Zealand v Ireland preview

🏉 Knowing your Schmidt

🏉 Super Hugo

🏉 Wallabies POV

🏉 Over-reliance

🏉 Self-belief

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post blog

Hubert Gallagher

Any away win in the Southern hemisphere is a great result. We stood up to a very physical Wallaby side and beat them while missing several players that would have made the 23. Sam P had a very solid game. His kicking was superb and kept us in contention as the game wore on. Defence was fine for most part with improved commitment. It will continue to improve. Lineout looked like they knew our calls and scrum badly needs Porter back! Overall a gritty performance to grind out a win – very Leinster like this season!

Andy Blount

It was a great win away from home after a long old season. Australia aren’t mugs at home and our set piece was all over the place. Any win in those circumstances is a right result.

James Gill

A bit rusty but great to get the win. Years ago we would of played great and lost the game rather today’s outcome. Ref was lenient with aussies yellow should of came a lot earlier. Hugo is priceless

Audrey Eager

Ireland were great!

Cormac Mannion

Let’s never ever see Osborne at 11 please. Nobody can criticise Sam’s defending at 10 and turn a blind eye to Jamie at 11.

Also, O’Keefe waited a disgracefully long time before threatening a card. Australia flopped over the ruck all night but that’s what we have to expect with a SH ref in charge of a match down there.

Lineout was crap and some of our defensive reads were very poor but I’d hope they will improve by next week.

Robert Cashell

Having watched the game before, they were playing at a different level!

Chris McDonnell

Same old problems, scrum and lineout are both poor and we defend with 14 to hide Sam. Saying that he did mix the very good with the FFS. The Osbourne and o’Brien on the wings stuff doesn’t work. The wing is a specialist position and we need to select specialists.

Ronan Haughey

Sam is a defensive liability, on average 2 tries a game handicap, today it was 3 tries and an intercept. Obviously highlighted and targeted by Joe, Sua’ali’i cut through his channel like butter at will all day. He might look fine against Japan but will be demolished by NZ

Ruairi Niall Eiméid

Despite being carved up defensively (which we know Faz is gonna be ruthless about come Monday morning) I will take win all day and the rest of the week. Only Ireland’s third win down under since 1979

John Cahalane

The win was wonderful honestly some of the decisions went against us but improvement vs Japan is needed Australia are better than their sum parts let us measure them and us against how well they play against France. Well done anyway

BKT United Rugby Championship

2025/26  Quarterfinal

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Aviva Stadium

KO 8pm

Live on : TG4, Premier Sports 1, URC.tv

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

AR 1: Hollie Davidson (SRU)

AR 2: Ru Campbell (SRU)

TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)

🏉 The 60m rollercoaster

🏉 Harry kicking on

🏉 More TOB worship

🏉 Reiko

🏉 Edinburgh

CIARÁN DUFFY

Post to Post blog

Tom Clarke

Pretty poor despite the win. Disjointed and sloppy really. Not much else to say.

Sandra Seery

We’re a 2nd half team and we proved it tonight

Donna Malone

Quarter final bound 👌👏👌👏

Peter Tracey

The only good thing was the defence. If they didn’t give three intercepts and one blocked kick they wouldn’t have conceded.

Christy O’Connor

My comments I’ve posted from almost any of our games this season is pretty much the same and I’m guessing it will be the same for next week’s game because we are not improving

Richard Kennedy

Need to stop throwing risky passes in our own half. Otherwise it was a very solid performance in attack and defence

Cormac Mannion

Too much off-the-cuff stuff which led to soft scores conceded. Quite frankly, our handling skills aren’t good enough to play that type of game. Our defensive alignment breaks down after a couple of phases. We haven’t looked that loose a team since Ella back in 03-04.

Richard Collumb

A better team would kill us. We are going backwards in terms of how the players are doing vs when with Ireland.

For a defence minded coach Nienaber not showing on pitch

Dave Murray

Very soft scored given away again tonight. This style isn’t suiting us and that isn’t going to change. I have doubts we can win the big one this season, even before tonight. Bordeaux and Toulouse look too good to stop imho.

ROUND OF 16

Bath 31–22 Saracens
Toulon 28–27 Stormers
Glasgow Warriors 25–21 Bulls
Toulouse 59–26 Bears
Harlequins 17–26 Sharks
Bordeaux Bègles 64–14 Leicester Tigers
Leinster 49–31 Edinburgh
Northampton Saints 49–41 Castres Olympique

WEDNESDAY – 80+ COLUMN 

Our guest : CIARÁN DUFFY

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Guinness Six Nations 2026

Round 4

Friday, March 6, 2026

Aviva Stadium

KO 8:10pm

Live on : RTÉ2

Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)

AR1: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)

AR2: Damian Schneider (UAR)

TMO: Andrew Jackson (RFU)

FPRO: Tual Trainini (FFR)

Niall Duffy

Shocking performance. Weather aside, it was just dire. Very tough run in to the season now with Glasgow, Ulster and Benetton away to come. In years gone by its been these games during international breaks that have defined the depth and success of the squad. Sad to see how poor that was.

Dave Murray

Even taking into the account the rain, we looked very sluggish and our style of play has noticeably regressed the last year or so. We haven’t played great at all this season but have picked up wins to get us in a decent position, can’t say I’m too confident of getting silverware but here’s hoping 🤞🤞🤞

Stuart Maher

Awful conditions. Torrential rain is hard enough to play in, but it becomes a slow grinding game as the mud slows everything down. Slows the ball, slows the players. Turns it into a forward crunch fest. There is no mud on a 4g pitch so the game stays fast, except the ball, now wet, instead of having mud to give a little grip, has greasy residue coming from the surface. Meaning a fast game with the slimiest of balls. Neither team could bring their normal play so I felt, from the start, it was going to be a coin flip game.

A few positives. Tector looks so good ball in hand. Really looks like someone who wants the extra few metres and will fight for it. Moloney looked very handy, and I thought, for his second game, Spicer did OK.

Chris McDonnell

We have 3 coaches stealing a living.

At least we didn’t pay to watch this. Really need to get Noel McNamara in right now before these coaches do any more damage.

Craig Grehan

Shite

Ok, maybe that’s harsh. But there was a lot of take aways. We looked sluggish (can’t be blaming lions fatigue for this). A fair bit of silly sloppy play that isn’t upto the standard we’ve come to expect.

Rudderless in attack in terms of how to exploit the opposition as if the game plan was “ah sure ya know yourself”.

Very few sparks of next gen players stepping up.

Hywel Davies

Didn’t look like they wanted to be there

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “COACHING BY REFEREES”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

🏉 Attack on show

🏉 Pro-Tector

🏉 Pace on the wings

🏉 Ill discipline

🏉 Taking advantage

Cormac Mannion

Huge improvement over previous performances but still quite worrying how we switched off for about 25mins in the first half and allowed Connacht to go 17-14 ahead. Sam really mixed the good with the awful.

The good – some great kicks, passes and tries

The awful – two dreadful turnovers where he got turned over and the poor attempt at a tackle in the second half. Also – the sliced penalty that went dead.

Gotta feel for Connacht, the squad is paper-thin and while they showed flashes of Lancaster at times, they ran out of steam

Damien Mullen

Premier League v Pub League

Chris McDonnell

Good to see passing rugby again. Deeny’s best game by a mile. If Aki is not dropped from the 6 nations squad then Farrell is not watching games.

Darran Kearney

Great overall performance and we did well to steady the ship after a ropey 15 mins. Leo said it post match and opposition will target it to get scoreboard pressure on us and back that we’ll wilter. The tough tight games we are winning now hopefully stand later in the season. Concern is every team looks good attacking against Connacht at the moment. Just can’t see given form this season to date how we’d beat serious contenders for silverware, we all thought the same in 2008/9 though!!. Plenty of road left to go for things to come together. Got to have Harry for the big matches.. Agree with Luke Fitzgerald, no amount of skill can offset the D weakness in Sams game, another 3 or 4 horrors this evening again unfortunately. Still young and will get better but tackling is 99% mindset, the risk is he’ll be another in a long line of extremely talented 10’s who don’t achieve what their talent deserves as coaches can’t risk them.

Cormac Mannion

Can anyone explain why Brace went all the way back from our tryline to the halfway line to blow for the penalty from Connacht’s scrum when he had been playing advantage all that time? I’ve never seen advantage called back to that degree before. Personally I thought it was ridiculous. Connacht made approx 45m with advantage, got turned over on our tryline yet he goes.back for the penalty to them???

Richard Kennedy

Finally, some adventurous rugby. Admittedly it’s easier when the pack is completely on top but we haven’t seen it at all this season so it was refreshing to see it actually happen.

John Curran

Worried for Ireland, both Bundy and Henshaw look well past it, yes I know Robbie wasn’t playing tonight but in recent performance

James Gill

The best flowing rugby leinster played all season and Sam’s passing was outrageous at times nobody can spin it as good as him

Valerie Tumulty

I just want to say, as a Roscommon woman, I love Andrew Porter❤️❤️

Eamon Saunders

Good performance and some great individual performances from the younger lads great win

Lorcán Murphy

More flow in the 2nd half but very worried for Connacht at the same time

Michael Canavan

I would like to say congratulations to the connacht fans , I haven’t seen one negative comment on the game , leinster getting lucky, its the refs fault, and all the usual shit likewise get from another club i won’t mention, so I just like to say i admire connacht for that , thank you connacht and supporters

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “LEINSTER’S CHAMPIONS CUP POOL”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN