Game lost in first 20 minutes. We didn’t achieve the points to counter the French flair. What came after was very predictable.
Gavin Macarthur
France came to play rugby and they are a fantastic team. The Irish squad can learn a lot from this kind of defeat – at least the openings for the younger players are starting to appear. It is never good to see ‘supporters’ leaving the stadium early – poor form.
Cuan Mulligan
France deserved the win. However…. Odd decision about POM been taken out, French player then runs through that hole. Ref shouting at France to use the ball 3 or 4 times, well over 5 seconds and nothing. Conor Murray upright and we drive him over the line, utterly confusing strategy, should have got him to ground and gone again. Be interesting to get the stats of how many no tries Ireland have by been held up…
Ger Ecki
Another crunch match lost and lost comprehensively…..Another poor performance when challenged. Slams lost 2 years running by losing one crucial match. Got away with it last year by being over feted for winning the Championship…..not so lucky this time. Losing Lowe at the beginning meant we lost our only reliable backline try scorer but they lost DuPont so all bets were off. Ireland collapsed and didn’t fire a shot. Those last 2 trys were gifted by an exhausted French who knew they had the job done….
James Griffin
Outmuscled all day long. We didn’t have the power to break their defence or stop their offence.
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Wales were so much better today, played with width and offloaded really accurately. Doris certainly missed and Ringrose’s mistimed tackle didn’t help. Likely France only 3 points behind us after this weekend which makes a win essential in 2 weeks time.
Peggy Sibbald
Well done Ireland..but hats of to Wales they played a massive game of Rugby 👏👏👏
Craig Grehan
That was an epic battle. Sloppy but epic. I think it will stand to us better than if we’d gone out and hammered them. Not that it was gonna happen. Fair play Wales. But fair play Ireland for sticking it out and showing the grit between the teeth
Michelle Tobin
Scrum was an unmitigated disaster. We were lucky not to concede a yellow for the repeated penalties. So many players will watch that performance back and be embarrassed. Some dreadful stuff. A few bright sparks, Osborne, Lowe, Conan and Beirne but plenty of others sub-par.
Greg Kelly
Ireland were poor but did the job when needed. In fairness had we played well for 60 mins of that game we would have won comfortably and I think we allowed Wales to play well. Was surprised Ringrose was upgraded to red but there was some really bizzare interactions between referee and TMO in that game 🤷♂️
Jackie McEachern
Grateful for the win. We missed Doris, hoping he’s back for France and also hoping Conan’s injury isn’t serious. I thought it was a little strange that Crowley wasn’t brought on until so late in the game.
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Decent performance but we need to get out of the habit of coughing up late scores, this could come down to points difference
Colin McConaghie
Thought JGP was outstanding again and Hugo looks back to his best. Worried about our centres who aren’t hitting the heights.
Not sure about persisting with POM with other longer term options available. Conan stepped it up when he came on.
Cormac Mannion
No head-slapping, whooping and screaming in the opposition’s faces from the Scotland players today. Good enough for them.
Overall, a solid performance. We were very sloppy at times though, particularly from 35mins to 50mins and then the last Scotland score.but we were well on top for most of it. Lineout wasn’t great but we tried a few new things and hopefully Furlong and McCarthy will be back for Wales.
David Ryle
I feel Sam has shut his detractors up but they won’t.
Kevin Kelehan
Scotland played very well for phases but the loss of Russell and Graham means we never saw the full test that was expected. Ireland were really professional in using their power and patience to get their scores. Conan is definitely back to his absolute best as Prendergast raises the bar at 10 higher game after game.
Jackie McEachern
Really happy overall with the performance and bonus point win. I thought Prendergast, Beirne, JGP and Keenan were all excellent. Always things to work on but two 5 point wins from the first two 6N matches is excellent.
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Bench was the difference, Conan was clinical, Dan was Dan as only Dan can be Dan, Tom Clarkson stood up to Ellis Genge who is technically intimidating and Jack Crowley kept it simple and flowing. England were value for their lead on 10 mins but their persistent cynical fouling caught up with them. Ireland got out with 5 points, England very lucky to get 1
Hubert Gallagher
Really really good second half except for allowing the last 2 tries. Huge impact from bench. Conan made an immediate impact. Crowley was excellent as well. And Sheehan….was he ever away?
James Lowe has a knack of making something out of nothing so often. Recognise JGPs performance but Lowe must have been very close to MOTM!!
Discipline excellent and mental toughness to the fore.
Onwards to Scotland – they’ll fancy turning us over and it’s never a gimme in Murrayfield. We need to be even tougher there. Will be a very different game – they’re unlike to kick as much ball away and will challenge our defence our wide.
Jackie McEachern
Lineout and discipline much improved from Autumn Internationals. England getting the LBP is disappointing but getting 5 points from an England match is always a great feeling.
Gavin Macarthur
This kind of championship game should be a platform for developing new players, instead of allowing some of the older players to continue their international careers as ‘game-closers’. There are a few players in that category and they need to be cut loose. Anyone who is over the age of 35 is not really going to figure in the next world cup, so why continue to play them?
That said, it was a good test match, giving the squad an opportunity to put their systems and leadership under pressure.
David Ryle
Turning point was their winger not allowing the ball go dead resulting in an Ireland 5m scrum at 44 mins.
Dave Murray
Great second half (except letting England back in for the bonus point) and Dan Sheehan what an impact again along with Lowe back from their injuries.
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I’m not too worried about the attack just yet. It took Catt a bit of time to sort that out when he took up the role so let’s hope Goodman makes improvements by the 6N.
However, our lineout is appalling and this is nothing new. Serious questions to be asked of O’Connell and what he’s doing there.
Big step up for Prendergast today and he’ll learn from it. Suddenly we now have options at 10 post Johnny. Crowley was really up for it when he came on too.
Another issue though seems to be the back row. We seem to get isolated an awful lot at the breakdown and giving away a lot of turnovers. Ruck clearance has definitely gone downhill this year.
Ronan McManus
I’m not sure that Prendergast’s more languid passing style helped us against the Aussie rush defence. They were in among us by the time the ball came into the centre.
Some real flashes of quality from him though.
Sort.out.the.lineout.
Kevin Kelehan
Bench was the difference between the sides, Dan Sheehan will be back once fit and Gus McCarthy should be on the bench, you need to win your own line outs, something that only happened once McCarthy came on. Jack Crowley also showed so much more accuracy and energy in his time, Prendergast just not up to the pace aged 21. Craig Casey also full of energy when introduced. Josh VDF also superb and was Doris as was Big Joe and Porter.
Sean MacDonnchadha
Can’t sweep this under the rug and say a win is a win and move on. That lazy mentality has only ever gotten us to the same QF exit in world cups. Lineout and attack are serious issues and can no longer be ignored – changes needed.
Jackie McEachern
Lineout needs to be sorted. Bench made a big impact (esp Crowley, Casey and McCarthy). Glad we got the win but that could easily have gone the other way.
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HARPIN' ON RUGBY 