Sam P’s ability to pick out a late pass and put a player into a gap was otherworldly! Set up a number of clean breaks. Loved the fact he made a number of errors but the head didn’t do down and he just played on as if it didn’t matter. Great temperament.
Gus was also brilliant- another couple of games and he’ll be pushing Kelleher and of course Sheehan when he’s back! What a debut.
Lots of really good performances from more established players Henshaw, Aki, JVDF, Doris and loved Casey’s performances – much better then I’ve seen him play before.
Lastly a word for Frawley – he took some punishment and kept going and did very well!
Opposition was quite poor however and we need to keep that in mind.
Jackie McEachern
Bearing in mind that Fiji were poor, I think we can still take away positives. Great first time starts from Sam and Gus. And many of the veterns put in strong performances – Aki, Henshaw, Doris, VdF. I was also really impressed with Casey.
I think Crowley should definitely start next week and the #10 jersey is his. But I’m excited for what Sam will also bring as he matures and his skills grow.
Bert McLoughlin
Fijian discipline shocking. Gus McCarthy had a great debut 3 assists and a try👏. Sam had a mixed bag with the yellow and a few mistakes after he can back on, but his passing gains space for players around him and is definitely a playmaker 10.
Chris McDonnell
Casey played his best game, sam recovered from some silly mistakes and played well especially after frawley came on and took loads of the pressure off playing as a second play maker. Said before the game the balance on the bench with so many 12’s and no back 3 players was always going to go badly.
Eamon Saunders
A win is a win some great individual performances but for me Robbie Henshaw was back to his best but again great performances all over the pitch
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Yes, there were some sloppy mistakes at times but I think people are underestimating this Pumas team. Their defence was incredible and this is the team that has beaten France, SA and NZ (in NZ) over the past few months.
A higher score would have been great but I’ll take the win, thanks!
Cormac Mannion
Argentina are a fine side. Their physicality is right up there with South Africa at their best. We seemed to be running into brick walls for large parts of the game. However, there is still something not at all right about Ireland. Hansen still looks off the pace, as does Lowe. Crowley needs time to develop and you can see how it’s coming together for him.
Our back row seems to be playing as individuals rather than a unit. Also, far too many sloppy penalties which could point to a lack of focus. We’ve looked off the boil since midway though the 6N.
Jackie McEachern
Too many penalties again – especially when we heard all week that discipline was going to be the focus. But am very happy they hung on to win against a strong side.
Kevin Kelehan
Got over the line against a huge Argentinian pack and very useful backline, Tom Clarkson and Sam Prendergast both came through very well. Jack Crowley was superb for most and a tough nut to get up without play acting after being cynically taken out illegally. The penalty count and line out remain a serious cause for concern, Kelliher is a great scrummager and a demon in the loose but he needs to spend the next month to sort out his darts.
Jamie Bermingham
Glad we got the win but once again the discipline was very poor. Our attack in the 2nd half was practically non existent. Still a lot to work on for the next two games
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Undercooked. A few performances to forget but they have credit in the bank. A lot of fair weather fans throwing out demands and ultimatums. This was our first loss in 19 games at the Aviva, and it was to an All Blacks team with a lot more recent game time than us.
Sean MacDonnchadha
Worrying lack of aggression first and then lack of leadership. They’ve gone on and on about unfinished business from the World Cup and getting revenge. Didn’t see that tonight.
Kevin Kelehan
The best team Ireland has ever produced were more error prone than I’ve seen them in many years. 3 more games to keep the direction of travel in the right direction
James Murphy
Our front men standing back??
Letting them bully use in lineouts and scrums,
Crowley very poor, frawley not much better
But frawley deserves start next week
Poorest Irish performance in a long time
Brian Corr
Too many errors and then too many players losing it or dropping the heads.
Decision making was terrible and lineout was very poor.
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IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Tadhg Beirne 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)
16. Rob Herring 17. Cian Healy 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Peter O’Mahony 21. Conor Murray 22. Ciaran Frawley 23. Jamie Osborne
New Zealand : 15. Will Jordan 14. Mark Tele’a 13. Rieko Ioane 12. Jordie Barrett 11. Caleb Clarke (vc) 10. Damian McKenzie 9. Cortez Ratima
1. Tamaiti Williams 2. Asafo Aumua 3. Tyrel Lomax 4. Scott Barrett (c) 5. Tupou Vaa’i 6. Wallace Sititi 7. Sam Cane 8. Ardie Savea (vc)
16. George Bell 17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi 18. Pasilio Tosi 19. Patrick Tuipulotu 20. Samipeni Finau 21. Cam Roigard 22. Anton Lienert-Brown 23. Stephen Perofeta
One of the worst performances I’ve seen from South Africa in the first half and one of the worst performances I’ve seen from Ireland in the second. officials tried to screw us again but incredible finish
Dickson made quite a few 50-50 calls that always seemed to go in favour of the home team. From an Irish point of view, it felt almost endless.
But this happens in every game to every away team, so I don’t think it’s any particular conspiracy, it’s just the nature of sport!
Kevin Kelehan
Delighted Frawley got the chance to exorcise the ghost of Tottenham, ugly game but Farrell has built some team, 6 first choice players missing today, 5 of them in the back line and still got it done. Farrell is 80:20 win rate, Boks are 20:80 against the green machine in recent years!!
Sean MacDonnchadha
Very lucky I feel. Springboks only able to force penalties. We should’ve buried them in the first half with the energy, territory and possession we had. All the same, some balls from frawley
Paul Smith
Despite SA cheating and a horrendous performance by Dickinson, Ireland fully deserved the win and I’m absolutely delighted for Frawley who buried the memories of the Champions Cup last minute not once but twice with 2 superb drop goals.
John Willie Conroy
Osborne was unbelievable fair play to Andy Farrell for blooding. Questions need to be asked regarding Frawly not being picked at 10 at Leinster he’s a quality ball player and is head and shoulders above the Byrne brothers.
Brian Corr
So happy, what Irish team in the past could lose their starting scrum half, starting fullback, starting hooker and go to the world champions and get a result. 8 years since they’ve lost in Durban.
Delighted for Frawley to get the chance to make such a huge impact with two fantastic drop goals.
It’s said that tries win matches and that was the difference today
Take a bow Ciaran Frawley. Two outstanding kicks in the clutch. And we deserved it too. Again we were making mistakes, again SA were getting points but we stayed with them AND kept them tryless. What a way to end the season. Very happy out. #RSAvIRE
They got the rub of the green, big time, but we probably didn’t do enough.
Reasonably confident we can win 2nd if “end of season-itis” doesn’t kick in.
Gav Heg
If it was reversed, we won and the ref treated SA like he did us, rassie would release a two hour analysis slating him. The officiating simply wasn’t good enough at this level. like how can they review and disallow Lowes try but not notice the neck roll on Kelleher? Penalties were given for far less in NZ v Eng. And how was Casey stretchered off without any review from Pearse? Nonsensical and inconsistent
Greg Kelly
Is the call by the TMO to disallow Lowes try wrong in law? No…
Is the game in an absolute state if this is where it is going? Absolutely!
You can be guaranteed that in the lead up to all the tries today there were infringements but the TMO didn’t come back to those?
Even after the turnover Lowe beats 3 defenders to score so the manner of the turnover is not the material issue. It’s a great individual try called back for a debatable TMO intervention. Furthermore once the TMO comes in to disallow the try he must commit 100% to catching EVERY breakdown infringement from there. What if he let’s one go and 3 phases later there’s a kickable penalty awarded to the offending team? Does he call the referee back?
PSDT is off his feet in the field of play when he holds up Doris’ grounding attempt. By the letter of the law it’s an illegal intervention. It happens in all games and is never penalised but if we are going into the detail we did for the Lowe try then it’s another incidence of a player off feet affecting the play and consistency demands it’s flagged by the TMO.
If this is where we’re going it’s going to be a sh1t show.
Kevin Kelehan
Half back pairing was not disrupted, got reasonable parity at the breakdown. Unlucky with a few ref decisions that were 50:50 calls, particular Kelliher being driven back. Lots of industry and effort but also lots of shooting themselves in the foot. The series remains alive at only 7 points down, that is very encouraging, dust themselves down and be more clinical next week.
Sean MacDonnchadha
Have to look inward and be honest. Otherwise we’re only fooling ourselves again. Lineout and scrum came back to bite us after being highlighted as potential weaknesses. Backline stuttering for most of the game and no real director at 9/10. Felt like we were having to react to everything instead of dictating play. Dorris and Bundee tireless efforts. Ryan and Baird impacted well off the bench – only ones who did really. Needing Porter and Furlong to do a full 80 if possible is a massive system failure. Boks can’t wait to unleash their bench, if we’re honest we fear what will happen when we do.
Cuan Mulligan
In the first half, Kolisi was tackled, in the breakdown the ball is coming back to us and he sweeps the ball back with his hand.. not hard to see yet no tmo call. It felt like they were going out of their way to not give us a call
James Lowe had a very good game overall.
Did plenty right.
Had every right to try and keep the touch kick alive.
Also would have been risky to let that restart bounce.
This is hardly some new insight but a key issue with some of Ireland (and Leinster's) performances recently: everyone just looks exhausted. Some of these guys have been playing rugby without more than a few weeks off now for two years, and it just shows.
Hell of a test match. The fact these 46 players give a spectacle like that after 12 months of rugby is outstanding. Fine margins but congrats to the Springboks. Deserved winners in the end . Ireland went down swinging. Super match 👏 #RSAvIRE
So so good at times, but also so so poor at other, crucial times. Silly mistakes, silly penalties. Boks made errors too and we def didnt have rub of the green with TMO but the 7 pts we fell short by were on us. Be tough to pick it up for next week but try we must. #RSAvIRE
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 