Category: Match wrapup

384 : Ireland v Argentina wrap

Autumn Nations Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 15/11/2024
Ireland vs Argentina Ireland’s Joe McCarthy scores a try
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

🏉 Fast start

🏉 Foul play du jour

🏉 Dr Phil

🏉 More silly mistakes

🏉 Holding on

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

JAY LONG

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Lee O Farrell

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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AUTUMN NATIONS SERIES WRAP

WEEK 2

IRELAND 22-19 ARGENTINA

SCOTLAND 59-21 PORTUGAL

ENGLAND 20-29 SOUTH AFRICA

FRANCE 30-29 NEW ZEALAND

ITALY 20-17 GEORGIA

WALES 20-52 AUSTRALIA

WEEK 3

FRI NOV 22

FRANCE V ARGENTINA

SAT NOV 23

IRELAND V FIJI

WALES V SOUTH AFRICA

ITALY V NEW ZEALAND

SUN NOV 24

SCOTLAND V AUSTRALIA

ENGLAND V JAPAN

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382 : Ireland v New Zealand wrap

Autumn Nations Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 8/11/2024 Ireland vs New Zealand New Zealand’s Will Jordan celebrates scoring their first try as Josh van der Flier of Ireland looks on dejected Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ken Sutton

🏉 Decent defence

🏉 Errors & Penalties

🏉 There for the taking

🏉 No bench impact

🏉 Adapt or else

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

RICHARD MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

John Hyland

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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AUTUMN NATIONS SERIES WRAP

WEEK 1

IRELAND 13-23 NEW ZEALAND

ENGLAND 37-42 AUSTRALIA

ITALY 18-50 ARGENTINA

FRANCE 52-12 JAPAN

WA;ES 19-24 FIJI

SCOTLAND 15-32 SOUTH AFRICA

WEEK 2

FRI NOV 15

IRELAND V ARGENTINA

SAT NOV 16

SCOTLAND V PORTUGAL

ENGLAND V SOUTH AFRICA

FRANCE V NEW ZEALAND

SUN NOV 17

ITALY V GEORGIA

WALES V AUSTRALIA

379 : Leinster v Lions wrap

26 October 2024; Josh van der Flier of Leinster is tackled by Edwill van der Merwe and Erich Cronje of Emirates Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Emirates Lions at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 9/10 combinations

🏉 Proud Lions

🏉 Forcing knockons

🏉 Caelan & Josh

🏉 Late gloss

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

RICHARD MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Cormac Mannion

Sad to see McGrath’s decline. He seemed quite hesitant last night and the time when the ball popped out of the ruck and went between his legs was a prime try scoring opportunity.

Our scrum is now a serious area for concern. “If in doubt, ping Porter”

Jackie McEachern

Tough match although I think we likely would have scored more/gone a bit easier if JGP had been playing. I thought Sam did well and Doris and JVF were excellent! Glad to see Robbie back.

Jamie Bermingham

A tough game and exactly what we needed, the young lads impressed and Doris was an absolute wrecking ball. Lions definitely came for a battle and the scoreboard does not reflect how well they played

Chris McDonnell

Jvdf is just a magnificent 7. I can’t understand why mcgrath was kept and 3 better 9s are playing for other clubs

Tom Clarke

Breakdown needs some attention. Robbie looked sharp and Cooney looks a good prospect. Dorris is a top top player, but we know that!!

Alan Jacob

#1Vs #2 ….. good outing for the boys…. Dori’s ridiculous as always!! Prendergast had a solid game especially considering Lions had the ruck under serious pressure…. Needed a proper pressure game & an 80 min performance which were both delivered in spades.

Kevin Kelehan

Way too much aimless kicking in the first half which gave the Lions great opportunities to run at a Leinster in the 13-14 channel, once that was tightened up Leinster improved. Crowd got going at times but needed to give better support

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377 : Connacht v Leinster wrap

19 October 2024; Max Deegan of Leinster scores his side’s fourth try, despite the tackle of Connacht’s Shayne Bolton, during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Leinster at Dexcom Stadium in Galway. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

🏉 Galway gusts

🏉 Fast start. Again.

🏉 Frawley

🏉 LaRGer than life

🏉 Defence. Again.

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

FULL TIME TAKES

Jackie McEachern

Happy enough with the Leinster performance. I was nervous when Frawley went off so early but thought Ross did a good job, especially in the conditions. Hope Frawley’s injury isn’t too bad.

Gavin Hegarty

Not much more else you can ask for. Top points from each outing. Yes we kinda let them back in it but we were never not dominant.

Clarkson for me had been coming into his own this season, he’ll be capped soon enough.

So utterly unlucky for frawley, this was his chance for the autumn series.

Craig Grehan

I think the match although winning shows some poorer choices of play by jpg at times.

Shows frawley is like the munster era snyman …and snyman is becoming a fan favourite.

Connacht as always put up a good fight and on another day would get more bang for their buck.

Cormac Mannion

I think we were switched on for a lot longer than last week. Hopefully Frawley’s injury isn’t too bad. Rotten luck for him

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URC WRAP

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375 : Leinster v Munster wrap

12 October 2024; RG Snyman of Leinster celebrates with team-mates after scoring their side’s fourth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

🏉 Brisk assessment

🏉 RG impact

🏉 In our defence…

🏉 Makeshift units

🏉 Doris’ day

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

DAVID CORDIAL

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Cormac Mannion

Bar 2mins just before half time, we looked really disjointed and out of ideas after we scored the third try. It really was quite bizarre because we looked incredibly sharp in the first 15mins.

Also, setting up caterpillar rucks in the opposition half and launching up and unders? Seriously?

Micheal M Priest

Leinster, true to form, fall out of the game in the second half after creating a big lead. Just like previous European Cup finals.

Alright in this league against the likes of Munster, but get punished by the likes of La Rochelle and Toulouse. With such a large talented squad, when will serious questions be asked?

Aonghus O’Brien

Leinster defence looking good. Seemed to run out of ideas in attack in the second half but hopefully they are holding a bit back for the bigger European cup games etc

John Hyland

Leinster are turning into a 40 minute team. If they want silverware, they’ll need to get a lot more ruthless

Craig Grehan

Leinster were very much a first half team in the match.

The ref killed munster at times, but then again so did munster ball handling. A win is a win though.

Kevin Kelehan

Munster kept their shape despite the score, round 3 done. Who were the 1,800 eijits who paid good money for tickets and failed to turn up?

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373 : Benetton v Leinster wrap

5 October 2024; Ciarán Frawley of Leinster beats the tackle of Tommaso Menoncello of Benetton on the way to scoring his side’s second try during the United Rugby Championship match between Benetton and Leinster at Stadio Monigo in Treviso, Italy. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 The Perfect 10

🏉 Injury worries

🏉 On the blitz

🏉 Split decision 

🏉 He’s alright, Jack

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

CIARÁN DUFFY

FULL TIME TAKES

Michaela Monaghan

Very one sided but another BP win in the bag 😃😃… Frawley needs to stay at 10 instead of Ross Byrne

Richard Collumb

Scrum poor & got very scrappy, very quickly, still it’s PB win & a few players coming back but need to be sharper next week.

Hubert Gallagher

Frawley Frawley Frawley – there should be no other 10!!!

Eamon Saunders

Good to see some of the big boys back but really good to see some fringe players get game time (BRIAN DEENY ) Up Wexford

Denise O’Brien

I think the 10 situation became even more clear…

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371 : Leinster v Dragons wrap

27 September 2024; Cian Healy of Leinster after the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Dragons at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
also available on Apple & most major platforms

🏉 D for Dragons

🏉 Jamie kicking on

🏉 Dev Jr cameo

🏉 Joe & Josh impact

🏉 The Gunne Show

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

RICHARD MIFSUD

JAY LONG

FULL TIME TAKES

Greg Kelly

Whenever Ross Byrne wears 10 custard skins worldwide breath a sigh of relief.

Leinster looked disjointed in the first 40. Could be early season problems but to be fair I think the Dragons were better than they have been in recent years. They knew they were going to end up on the end of 30-50 before they travelled but they stuck in and really lived off their big moments in the opening half. I think they’ll beat a few teams this year and I wouldn’t fancy Newport on a wet and windy night in the winter.

Things looked a little cleaner when Joe and Josh came in.

Deegan had another good showing and really I have to wonder what he’s still doing here. He should have gone last year and quite frankly he is squandering his talent at Leinster.

Gavin Hegarty

2/6 for Byrne from the Tee simply isn’t good enough. He was nervy and it showed.

Jimmy OBrien looked electric every time he got the ball.

We now have 3 world class hookers in Sheehan, Kelliher and Gus, a great problem to have. Gus’ lineouts were excellent and he was everywhere. Lineout dropped when Barron came on, something he needs to work on if he wants any sort of a look in.

The way osbourne is going Hugo might have a huge challenge ahead of him when he comes back.

Larmour has bulked up but I think he’s sacrificed fitness as a result, he seemed tired after 30 minutes.

Can’t help but feel a bad dragons team brought us down to their level, we should have topped 60 tonight.

Dave Murray

Wasn’t even any near misses from the tee, they were all terrible kicks. Ross has given us good service over the years, but we won’t be winning many/any major trophies with himself at 10 imo. Need to be investing in Frawley/Prendergast at 10, they’ll make us play a lot better.

Dave Ryle

I thought Osborne was more deserving of POTM.

Turner had a good game as well.

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369 : Edinburgh v Leinster wrap

20 September 2024; Jamison Gibson-Park of Leinster scores his side’s fourth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Edinburgh and Leinster at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
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🏉 Mixed bag

🏉 Pro-Tector

🏉 Whiskey, neat

🏉 Bouncebackability

🏉 Two Healys

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

TOM COLEMAN

CIARÁN DUFFY

(Post To Post Sport)

FULL TIME TAKES

Kevin Kelehan

JGP’s try was the catalyst that delivered that burst of scores that changed the game, lucky the Edinburgh butchered their kicks 5 minutes out but on balance a decent start to the season that needs to deliver silverware

Chris McDonnell

We handed over 5 tries to the second worst attack in the league. If we don’t send him back to SA it’d going to get worse. Good to see some of the attack and Sam and Charlie were very good.

Gavin Hegarty

First game, away, mainly young team v full Edinburgh. A lot of positives. Sam was sublime, techtor could be a great 12 with his new bulk.

Scott Penny is relentless.

Can we talk about Byrne’s reaction to his yellow? Pathetic and I think he’ll get scolded for it in the review.

William Andrew

Tector, was competent at 12, that might be a better fit for him considering the glut at 10. Prendergast was very effective too. Nicely timed passing constantly. Defence a bit leaky, but a good start

David Lawlor

Nice to banish the opening game yips we seem to have been suffering from. A joy to watch a Leinster 10 take the ball to the line and his passing was sublime too. The last minute try makes it seem closer than it really was and while it’s disappointing to concede five tries I think the defence will improve as the season goes on. Roll on Friday in the Aviva!

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URC ROUND 1 WRAP

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364 : RSAvIRE 2nd test wrap

Castle Lager Incoming Series Second Test, Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban, South Africa 13/7/2024 South Africa vs Ireland Ireland’s Ciaran Frawley Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

🏉 Osbourne catches
🏉 10-point leads
🏉 Croc rolls
🏉 3 by 3
🏉 Frawley time

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CONOR CRONIN

RICHARD MIFSUD

FULL TIME TAKES

Alastair McDermott

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

Hope the lads have a great celebration

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362 : RSAvIRE 1st test wrap

Castle Lager Incoming Series First Test, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, South Africa 6/7/2024 South Africa vs Ireland Ireland’s Jamie Osborne Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

🏉 Shaky start

🏉 Punishing mistakes

🏉 TMO issues

🏉 Bomb squad

🏉 Frantic finish

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIARÁN DUFFY

https://posttopost.sport.blog

DAVID CORDIAL

FULL TIME TAKES

Brian Patrick Donnelly

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

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