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Rugby: A New Dawn


ljkeane
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Better performance from England this week although I’m not sure I’d go as far as to call it good. Ireland looked a bit tense but got the win they needed.

 I have to say I really hate the red card decision. The officials were treating it like it was a tackle ‘you’re always upright’ etc when it wasn’t a tackle, they were both going for a loose ball and they’ve run into each other. Not everything has to be reviewed to the nth degree ffs.

Still, although it’s irritating that it made it less of a contest in that second half I doubt it would have changed the result.

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I haven’t seen the game yet but it sounded like a harsh red from the description.  I do hope Keenan is OK, though.

Lots of players need to heal and recover before the WC.  Despite a great 6N for Ireland, I would still favor the French over the Irish in the WC.  Their ceiling looks higher and they can play multiple styles, whereas Ireland really just maximize their one style. 

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2 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Lots of players need to heal and recover before the WC. 

I think Ireland are in pretty good shape actually. Tagdh Beirne’s the longest term injury they’ve got so far as I’m aware and he should be be back well before the World Cup. Sexton pulled up with a groin injury towards the end today but it’s hard to see that lasting until the World Cup.

5 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

 Despite a great 6N for Ireland, I would still favor the French over the Irish in the WC.  Their ceiling looks higher and they can play multiple styles, whereas Ireland really just maximize their one style. 

Er, yeah, there’s not a lot between them for me. France are probably a bit more talented, Ireland have more cohesion. I’d probably lean towards France with home advantage but there’s very little in it. I’m expecting the Springboks to be in the mix too.

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1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Grand slam!  And a bonus point win in every game.  Peaking several months before the WC once again.

If it makes you feel better they didn't get a bonus point against Scotland so maybe they haven't peaked yet?

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1 hour ago, williamjm said:

If it makes you feel better they didn't get a bonus point against Scotland so maybe they haven't peaked yet?

I forgot that.  I was too quick to take a victory lap.  They had a couple of great chances late on for that BP try but didn’t finish.  I especially remember James Ryan knocking on when he tried to pop it up to Lowe right on the line.

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Nice to see Ireland win but the last 3 matches haven't been a particular statement of dominance.  There were a lot of nerves yesterday. 

Eyes will now move to the WC.  If they were nervous yesterday, lets see what happens if we get to a Quarter Final.  Still haven't ever got into the last 4.

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Good game between Ireland and England in the Under 20s, it was very even until England picked up a couple of cards and Ireland pulled away. Unlike the Steward red yesterday though I've got no issue with either of the cards. So that's a Grand Slam for Ireland at Under 20s level too.

Still, despite the loss I do like the look of a few of the England squad this year. The two centres look good, Ma'asi-White in particular, and Chessum, Fisilau and Cunnigham-South in the forwards. I do think the RFU needs to invest more money in the youth coaching though. England pretty clearly had the best age grade set of of the Northern Hemisphere countries a few years back but it's really fallen off over the last few years.

From the Irish team the flyhalf Prendergast looks good. The back three were good too, the left winger Gavin in particular, and the eight Gleeson was probably the stand out forward.

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Huh, both Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones have made shock retirement from test rugby announcements within a couple of hours of each other. That they're not hanging on until after the World Cup seems very strange. Perhaps it's some sort of issue they have with something in or around the Welsh camp? Anyway, they're both great players who've played big parts in a really strong era for Welsh rugby.

Also the teams for tomorrow's Champions Cup final have been announced. It kind of feels like Leinster really need a win to reflect how good of a team they've been over the last few years. La Rochelle are the kind of team they've struggled with though (or the exact team last year). It should be interesting.

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I really hope Leinster can win tomorrow, especially after the loss last year and effectively sacrificing the URC last week.  It would be nice to see their style and quality rewarded with more trophies*.  But I think that La Rochelle are the realistic favorites.

I have a similar concern that Ireland’s style is not favored in the WC format.  So many matches in so little time will wear on their speed game, while power teams are better able to grind through the schedule and still be potent late in the tournament.


*traumatic echoes of Liverpool, unfortunately 

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Really good game in the final. La Rochelle got absolutely done in the first 10 minutes by Leinster, whose coaches had clearly spent a lot of time thinking of ways to beat them, but then La Rochelle were the better side for the next 70 minutes or so and managed to overhaul Leinster. Just. It's a shame the game ended on a bit of a down not with a potential serious injury but the officials were absolutely right with the red card decision.

From a Leinster perspective it does just feel that they've run into a side in La Rochelle that're almost perfectly put together to beat them just as they're peaking in their own development cycle. The combination of the power that La Rochelle have with their quality at the breakdown really does disrupt the way Leinster want to play but, still, based on the two finals there's very little in it.

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Decent game in the Premiership final. Sale are my localish team so I would have preferred them to win but, unlike Sarries these days, they have a pretty conservative game plan. If you’re going to play like that the issues they had in the lineout were always going to be a big problem and once they went two scores down in the second half it looked pretty much over.

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Yes.  A few months ago, not many people would have expected Munster to take a title and nothing for Leinster again.  The Leinster defeat wasn't a confident boost for the WC but this partly makes up for it.  And interesting to see Crowley do well.  Might be finally getting some serious options post-Sexton.

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I haven’t followed it closely but is the English rugby PL financially viable at its current size?

Irish rugby succeeded by consolidating to the four provinces, despite a historically larger group of underlying clubs.  England obviously has a much larger population & TV market and rugby sits higher in the hierarchy of sports there, so the two aren’t really comparable, but with another English club facing financial collapse I was wondering if the problem is the system rather than the individual clubs. 

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