The Official Irish Rugby Thread

[How bad boy]

You're right. One of the main symptoms of that is JGP. He'd stop forward momentum last Thursday just to kick the ball away. Contrast that to Leinster where he's sniping away at rucks and most crucially if all shadowing backline moves to get an offload in broken play once someone has gone through a gap

Sam Prendergast took an awful lot of passes standing still.

I don't think that's down to utter incompetence. Maybe it is, but there's someone trying to implement something there that's not working.

Rugby is an incredibly complex sport, I think people who haven't played it at a top level often don't appreciated just how complex. It's not unusual for teams to have hundreds of different calls, moves and positional requirements, depending on what's happening. I once got dropped by an angry prick of a coach by having my legs in the wrong position while bound to a maul after a kick off in training (He wanted me to have my leg stance wide, instead of narrow as the objective wasn't to actually push the maul, but to block kickers coming around the side at the scrum half...).


Keeping track and getting up to speed of all the detail in a few weeks in an international camp is incredibly difficult, so I can undersntand why you'd just copy+paste the leinster template

 

[Hoggys White Helmet]

7.2 million watched the game Thursday night. Hopefully they will ignore these numbers and never do a Thursday night game again.

 

[Jim Comic]

7.2 million watched the game Thursday night. Hopefully they will ignore these numbers and never do a Thursday night game again.

7.2 million alickadoos

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Who’s hot and who’s not: Italy 'get the pulse racing', Ireland's 'kick in the goolies' and the latest 'damaging' Scott Robertson stories

😰 "The coach really needs to up his game… and fast." #GuinnessM6N

www.planetrugby.com

Andy Farrell:

We were going to headline Sam Prendergast in this Cold As Ice! section, but the 22-year-old has certainly had enough of a kicking as it is. So rather than pile on the international rookie, it’s Irish boss Farrell who we are putting in the Monday dock, charged with his curious approach to getting the youngster up to the necessary levels so that he can consistently perform in a Test jersey. It was a bold call in November 2024 to give Prendergast his debut, a decision that dented Jack Crowley’s confidence no end after he delivered a Six Nations title earlier that year with the Irish adjusting to life without Johnny Sexton.

Prendergast received a similar kick in the goolies when Farrell snubbed him for the British and Irish Lions, and the situation that now exists is that Ireland have two fly-halves whose confidence to deliver at No.10 is ropey to say the least. There was no compelling reason for Farrell to be so bold with his selection 15 months ago; Prendergast could have soundly earned his stripes behind Crowley in the pecking order and Ireland would have had two bulletproof 10s in the long run. Instead, neither is now sure of themselves and with so many of Ireland’s other facets of play in decline, last Thursday became a pantomime with Farrell cast as the main villain. The coach really needs to up his game… and fast.




Shame no Irish journalist has the stones to call it like it is..

 

[nelly sham]

Who’s hot and who’s not: Italy 'get the pulse racing', Ireland's 'kick in the goolies' and the latest 'damaging' Scott Robertson stories

😰 "The coach really needs to up his game… and fast." #GuinnessM6N

www.planetrugby.com

Andy Farrell:

We were going to headline Sam Prendergast in this Cold As Ice! section, but the 22-year-old has certainly had enough of a kicking as it is. So rather than pile on the international rookie, it’s Irish boss Farrell who we are putting in the Monday dock, charged with his curious approach to getting the youngster up to the necessary levels so that he can consistently perform in a Test jersey. It was a bold call in November 2024 to give Prendergast his debut, a decision that dented Jack Crowley’s confidence no end after he delivered a Six Nations title earlier that year with the Irish adjusting to life without Johnny Sexton.

Prendergast received a similar kick in the goolies when Farrell snubbed him for the British and Irish Lions, and the situation that now exists is that Ireland have two fly-halves whose confidence to deliver at No.10 is ropey to say the least. There was no compelling reason for Farrell to be so bold with his selection 15 months ago; Prendergast could have soundly earned his stripes behind Crowley in the pecking order and Ireland would have had two bulletproof 10s in the long run. Instead, neither is now sure of themselves and with so many of Ireland’s other facets of play in decline, last Thursday became a pantomime with Farrell cast as the main villain. The coach really needs to up his game… and fast.




Shame no Irish journalist has the stones to call it like it is..

While I agree with this, there's a fair bit of revisionism going on here too. None of these journalists stopped to question why Crowley was being dropped. They all jumped on the bandwagon, foreign and domestic.

 

[nelly sham]

Bryn Ward has joined back up with the senior squad. Happily like to see him on the bench

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

While I agree with this, there's a fair bit of revisionism going on here too. None of these journalists stopped to question why Crowley was being dropped. They all jumped on the bandwagon, foreign and domestic.

Tbf the only criticism of Farrells outhalf selection last season (that I read) came from UK outlets.

The Irish press not questioning playing Sambo last year and again now are pathetic . Each and every one of them.

 

[Jim Comic]

ugh.... https://www.standard.co.uk/business...six-nations-virgin-atlantic-men-b1269597.html

 

[Handy Run]

ugh.... https://www.standard.co.uk/business...six-nations-virgin-atlantic-men-b1269597.html

Could be worse. Could be the Highfield ghoys receiting Kipling poems as lineout calls

 

[on the outside looking in]

You know I don't mind the losses, I get we are in transition, but the guff they come out with about not getting to the pitch of the game or not the intensity we were aiming for, that's the shite that gets me.