ireland in the rwc

The big difference this time round is we have a coach who knows how to win as against a coach who thinks he knows how to win. If the pack stays fit they will frighten everyone including the kiwis. The backs do need to spark, but they have time now.

I have to give credit where it is due.  I truly did not think they had a chance against Australia as nothing up to this point in the warm up games or the USA match lead me to believe otherwise.  England has proved in past WC that 10 man rugby can be successful so if they do not slip up against Italy there is a path to the final for them.  I do though think they will have to get the backs going if they are to truly be successful.  Wales could be on the horizon should they get past Samoa and I think Gatland knows how to neutralise the 10 man game.  I guess we should just enjoy this historic win and congratulate the pack on a strong effort.

Big result. Massive step up in intensity on the past few games. Everyone showed great hunger for work today. Australia were poor on the day but to keep such a talented side to 6 points is a superb achievement. Having said that you'd hope there's more in this Irish side yet especially as an attacking force.

The front row (pray they stay fit), Ferris (who has been immense considering how little game time he's got until now) and O'Brien in particular put in outstanding displays. Half back is still a problem area, rog and sexton had their moments but neither particularly convinced, scrum half is a toss up. Scrum half wasn't a tough job today behind that pack and with Pocock missing, the Oz back row looked average.

O'Driscoll isn't 100% but still made a big contribution today, fell off 1 or 2 tackles but his presence alone is worth a huge amount to this team. His chase for the penalty that hit the post demonstrated the tireless effort he puts in for the side at a time when you'd imagine he'd be out on his feet. 99.9% of the time the kick would go between the posts or wide and the effort made chasing it in would go unnoticed.

The major positive is that the focus in the squad and management seems to have remained on finishing out the group with two good results and securing the top spot. We need to push on from here and put down another couple of markers heading into the q/f as top of the group(hopefully). Players need to stick their hand up next week as viable alternatives, we won't go far with 18/19 man squad. Italy is a potential banana skin but we know what they bring to the table and should be capable of dealing with it.

There will be a lot of twists and turns yet before the q/f lineup is decided but lets hope this result can lead to greater things.

All three are potential banana skins but we have the momentum and the will and guile to overcome all three, regardless of what they do to each other. We will need a couple of bonus points really, then we can all relax.

Something that I feel is being overlooked is the favorable match schedule we have, compared to Italy and Russia. Russia are playing Italy tomorrow, so when we play them at the weekend they're likely to be fatigued. Similarly, Italy have to play the US next Tuesday before playing us the following weekend. I'm confident we can win both and then it'll be time to re-group for the quarters.

It,s the drink mate.

Three? We only have Russia and Italy left in the pool.

huge performance by the lads in green. massive. As ye say not alaone is our pool blown wide apart so too is the whole WC knckout stages.

I must admit BOD had a much improved game and his experience playing was tremendous.


I bet ye all that penalty with 3 mins to go would have been kicked by ireland (and rightly so) as it would have secured a BP at the very least had made sure they would have had another bit of the tryline after the re-start.


Massive c-ock up by the Aussie's there imho. But they have been arrogant / ignorant towards the irish and i'm delighted they got what they deserved.






Sweet F**K All





Yes we have 2 games to go and we shouldn't look past that but i feel the russians will be put to the sword by our seconds and a win against the azzurri is more likely than this time last week.


roll on the boys from the valleys



But what i would like to know




will the Kiwis throw the french game to get to the so called easier side of the knock-out stages >

I think if they were playing in any other country they would think about it. But in front of their own supporters, highly unlikely.

we are ranked 6 in the world ranking again

ill the Kiwis throw the french game to get to the so called easier side of the knock-out stages >

With the US getting the bonus point this morning, we're essentially into knock out mode already (barring a highly unlikely 2 bonus point loss for us). It's probably a good thing in a way, because now they know they just need to go out and win. I'm confident we'll get the victory, but I'm already nervous, so by the time the game kicks off I'll be a wreck.