Ireland's World Cup Build Up

First topic message reminder :

3 test matches and 3 defeats suggests Ireland's World Cup build up is not going well.

A.
As well as bad results, the performances haven't been great either. It's clear we have nobody we can rely on in the scrum to be backup tighthead if anything happens to Ross. O'Driscoll and D'arcy looked poor against France, and there is no standout backup for either. The lineout was dreadful in the first match against France. It was better in the second but the French weren't putting it under as much pressure, and the Irish lineout is certainly not the weapon it used to be. There is no penetration from the backline. They are just shuffling the ball to the wing and then kicking it away. It is not even very clear from watching them what style of rugby they are trying to play. It's looking like Ireland will have a bad World Cup. Again.

B.
These games have been really used as warmups by Declan Kidney. They've been giving gametime to all thirty squad members, to ensure they are all match fit for the World Cup. There was quite a large number of players returning from injury and getting them back to fitness was a priority. This strategy of getting real game time to all 30 squad members is a wise one and should pay off at the World Cup, where the Irish might start the tournament a little bit sharper than the other European teams. We will see much better rugby from Ireland when they have a settled best 15 for the big matches at the World Cup, and they'll be executing coherent game plans, rather than just getting everyone up to test match speed, which is what they've been doing so far.


So which is it? A or B?

Lads, what is wrong with our luck!!!!!!


Call in the magic

Well I'll be darned....McFadden might come in handy after all....

roddersm wrote:Well I'll be darned....McFadden might come in handy after all....

.... and Lukey might yet make the world cup!

Where is this 'can ill-afford to do without' thing coming from the Irish Times? He's not exactly been setting the world alight. It would be great if he could find some form but games are just passing him by in green really.

Anyway it doesn't sound too serious to be honest. Even if he should miss the first game but we have adequate cover for what he has brought.

If D'Arcy were to be ruled out, and the point of taking McFadden was that he could cover centre, why would a winger such as Fitzgerald suddenly be drafted in?

I would have thought that Kidney and the players would have done anything to win the last game, which it was obvious Johnson did, yet Paul O'Connell aside, Ireland looked insipid. Their back play which was and should be the best in the NH, or certainly up there with France was blunt.

England lack the number os skilled backs that Ireland and Wales posess but they play to their strengths and when they do are difficult to beat, not attractive perhaps but pretty effective.

I think trying to gloss over the last 4 losses by calling them meaningless warm ups is too easy and sounds like excuses. Certainly in this last game, Ireland looked like a poor team, playing badly, in fact I don't think I've seen such a poor game by Heaslip either for club and country....crikey if they cant get up for a game against England, when at home and protecting a proud winning record, what can they get up for?

Don't panic yet lads. D'Arcy only picked up a calf strain so he's not travelling for another two days - the others have already left this evening.

The Great Aukster wrote:If D'Arcy were to be ruled out, and the point of taking McFadden was that he could cover centre, why would a winger such as Fitzgerald suddenly be drafted in?

Ireland would just be down a player - Luke would be the next in line as he is something of a utility back. Keith Earls will be required to play in the centre if Brian O'Driscoll is rested/injured.

Notch wrote:Where is this 'can ill-afford to do without' thing coming from the Irish Times? He's not exactly been setting the world alight. It would be great if he could find some form but games are just passing him by in green really.

Anyway it doesn't sound too serious to be honest. Even if he should miss the first game but we have adequate cover for what he has brought.

+1

Oh thank god we have finally had some good luck with Darcy being injured

THANK YOU GOD

How low can you get ?

What sort of person are you that is happy that a player is injured ?

To be fair, I think I sympathise with the attitude that we've gone for very hard games and that'll stand to us later on despite the defeats and the poor level of performance, which is what the coaches are saying. I'm happy that the players are remaining positive. I'm happy enough that small improvements will make a big difference to us and we'll get better.

You learn more from your losses than your wins, I'd say we've learnt a hell of a lot then

I think we're in danger of getting a bit too negative as fans. The media aren;t helping anyway. Swinging a bit too far perhaps. I was appalled by aspects of our tactics and execution in August, but I know we can pull off the intensity needed in a one-off game.

I think the USA is a very big game for us; Ireland won't have a big training week after they arrive, no time to change things now. We need to go with a strong team, pretty close to the team that will face Australia, and we need to win convincingly for our confidence. I don't think they will risk Healy and I'm not sure if they will risk O'Brien.

But there are some pretty high-profile individuals who need to step their game up; Rory Best, Donncha O'Callaghan, Jamie Heaslip, Gordon D'Arcy and Keith Earls are all far, far better players than they've shown. Time for some guys to bite the bullet and show their quality.

I know how quickly things can change in sport. I feel this is a storm we can come through intact on the other side; in a quarter-final. Then we start again from scratch.

Team to turn it around with a solid win against the US;

1. Tom Court (Healy an injury doubt)
2. Jerry Flannery
3. Mike Ross
4. Donncha O'Callaghan
5. Paul O'Connell
6. Stephen Ferris
7. Shane Jennings (Sean O'Brien a doubt)
8. Jamie Heaslip
9. Eoin Reddan
10. Johnny Sexton
11. Andrew Trimble
12. Paddy Wallace
13. Brian O'Driscoll (c)
14. Tommy Bowe
15. Rob Kearney

16. Rory Best 17. Tony Buckley 18. Leo Cullen 19. Denis Leamy 20. Isaac Boss 21. Ronan O'Gara 22. Keith Earls

Nottins calm down mate he aint about to die it's just a calf injury

C'mon You Irish wrote:Oh thank god we have finally had some good luck with Darcy being injured

THANK YOU GOD

You are not a true rugby fan.

Oh seriously some of you really need to grow a pair

HE AINT DIEING

And whether you like it or not his injury is great news for our chances in the RWC

Notch to be honest I'm sick of all this positivity and spin from the players and coaches. It's about flipping time they delivered something of substance on the pitch and stop banging on about how great training is going and how close they are to clicking and all that nonsence.

We've been hearing it all through the AI's and 6N too. How many defeats do we need for us to start learning?

We just seem to have lost the winning mentality and hunger we had and there seems to be quite a bit of self delusion going on. To be honest we're starting to look a bit like Wales after they won their 2 GS's with too many players believing their own hype and not enough being delivered on the pitch.

The disarray option has surged into a big lead since the England game. I hope all this positive talk of them being close to clicking is true. I also hope they've been holding a lot back. We're actually now at our lowest ranking since the rankings were introduced and are definately big underdogs.

Australia have just won the Tri-nations. In a way, we are perfectly positioned to ambush them as they may have their eyes on the final before they've actually done a job on the lowly 8th ranked team. We could surprise them if we hit them in the 1st minute with the intensity of the last 6 Nations game.

I'm probably being delusional now.

Feckless Rogue wrote:The disarray option has surged into a big lead since the England game. I hope all this positive talk of them being close to clicking is true. I also hope they've been holding a lot back. We're actually now at our lowest ranking since the rankings were introduced and are definately big underdogs.

Australia have just won the Tri-nations. In a way, we are perfectly positioned to ambush them as they may have their eyes on the final before they've actually done a job on the lowly 8th ranked team. We could surprise them if we hit them in the 1st minute with the intensity of the last 6 Nations game.

I'm probably being delusional now.

. fingers crossed feckless

Yeah, thats what I mean rodders. You're getting a bit carried away there. I guarantee you they aren't happy with the way they've performed but they're going to stay positive and believe in themselves because... well, they wouldn't be where they are if they weren't mentally tough and believed in themselves.

I mean, what do you expect them to say? What do you want them to say? All they can do is promise better. We've heard those promises before and our worries are well placed but they can only say so much.

I think, in 2007, they believed their own negative press during the tournament. I think the negativity from the press and fans affected them. And they were definitely after believing their own hype in the run-up. Now I don't think they are affected by what people are saying so much.

Hope not anyway. I'd much rather they believed they were on the verge of turning the corner than the 'we're all doomed, it's gonna be 2007 all over again' responses on here. They need confidence in themselves, the coaches and their gameplan to turn it around. I'd like to see a bit of a siege mentality developing now. I'd like to see them driven to prove the people who are writing them off wrong.

Let's stick by them. I think being away from Ireland will help. They don't get much support, not the kind of support they get from their provinces anyway.

Notch I'd expect Kidney to come out and front up and say that the performances and results have not been acceptable rather than putting all this spin on everything and making out it's all going to plan. If Kidney was more honest then maybe people wouldn't be getting on his back so much.

We've been on the verge of turning a corner for 18 months now and there is no sign of improvement, if anything we are getting worse.

The players look as if they are half asleep at times and when the same players are playing like they have a hot poker up their backsides for their provinces then you have to ask questions of the Irish management.

No, I like how he handles the media. He keeps it in the camp. He doesn't give them any information whatsoever. He keeps his criticism of players in house. I think thats the best way.

I'm not saying I don't think the coaches have done a bad job in the last year, I'm saying I'm pleased by how the coaches and players have reacted to these setbacks.

Rather than going into self-flagellation mode. Thats not going to help anyone.