Ireland vs Wales - This weekends BIG GAME...!

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Venue: Aviva Stadium Date: Sunday, 5 February Kick-off: 1500 GMT

Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC One HD & online from 1400 GMT; full commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra; text commentary on BBC Sport website & mobiles.

Referee : Wayne Barnes (England)

Touch judges : Dave Pearson & Stuart Terheege (both England)

TV : Geoff Warren (England)

IRELAND : 15 - R Kearney; 14 - T Bowe, 13 - F McFadden, 12 - G D'Arcy, 11 - A Trimble (Ulster); 10 - J Sexton, 9 - C Murray; 1- C Healy, 2 - R Best, 3 - M Ross, 4 - D O'Callaghan, 5 - P O'Connell (C), 6 - S Ferris, 7 - S O'Brien, 8 - J Heaslip.

Replacements: 16 - S Cronin, 17 - T Court, 18 - D Ryan, 19 - P O'Mahony, 20 - E Reddan, 21 - R O'Gara, 22 - D Kearney.

WALES : 15 - L Halfpenny; 14 - A Cuthbert, 13 - J Davies, 12 - J Roberts, 11 - G North; 10 - R Priestland, 9 - M Phillips; 1 - R Gill, 2 - H Bennett, 3 - A Jones, 4 - B Davies, 5 - I Evans, 6 - R Jones, 7- S Warburton (C), 8 - T Faletau.

Replacements:16 - K Owens, 17 - P James, 18 - A Powell, 19 - J Tipuric, 20 - Lloyd Williams, 21 - J Hook, 22 - Scott Williams.

valjester wrote:That was very disappointing. Feel like Barnes felt he had to give the Ferris penalty to even it up maybe, but tbh I didn't really think it was a penalty.
Overall Ireland were alright but too many players weren't at the races. Bowe had a shocker for the most part, the two centres weren't great, Darcy much worse than McFadden, who was okay. Sexton could have played better, Murray mixed the bad with the good overall I though he was a positive. The Front row was decent, Ryan should have started, Ferris below par, Heaslip was one of our best players. Kearney was sublime.

Sob was atrocious, he gave away a load of stupid penalities and besides that had very little impact on the game. Hugely disappointing. I know people say that our lack of a natural 7 hurts us but he never used to when Wally played at 7, so does that mean Wally actually was a natural 7 or is it just that the players are complementing each other as well as previous backrows.

Next week is going to be tough to watch.

SOB gave away one penalty, I watched him very carefully this game. He didn't give away any more than one as far as I could see, though there were a few occasions he was lucky. I thought he did well definitely. Warburton/Faletau were the anonymous back rowers on the pitch.

biltongbek wrote:

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:Yep, as my fellow Irish fans have said the better team won. Ferris was a silly, silly boy. That was a cast-iron penalty and I hope my fellow qualified referees will agree with me. Very poor performances from the centres and the backrow, though Heaslip worked very, very hard. Very few pluses in that match bar perhaps Paul O'Connell and Murray was decent. Wales play a simple one-dimensional game (and I don't mean that in a derogatory fashion)- bash it up the middle with good ball carriers like Roberts and then exploit the gaps. Simple and very effective. We allowed the Welsh to run at us and handed them a victory we should have claimed.

I thought Kearney had a great game.

Indeed Biltong, I forgot about him. I also thought Trimble did quite well also.

JmD wrote:Is nobody commenting on the fact the nothing was wrong with Ferris' tackle? He lifted one leg into the air and held on to the man. Barnes has ruined a classic match with his pathetic attempt at refereeing.

agreed

gnollbeast wrote:HERSH,

Wales are going to put 40 past England. Go find a rock and hide.

Wales will be lucky to put a try past England. Enjoy 4th place.

Warburton only on half the match and he was clearly owning your flankers in the rucks. So did Tipsuric. That's why you were losing the breakdown

glamorganalun wrote:What a great game by two skillful teams, I feel justice was done the better team won Wales were better in the backs and the forwards did well. I can't see R Jones being dropped after his performance, the ref ducked the try issue he should have been given.

I think Bradley took it out on the guy he dumped after hitting A Jones. The Ferris yellow was a joke but it shows the fine margins in the tackle area.

Great to see Wales finally pinching a win in the last minute for a change.

I agree. Bradley looked like he was peed off at Donncha Ryan after his cheap shot on A Jones. But i feel he will get cited for that.

Apart from Heaslip, Kearney (who was outstanding), POC, Best and maybe DOC the side were from average to poor. and the worst thing is Kidney has no balls to change it. It'll be the same team that lines out against France mark my words.

No excuses can be made for Davies, that was pure thuggery.

Thomond wrote:Our backrow was positive in a game where we lost copious amount of turnovers and didn't give clean ball to our scrum half?

I don't think that specifically came down to Ferris and SOB. There were times where players were literally standing watching the ruck, like school boy rugby. Not good enough.

AlynDavies wrote:

biltongbek wrote:Maybe the Irish should give PDV a call.

I dont want comical Ali anywhere near the 6 Nations teams... not even England deserve him

Oh come now, every country should have him for a four year stint, it is called appointment by non rugby reasons.

Heaslip was immense, and i thought Healy was very good. If Ferris wants to be the best player in the world he needs to boss games like this.

I think Ireland under Kidney are now significantly worse than the sum of their parts. For all the excellence of the provinces, the national team needs to be able to put in more than one good game a tournament. Of course, you can guarantee they'll turn up against us

ChequeredJersey wrote:Warburton only on half the match and he was clearly owning your flankers in the rucks. So did Tipsuric. That's why you were losing the breakdown

I don't think Warburton did much in the first half, I think Jones and the rest of the pack were much better than ours though. Tipuric I thought made a big difference though. Great play by him.

gnollbeast wrote:HERSH,

Wales are going to put 40 past England. Go find a rock and hide.

Ummm wasn't are defence OK we just can't score ourselves, anyway stay on topic you fool!

Looking back at the game I think bringing in nasty, hit men type players like Ian Evans, Bradley Davies, Huw Bennett, and Gill helped Wales no end today, its rare to say that injuries seemed to help Wales.

Those guys stood up to the Irish and Wales never got bullied out of the game as a result.

I'm glad Tipuric made an impression as well, no one on here seemed to rate him when Warburton got taken off.

So much for Tipuric not being physical enough. We're very lucky to have two quality opensides when some sides can't even field one!

- Well done Wales. Good game. The best team won.
- Kidney has learned nothing. He's turning the best, most intense, smartest, most dangerous domestic rugby players in Europe into timid morons with no gameplan. Will the IRFU end his contract or will we waste another year?

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

valjester wrote:That was very disappointing. Feel like Barnes felt he had to give the Ferris penalty to even it up maybe, but tbh I didn't really think it was a penalty.
Overall Ireland were alright but too many players weren't at the races. Bowe had a shocker for the most part, the two centres weren't great, Darcy much worse than McFadden, who was okay. Sexton could have played better, Murray mixed the bad with the good overall I though he was a positive. The Front row was decent, Ryan should have started, Ferris below par, Heaslip was one of our best players. Kearney was sublime.

Sob was atrocious, he gave away a load of stupid penalities and besides that had very little impact on the game. Hugely disappointing. I know people say that our lack of a natural 7 hurts us but he never used to when Wally played at 7, so does that mean Wally actually was a natural 7 or is it just that the players are complementing each other as well as previous backrows.

Next week is going to be tough to watch.

SOB gave away one penalty, I watched him very carefully this game. He didn't give away any more than one as far as I could see, though there were a few occasions he was lucky. I thought he did well definitely. Warburton/Faletau were the anonymous back rowers on the pitch.

Rory, I've no idea what game you were watching. For the thiry something minutes that he was on Warburton was very good. Sob definitely gave away more than one penalty, and he was really poor. You have been talking of dropping Heaslip despite him being the best Irish forward on the pitch today.

Well I'm breathless. Commiserations to Ireland, they played well in patches and should have remained against 14 men instead of just for ten minutes. Bradley Davies is a class A idiot and should have seen red, makes Warburton's tackle look like a cuddle and on a man who didn't even have the ball, who was standing in the line not bothering anyone... what a tool.

The backs were immense, to win in Dublin with a weakened side is something special, highlights the strength in depth. I thought we were done when Warbs went off but step up Justin Tipuric!

Also people complain about our lack of a 7 and think sticking POM there will solve it? He isn't a natural 7 himself, nor will just sticking one in solve anything anyway. We can clearly see that with Jennings. Ireland don't (nor do they need to) play with a natural 7. Gibson, you are telling me to stop but you yourself said France play like Leinster. And France outplayed the NZ back row in the final of the RWC. They have no natural 7, they work as a team though and produce quick ball in attack. We didn't do that, and we gave away possession currently, not working the phases. 1, 2, kick. Might as well have played ROG for that.

As much as i rate Kidney, he is starting to get on my nerves. No imagination, no direction and no forsight to make the appropriate changes.

Yes Gibbo, i am peed off at Kidney

How D'Arcy continues to get selected is beyond me.

Wales showed just how powerful they are in the centres and North was immence. How he was not MOTM i will never know...

Why the hell are they focusing on the Bradley Davies foul so much?
He only came on for the last minute or so, how much of a difference did it make?

I'd be irritated if Ireland now use that as the sole reason for the loss, it was a great game of rugby, talk about the tries and the game the 30 players produced for us...

It was far better than the shower Scotland and England produced yesterday.

gowales wrote:So much for Tipuric not being physical enough. We're very lucky to have two quality opensides when some sides can't even field one!

Sharing is caring?

Knowsit17 wrote:
The backs were immense, to win in Dublin with a weakened side is something special, highlights the strength in depth.

They didn't look like a weakened side to me mate.

Feckless Rogue wrote:- Well done Wales. Good game. The best team won.
- Kidney has learned nothing. He's turning the best, most intense, smartest, most dangerous domestic rugby players in Europe into timid morons with no gameplan. Will the IRFU end his contract or will we waste another year?

I think we were much better than we were in the RWC match but we had the same problem as before in that our backs just aren't physical enough to stop the Welsh backs. This means that they were on the front foot the whole time. Our midfield was slightly more solid than last time but 12 is still a huge problem, Darcy is gone at this level and there is no one else IQ who is better than him.

Hate it when a classic game is ruined by an incompetent ref

Davies' should have gone

Ferris shouldn't have gone

Simple really. Puts Warburton's 'red' into perspective doesn't it? When exactly is a tackle, really a tackle? Answers on the back of a fag packet please.

Not questioning the result, thought Wales were really in the ascendancy towards the end, and retained the ball well to get into a winning position even though I was backing Ireland as a result of a bet with my son....

cracking game however IMO, wales did deserve the victory.

AlynDavies wrote:Why the hell are they focusing on the Bradley Davies foul so much?
He only came on for the last minute or so, how much of a difference did it make?

I'd be irritated if Ireland now use that as the sole reason for the loss, it was a great game of rugby, talk about the tries and the game the 30 players produced for us...

he was on for 5 mins, the game would have/could have changed if he was red carded.

Cop out from the linesman and ref.

But the Irish fans were saying they would smash us because of our weakened side...
We finally have depth!

valjester wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

valjester wrote:That was very disappointing. Feel like Barnes felt he had to give the Ferris penalty to even it up maybe, but tbh I didn't really think it was a penalty.
Overall Ireland were alright but too many players weren't at the races. Bowe had a shocker for the most part, the two centres weren't great, Darcy much worse than McFadden, who was okay. Sexton could have played better, Murray mixed the bad with the good overall I though he was a positive. The Front row was decent, Ryan should have started, Ferris below par, Heaslip was one of our best players. Kearney was sublime.

Sob was atrocious, he gave away a load of stupid penalities and besides that had very little impact on the game. Hugely disappointing. I know people say that our lack of a natural 7 hurts us but he never used to when Wally played at 7, so does that mean Wally actually was a natural 7 or is it just that the players are complementing each other as well as previous backrows.

Next week is going to be tough to watch.

SOB gave away one penalty, I watched him very carefully this game. He didn't give away any more than one as far as I could see, though there were a few occasions he was lucky. I thought he did well definitely. Warburton/Faletau were the anonymous back rowers on the pitch.

Rory, I've no idea what game you were watching. For the thiry something minutes that he was on Warburton was very good. Sob definitely gave away more than one penalty, and he was really poor. You have been talking of dropping Heaslip despite him being the best Irish forward on the pitch today.

I thought Jones was the standout of the Welsh back row. Like I said I watched SOB very closely, because I wanted to see if our lack of a 7 was an issue. He gave away one penalty. There were a few that the camera zoomed in on him for, but it wasn't him who gave it away and you could actually hear the referee say what number it was (not 7). SOB gave away one stupid penalty, Ferris did a silly tackle and Heaslip missed one shocking tackle on North. Ferris was heavily involved in the few times Ireland wanted to play good flowing rugby, SOB made a few good runs and I thought was solid in defence, making a lot of tackles. Heaslip I thought was the best of them all today, though if POM is coming on for anyone it should be him, is what I was saying. But I don't think POM should start.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Also people complain about our lack of a 7 and think sticking POM there will solve it? He isn't a natural 7 himself, nor will just sticking one in solve anything anyway. We can clearly see that with Jennings. Ireland don't (nor do they need to) play with a natural 7. Gibson, you are telling me to stop but you yourself said France play like Leinster. And France outplayed the NZ back row in the final of the RWC. They have no natural 7, they work as a team though and produce quick ball in attack. We didn't do that, and we gave away possession currently, not working the phases. 1, 2, kick. Might as well have played ROG for that.

Absolute trip. Every major nation plays with a 7. Wales have destroyed us on our last two games at the breakdown. The only reason we beat Australia was that Pocock wasn't playing. If he did we would not have had such an easy match. Why do you feel that we don't need 7 when ALL the nations above us on the rankings list have and consistently outplayed us? Time and time again we are taught a lesson and refuse to heed them to pick the best individual players. We need a unit, not the best three players.

I have said it before and I will say it again, Johnny Sexton needs a brain. This is not HC rugby against Bath, you can't run everything.

That Ferris tackle doesn't look that bad on second viewing. Alyn, all Irish people are admitting Wales were the better team, no one has b!tched we know the best team will win.

Wales manage to scrape a win against Ireland.

Bradley Davies should be cited for that spear tackle and banned for the rest of the 6ns.

The Irleand chap (Ferris) i think it was who got a yellow at the end should never have got a card for that.

I can see the Headlines tomorrow "WAYNE BARNES" Saves Wales in Ireland.

Cor, I'm glad I got a chance to see how the ruck is supposed to go. No going off their feet, handling on the floor or offsides in that, no siree.

And the kicking game? Majestic

Once again it was our centres who were the weakness, and our pathetic game plan.

biltongbek wrote:

Knowsit17 wrote:
The backs were immense, to win in Dublin with a weakened side is something special, highlights the strength in depth.

They didn't look like a weakened side to me mate.

Well, they have some second rows missing, maybe one of them could have taken the place of Bradley necksnapper Davies

Ireland's biggest problem was their tackling....1st up hits just not being made......Unfortunately I do think they're going to miss the 'great one' more than I'd imagined.

Fair play Gatland said it was a straight red. Could have Ryan in the second row next week cos Bradley has got a ban coming.

Hmmm i wonder what those Irish posters who were saying Sexton is the top flyhalf in the 6 nations are thinking now?

majesticimperialman wrote:Wales manage to scrape a win against Ireland.

Bradley Davies should be cited for that spear tackle and banned for the rest of the 6ns.

The Irleand chap (Ferris) i think it was who got a yellow at the end should never have got a card for that.

I can see the Headlines tomorrow "WAYNE BARNES" Saves Wales in Ireland.

Nonsense. I'm an Irish and Ulster fan and a qualified referee. That was a yellow according to the letter of the law. Let's judge the decision based in reality not on what we want the rules to say. That was a very silly yellow card.

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Also people complain about our lack of a 7 and think sticking POM there will solve it? He isn't a natural 7 himself, nor will just sticking one in solve anything anyway. We can clearly see that with Jennings. Ireland don't (nor do they need to) play with a natural 7. Gibson, you are telling me to stop but you yourself said France play like Leinster. And France outplayed the NZ back row in the final of the RWC. They have no natural 7, they work as a team though and produce quick ball in attack. We didn't do that, and we gave away possession currently, not working the phases. 1, 2, kick. Might as well have played ROG for that.

Absolute trip. Every major nation plays with a 7. Wales have destroyed us on our last two games at the breakdown. The only reason we beat Australia was that Pocock wasn't playing. If he did we would not have had such an easy match. Why do you feel that we don't need 7 when ALL the nations above us on the rankings list have and consistently outplayed us? Time and time again we are taught a lesson and refuse to heed them to pick the best individual players. We need a unit, not the best three players.

Absolute tripe? Did you watch France play NZ in the final or not? Did you notice who got MOM and how the French back row were much better than NZ? Clearly not. We lost possession because players were not securing the ball. That is a basic of rugby though, that isn't something that a 7 must focus on. McCaw etc are there to WIN opposition ball, not secure their own. That is a basic, that the whole team must learn to get right. The 7 can't make every flipping breakdown. We couldn't hold onto possession.

That was a yellow according to the letter of the law.

Letter of the law? Surely a player isn't "lifted beyond horizontal" if he still has one leg on the ground. And if he lands on his arm/shoulder, then he hasn't landed on his head/neck/back. Just a silly silly penalty that never should have been.

gowales wrote:Hmmm i wonder what those Irish posters who were saying Sexton is the top flyhalf in the 6 nations are thinking now?

That Kidney seems to persist with having him play like ROG rather than Sexton. He never plays for Ireland the way he does for Leinster. It is so frustrating.

Sexton lacks a brain to play at the highest level, Madigan will be the future.

ChequeredJersey wrote:

biltongbek wrote:

Knowsit17 wrote:
The backs were immense, to win in Dublin with a weakened side is something special, highlights the strength in depth.

They didn't look like a weakened side to me mate.

Well, they have some second rows missing, maybe one of them could have taken the place of Bradley necksnapper Davies

Why is the only person wumming on the thread English? get a grip that was a great game for us to watch, wonderful skills from both sides, a bit of controversy, some missed kicks and some great tries by both sides. And all you can do is wum? at least keep it on the bickering thread.

Thomond wrote:I have said it before and I will say it again, Johnny Sexton needs a brain. This is not HC rugby against Bath, you can't run everything.

What are you on about? He kicked too much ball. Which is fine if he kicked well, but he didn't.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Also people complain about our lack of a 7 and think sticking POM there will solve it? He isn't a natural 7 himself, nor will just sticking one in solve anything anyway. We can clearly see that with Jennings. Ireland don't (nor do they need to) play with a natural 7. Gibson, you are telling me to stop but you yourself said France play like Leinster. And France outplayed the NZ back row in the final of the RWC. They have no natural 7, they work as a team though and produce quick ball in attack. We didn't do that, and we gave away possession currently, not working the phases. 1, 2, kick. Might as well have played ROG for that.

Absolute trip. Every major nation plays with a 7. Wales have destroyed us on our last two games at the breakdown. The only reason we beat Australia was that Pocock wasn't playing. If he did we would not have had such an easy match. Why do you feel that we don't need 7 when ALL the nations above us on the rankings list have and consistently outplayed us? Time and time again we are taught a lesson and refuse to heed them to pick the best individual players. We need a unit, not the best three players.

Absolute tripe? Did you watch France play NZ in the final or not? Did you notice who got MOM and how the French back row were much better than NZ? Clearly not. We lost possession because players were not securing the ball. That is a basic of rugby though, that isn't something that a 7 must focus on. McCaw etc are there to WIN opposition ball, not secure their own. That is a basic, that the whole team must learn to get right. The 7 can't make every flipping breakdown. We couldn't hold onto possession.

Yes the man of the match was Thierry Dusautoir who is France's natural number 7. He might play with a 6 on his back but he plays like a 7. The number on the back of your shirt is irrelevant. We need a 7. Simple.

Thomond wrote:I have said it before and I will say it again, Johnny Sexton needs a brain. This is not HC rugby against Bath, you can't run everything.
.

Thought we kicked far too much actually

Rory_Gallagher wrote:
I thought Jones was the standout of the Welsh back row. Like I said I watched SOB very closely, because I wanted to see if our lack of a 7 was an issue. He gave away one penalty. There were a few that the camera zoomed in on him for, but it wasn't him who gave it away and you could actually hear the referee say what number it was (not 7). SOB gave away one stupid penalty, Ferris did a silly tackle and Heaslip missed one shocking tackle on North. Ferris was heavily involved in the few times Ireland wanted to play good flowing rugby, SOB made a few good runs and I thought was solid in defence, making a lot of tackles. Heaslip I thought was the best of them all today, though if POM is coming on for anyone it should be him, is what I was saying. But I don't think POM should start.

I agree with you on Jones, vintage performance from him today. I also agree with you on us not needing a seven, however; I can't agree with you on Sob today, he was nowhere near his best. But the backrow were only part of the problem, the major problem for Irish rugby is the number 12 at the moment and until Darcy is gone we will be giving momentum to the other team through that channel. It also means we will lose momentum when he has the ball as everything dies with him. The decision to aimlessly kick the ball away in the first half, after winning a turnover, was just stupid and besides missing tackles its on of the few things I can remember him doing.

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:Wales manage to scrape a win against Ireland.

Bradley Davies should be cited for that spear tackle and banned for the rest of the 6ns.

The Irleand chap (Ferris) i think it was who got a yellow at the end should never have got a card for that.

I can see the Headlines tomorrow "WAYNE BARNES" Saves Wales in Ireland.

Nonsense. I'm an Irish and Ulster fan and a qualified referee. That was a yellow according to the letter of the law. Let's judge the decision based in reality not on what we want the rules to say. That was a very silly yellow card.

If you look at the Bradley Davies tackle, wich was missed by Wayne Barnes, but picked by up by Dave Pearson.
Pearson said it was a yellow card. Now if you compare that tackle to the Ferris tackle, Davies tackle was mutch worst. And i just believe that because Barnes gave Davies a YELLOW CARD, he should be consistant and give Ferris one as well.

You think Dusautoir plays like a natural 7? Sorry to tell you, but he doesn't. He isn't a breakdown specialist by any means.