The Crunch: Ireland v England Sunday 10th February 2013

First topic message reminder :

aka L'O'Choc: Irelande v Angleterre Dimanche le 10me Février 2013After going AWOL again yesterday, the French have most likely reduced the 6Ns title to a single game to determine the title.

Such a shame.

Discussion about the game - not about France going walkabout as originally intended.

Teams:

Greater Dublin Representative XXIII

15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster/42)
14 - Craig Gilroy (Dungannon/Ulster/2)
13 - Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster/121)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster/72)
11 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster/4)
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster/35)
9 - Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster/15)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster/36)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster/63)
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster/25)
4 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht/7)
5 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster/24)
6 - Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster/10)
7 - Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster/23)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster/53) Captain

Replacements:

16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster/23)
17 - David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster/3)
18 - Declan Fitzpatrick (Dungannon/Ulster/3)
19 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster/91)
20 - Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster/5)
21 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster/48)
22 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster/126)
23 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster/35)

The Perfidious Albion

15. Alex Goode (Saracens, 7 caps)
14. Chris Ashton (Saracens, 30 caps)
13. Brad Barritt (Saracens, 12 caps)
12. Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby, 1 caps)
11. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 12 caps)
10. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 13 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 29 caps)

1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 6 caps)
2. Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 36 caps)
4. Joe Launchbury (London Wasps, 5 caps)
5. Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers, 13 caps)
6. James Haskell (London Wasps, 46 caps)
7. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt, 13 caps)
8. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 10 caps)

Replacements
16. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 43 caps)
17. David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 23 caps)
18. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 5 caps)
19. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 16 caps)
20. Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers, 4 caps)
21. Danny Care (Harlequins, 38 caps)
22. Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers, 54 caps)
23. Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)

Sneaky. Ballboys only giving Ireland the dry balls.

Pass it Chilli! FFS!

Murray looks sharp today at least

Lovely pass from O'Driscoll.

Oh balls. Another knock on....

jesus they cant hold onto the ball

Good break. Need to leave the English 22 with something... And just as I type, we knock on. Feck sake...

Earls is looking good on the wing tonight.

WillyGilly wrote:Good break. Need to leave the English 22 with something... And just as I type, we knock on. Feck sake...

It is so frustrating, we are looking like we can attack well in the backs but poor handling from certain players are killing us.

yeah he's looking pretty darn good! Think I even voted for both Earls and Gilroy as Irelands wingers to start pre 6N

To be fair it couldn't be wetter out there. There's gonna be knockons. At least the scrum looks ok so far.

Heaslip is not having a great game

To be fair Farrell is a very good kicker.

0-6 at 29 minutes.

I'm sorry but how does the assistant ref miss that throw going straight down the English side. It is supposed to be a contest, just like a scrumhalf is supposed to feed the ball straight into the scrum. Two extremely simple things to judge, and refs consistently fail to call them.


Edit;See that scrum for an example.

Golden wrote:Heaslip is not having a great game

Yup having a mare

2nd knock on from Heaslip. Leading by example.

Golden wrote:Heaslip is not having a great game

Yep, and there's your proof.

England very lucky with some of the errors Ireland have made.

Jeez Jamie...

Sexton Down injured

ROG

Oh f**k, game over, congratulations England.

How old is O'Gara?

Awh poor Sexytoes. I hope he's OK. Looks like he overstretched his hamstring.

Awk feck rog is undressing...

Interesting to see how this youngster O'Gara plays.

Not good to see, even from an English point of view

Zebo and Sexton off injured in the first half an hour. Not looking like our day.

And now rog on. Oh dear lord

Biltong wrote:How old is O'Gara?

64.

Willy - don't like the look of ROG do you? I think he's quite fit for his age

This game is proper knickers.

Partly due to both teams cageyness, mostly due to the conditions?

That's a real shame for the game - I was hoping to see more of Sexton vs Farrell. Hope Sexton is back next week.

Well that is Ireland's tournament over. Ryle Nugent, go f**k yourself, and you too Lenihan. ROG has been playing like a drain for 18months.

Choke hold works there for Ireland.

The rain has definitely effected this one, so many drops and skill mess ups.

And now Rog is on.

Ireland will know bod has to stay on now.. The playmaker. Stay and they probably win.

nobbled wrote:That's a real shame for the game - I was hoping to see more of Sexton vs Farrell. Hope Sexton is back next week.

Two weeks till the next game, but if that is as bad as it looked he will be out a while.

I see Ireland are trying to get every kick sent back for straight out.

Cmon Ireland.

Cari wrote:

Biltong wrote:How old is O'Gara?

64.

Willy - don't like the look of ROG do you? I think he's quite fit for his age

He carries himself well at that age.

Ireland now losing Sexton as well. They are dropping like flies.

Cian Healy should be missing for a few weeks that was a nasty cheap shot though Farrell was a tad lucky not to see yellow early on.

this game is painful

Dear Jesus o gara can barely make touch at this stage

Why is Rog kicking for touch from there, give the ball to Kearney, you absolute wa**er.

There's definitely something wrong with the ball

Golden wrote:Dear Jesus o gara can barely make touch at this stage

Well at 64 his eye sight might be failing.

Hot potato ball for the Irish lads....

This is like England v Ireland last year too. Painful.

I think ROG is the right player for this game. He knows how to play the corners. Saves having the ball in hand too much.

I think he is an amazing play for a great grandfather myself.

Can we stop kicking it too? I know it's wet and the Irish have forgotten how to catch but still

Youngs has the jitters for sure.

ooh fight! fight! fight!

Well so far, this match deserves a draw.