Ireland v New Zealand

First topic message reminder :

Right what's done is done regarding Aus. Time to move on and look forward to the ABs. This could be one to watch from behind the couch.

I don't expect any major changes in the team. Murray for Redden being the only obvious change, possibly at tighthead, possibly in the second row. Sexton is doubtful, maybe Earls is available.

My only expectation for this game is for an improved performance as the required level of aggressiveness was just non existent last Saturday. Otherwise we are looking at some hammering.

Without stating the obvious...I would like to see our players try to copy the All Blacks in certain aspects of the game. Namely
1. Passing the ball to another Irish player who is moving forwards and preferably in space
2. When running with the ball try to avoid the opposition players as much as possible instead of seeking out contact.
that is all.

Suas an bothair agus ar aghaidh an tarbh.

Updated with Teams
All Blacks
15 Dagg,14 jane, 13 B Smith, 12 Nonu, 11 Savea, 10 Cruden, 9 A Smith
8 Read, 7 McCaw, 6 Luatua, 5 Whitelock, , 4 Romano, 3 Faumoina, 2 Hore , 1 Crockett

Ireland
R Kearney; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, D Kearney; J Sexton, C Murray; C Healy, R Best, M Ross, D Toner, P O’Connell, P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.
Replacements: S Cronin, J McGrath, D Fitzpatrick, M McCarthy, K McLaughlin, I Boss, I Madigan, L Fitzgerald.

Add in the RC and clean sweep against France and it looks more convincing.

But the NH teams played very well and brought the best out of NZ when it mattered. Of course NZ are beatable and the NH teams put in performances good enough to beat NZ and they should be commended for that. Similarly NZ should be commended for closing out games where they were dominated in parts, which on the whole 606 has done for which you should be commended.  

Fantastic game of rugby. Ireland took the game to NZ in the forwards with some fantastic displays and deservedly took the lead. They tired in the second half but still looked like hanging on but you have to give NZ credit for the way they kept the ball alive and scored that final try, truly the mark of a top team.

Shame for Sexton but you could see he wasn't right as he lined up that kick, took far longer over it than normal.

One sour note was the reaction of the NZ team to the missed kick by Cruden. They ran at the ref appealing for a decision, just like footballers would have done. Owens had a good game and was perfectly capable of making the decision on his own, no need for them to behave like that. Interestingly, the only one who didn't appeal for the retake was Cruden himself.

Fair enough jelly, it should've only been McCaw but with the situation in reverse do you think the Irish players wouldn't have done the same with so much riding on the win? We'll never know but as a fan you wouldn't want to die wondering!

Barney McGrew did it wrote:

Biltong wrote:This AB team is beatable yes, but it will take a pretty special team and a pretty special performance to beat them

Ireland  22 - 24  New Zealand  
England 22-30 New Zealand
France  19 - 26  New Zealand  

Hmmm the best team out there for sure. But not by too much.

If you want to be fair, they weren't on top of their game, but still managed to win every match. that to me is the sign of a champion team, if you can win the matches you should have lost, but manage to find a way to keep winning it is phenominal.

consider also that this has been a long season.