Ireland vs Wales, 8th February 2014

First topic message reminder :

IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster), Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster) (capt), Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster), Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster), Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster), Isaac Boss (Terenure College/Leinster), Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster).

WALES: Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro 92), George North (Northampton Saints); Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro 92); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Andrew Coombs (Newport Gwent Dragons), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Racing Metro 92), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues) (capt), Toby Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Paul James (Bath), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), James Hook (Perpignan), Liam Williams (Scarlets).

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), JP Doyle (England)
Television Match Official: Graham Hughes (England)

   

Send this to the Welsh, quick:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Burns-and-scalds/Pages/Treatment.aspx

I didn't think the Williams hit was intentional, Paddy Jackson made nothing of it either. Williams immediately apologised, got a shove from Kearney and shoved him back. It was only when Phillips charged in did it get a little heated.

samuraidragon wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:He did the common thing of sliding it at the player scoring the try and caught Jackson with his arm. Deliberate? **** knows. Kearney pushed Williams. Williams pushed back. Phillips came flying in.

Did Phillips get carded as Priestland was at 9 at the end?

I noticed that. And he looked quite good too! Faster than Mike, anyways.

My Grandma would be quicker than Mike Phillips.

Nah it looked worse in slow motion, Williams is just an aggressive player who plays a bit on the edge. I don't think he should be cited.

Well done Ireland

to be fair welshy, there wasn't much to complement today about Wales performance.

and i think warburton accepting central contracts is a really big issue for Wales. and it upsets me, so yes i will comment when i see him continuing to show conclusively why he shouldnt even be in the starting XV never mind captain.

MP should have been taken off at 1/2 time as that was Wales only chance at getting back in the game.

no WUMming here. but warburton and MP deserve a lot of criticism today.

for me, Warburton has clearly lost the dressing room. displacing AWJ as captain (after AWJ turned down central contracts to re-sign for Ospreys), performing poorly, talking the talk but where's the passion?

welshy824 (new) wrote:

nobbled wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

JmD wrote:

sheephead wrote:

rodders wrote:Cheap shot by Williams....but sure who cares!

Exactly what Murray did to Jon Davies in the World Cup so don't give it your double standards. Actually Murray was worse as he led with his knees!

I don't think you quite have a grasp on the word 'worse' yet. An unprotected blow to the head can be life shortening. In American Football you get fined and banned for that sort of challenge, concussions are no joke.

he will undoubtedly get cited for it. was a cheap-shot to the head, leading with his forearm. i wouldnt be surprised if he gets a ban actually. it will look very bad on slow-mo from the proper angle.

Will have to look at the recording later. Didn't really notice as was celebrating the try!

I didnt think it was that bad, he was simply trying to prevent jackson from going right under the posts. the execution of it was poor and it will look worse in slow mo than real life like all collisions.
And Quins, i understand there is the old rivalry between Wales and England but all of your posts i see on here in regards to Wales are negative ones, and not in the constructive kind. If it is retort to Welsh posters making stupid comments then try to rise above it as they pathetic, should act their age and stop giving us welsh posters a bad reputation

It wasn't as bad as Quins is attempting to make out, Williams slide in to try to dislodge the diving Madigan. It was poor execution and he immediately looked round to the try scorer and held his hand up and apologised.

WRUburton has divided the squad since becoming the WRUs golden boy, I think he made the wrong call in signing that contract it might have looked good on paper but boy it looks like he has upset a few of his team mates.

Great win, the slam is still on.

rodders wrote:Yeah well I still think we are looking at 3 wins and 3rd place but you can't complain about the first 2 performances. Not perfect but impressive score lines.

I reckon you've got a great chance this year. I'm better on Schmidt to out-think Lancaster, would be happy for BOD to get a send-off win (presume it is a send-off!) if we came second.

All the best guys..... I am now in the stadium with my hommies

COME ON SCOTLAND   

WHOOOOO HOOOOO

quinsforever wrote:to be fair welshy, there wasn't much to complement today about Wales performance.

and i think warburton accepting central contracts is a really big issue for Wales. and it upsets me, so yes i will comment when i see him continuing to show conclusively why he shouldnt even be in the starting XV never mind captain.

MP should have been taken off at 1/2 time as that was Wales only chance at getting back in the game.

no WUMming here. but warburton and MP deserve a lot of criticism today.

for me, Warburton has clearly lost the dressing room. displacing AWJ as captain (after AWJ turned down central contracts to re-sign for Ospreys), performing poorly, talking the talk but where's the passion?

In regards to him being captain, that is your opinion, he has an aura around him and when i see people like Gatland, Poc, BOD etc all compliment his captaincy then i will trust their judgement. I also think on form he is a superb player however perhaps at the moment he hasnt had enough gametime since injury but then tipuric was poor last weekend so its tough- Faletau at the moment is carrying the backrow, the man is unreal.

Mike Phillips i agree is just an idiot, and while he brings physicality i dont understand how Gatland (who is a good coach) cant see that quick ball from a scrum half like danny care, Rhys webb, rhodri williams etc will allow a player like priestland some more time to release our backs and hold defenders. If you pick phillips you should pick biggar at FH as his tactical kicking is much better and can work better with slow ball.

I think you are assuming things with Warburton, everyone i know who has met him (and also me) talks about how much of a good role model he is and how much respects he commands.

Commiserations to the Welsh. Trust me, we know what it's like to watch a talented team play below what their capable of. Very frustrating.

Wales are good side and no tactic guarantees you'll beat them. But I've been raging for years at Kidney/Smal playing right into their hands every time they met.

Man of the match. Joe Schmidt.

well done Ireland totally out played Wales . gatland should think to the future now and put some players out to pasture . Adam Jones not mobile enough , Jenkins only because injury prone and Philips because he looks to the ref instead of playing .

Great win by Ireland today. I have been nervous about this one, and remained so until about 60 minutes into the game.
Big performance's from Sexton, and POM, but great team performance all round.
Wouldn't make too much of the elbow in the chops for Paddy. Didn't seem to trouble him much at all.
Still a long way to go in this tournament, but a great start with two wins going into the England game. Onwards and upward Ireland  

welshy, i generally agree with all of that. warbs seems like a really solid bloke, but i do question the impact of his decision on central contracts. and therefore his return to the starting XV too soon.

if wales are going to win playing gatball, they need technical accuracy, and fire and brimstone in contact. sam today fell down on both. am sure he will get both back, at least i hope he does.

Yep, definitely the 1 central contract out of the 22 man squad that caused that defeat. If only he had the sense of having the same contract as the other 21 guys it could have been different. But hindsight is a great thing.

hook didn't come on because he does not play 10 anymore. ,hasn't played 10 for some time . he is third choice 10 at Perpignan. I've called for a plan b for a few seasons. but some people called the idea of a plan b as old fashioned thinking, we should just play heads up rugby.  mmmmm.

as for rp, " I thought he looked shook up "  says keith wood, with jiffy nodding. me too.
not heading for another melt down I hope. much as I think biggar is the better player . should have kept the shirt.

well done Ireland. tactics spot on, but more than that, carried out superbly, master class sexton.

no room on this or any other forum for political statements. should be moderated without question.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Yep, definitely the 1 central contract out of the 22 man squad that caused that defeat. If only he had the sense of having the same contract as the other 21 guys it could have been different. But hindsight is a great thing.

hindsight is a wonderful thing. foresight is even better though i predicted that problems his central contract will cause in the dressing room. got the scoreline spot on too - said ireland by 15 to 20 only yday on another thread

read a statement somewhere that centrally contracted players would not automatically get the nod for the .national team, watch this space on that one I think

Was sweet towards the end to see Irish scrum with POM as standing 2R and two kids Mcgrath and Moore in prop still blewcWelsh scrum away. Great to see depth in squas

As a neutral I was shocked by how poor Wales were. Sexton had a great game, as did the Irish pack. The Welsh backs were poor, their pack terrible.

And somebody REALLY needs to have a word with Mike Phillips. An angry player is not a good player. Frustration is not a good thing - he's usually a big-game player. What has happened to him??

The dust up at the end would have been nothing without Phillips assistance. the original "foul" was nothing much when you saw it in replay. Certainly the "fouled" player didn't react much

Look, these guys are rivals and hate losing to each other. I've seen Irish lads boil over and have a little bit of handbags when they're losing to Wales. Nothing serious. And neither was Phillips. He's a passionate guy and was pished off at what happened. It was a big game and they got flogged.

I wouldn't be too harsh on Phillips. My Personal rugby god, Brian O'Driscoll flipped once against Italy when things were going badly and was guilty of stamping. They're only human, and like us get upset and emotional sometimes.

Notch wrote:I've dealt with sheephead.

Completely and totally over the line. Absolutely disgusted by his comments personally.

Thank you Notch.   

Phillips lost his temper early on, was spoken to by the ref a couple of times. I think the ref was lenient with him. If you lose your temper its a weakness. Martin Johnson is the best example I know. The last coupe of years he played when he learnt this he was far the better player. Philips would be better if he wasn't so easy to wind up. Hopefully we will see Cusitor - the best windup man in the 6N against him. I would take a bet on Phillips getting a yellow or giving away pens

Phillips best days are behind him. Age has caught up and he knows it. He's taking his frustration out on players and the ref as he knows he is finished

I wish Gatland would know that he's finished! If I have to watch any more of Phillips looking at his outside half while digging around blindly for the ball, or shouting and pointing at the ruck instead of getting his hands in and getting it out quickly, I may not be responsible for my actions!

The problem is that he has the knack of doing something great. A one off in the game that may get a try, e.g. A quick tap and go. But these are getting fewer and farther between.

The other problem is that Gatland likes his World Cup cycles and I can't see him ditching Phillips and starting with a new one until after the World Cup. Boooooooo!

That's the problem Griff. There are no obvious replacements for phillips

wrfc1980 wrote:That's the problem Griff. There are no obvious replacements for phillips

There are several other scrum halves. I do strongly believe Philips costs Wales a lot

I've always been a fan of the 2 Scarlets boys: Rhodri Williams and Gareth Davies. Seem to be consistently better than Webb, even though I appreciate that webb's been injured for a while. Not sure why they're seen as inferior to the two in the squad today.

I don't understand why Rhodri Jones' try wasn't awarded in the 67th minute (about 2 minutes and 35 seconds into this video [linked below]).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/26099073

international197 wrote:I don't understand why Rhodri Jones' try wasn't awarded in the 67th minute (about 2 minutes and 35 seconds into this video [linked below]).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/26099073

Double movement. Clearly made two attempts to place the ball and wasn't due to momentum therefore a penalty offence!

Yep, if he'd just reached out and placed it them fine. But using the legs to move further forward after the tackle is completed is a double movement and a penalty offence.

Well as i suspected the thread full of wums and idiots blaming Barnes and Priestland.

First off Well done Ireland you stuffed us fair and square in every aspect and apart from Coombs, Warburton and Faletau (has he ever had a bad game) the rest were poor.

So here's my take:

Barnes didn't take players out in the air, nor did he constantly go in from the side nor did he miss tackles that led to penalties and neither did Priestland.

Our discipline was shocking and as much as I am one of Lydiates biggest fans he was main culprit for penalties.

Jenkins shouldn't have started, Hibbard had most probably his worst game, A Jones is struggling, and Gatland should have used bench earlier, so onto French game:

James (should have started anyway,Jenkins off bench)
Hibbard
A Jones ( with a flee in his ear)
AWJ
Charteris (if fit and I know harsh on Commbs)
Lydiate (again with flee in his ear about his discipline)
Faletau
Warburton

Phillips (no real other option)
Priestland

North
Roberts
JD (have really missed him)
Cuthbert

Halfpenny

Again well done Ireland you had our card marked and played a blinder.

international197 wrote:I don't understand why Rhodri Jones' try wasn't awarded in the 67th minute (about 2 minutes and 35 seconds into this video [linked below]).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/26099073

Learn the laws of the game. It was more than a double movement.

Griff wrote:Yep, if he'd just reached out and placed it them fine. But using the legs to move further forward after the tackle is completed is a double movement and a penalty offence.

Yep no argument here good call by Barnes.

Hood83 wrote:Quite a lot of Kiwi supporters seemed keen on Gatland pushing for the ABs...pretty sure Schmidt is a better option

Nah mate I don't think any/many of us are interested in Gatland. He's got to do some time here first.

nganboy wrote:

Hood83 wrote:Quite a lot of Kiwi supporters seemed keen on Gatland pushing for the ABs...pretty sure Schmidt is a better option

Nah mate I don't think any/many of us are interested in Gatland. He's got to do some time here first.

Not know a lot about Schmidt but what has he done that Gatland hasn't or is it more about style?

OK, I understand now.

It was decent of Gatland to acknowledge the crowd after the game, he got a good reception and said they were very respectful. A few on here said he would almost be lynched and certainly booed throughout.

Shame about Touhy breaking his arm. It's hard not to feel sorry for him.

Job done. Great win for Ireland. Tactically they were very smart and Schmidt is already having a big impact.

I thought Wales had an off day. Made some basic mistakes but maybe the Irish pressure had a lot to do with it.

I thought the sub's made a positive impact too.

Gretgael1 wrote:Shame about Touhy breaking his arm. It's hard not to feel sorry for him.        

Yeah gutted for him. That is probably the end of his Six Nations- now more concerned about whether he'll be ready for the Heineken Cup quarter-final. Hopefully he has Rory Best-like powers of recovery.

I think Henderson is the ideal impact player for us to bring onto the bench now.

Scrumpy wrote:WRUburton has divided the squad since becoming the WRUs golden boy, I think he made the wrong call in signing that contract it might have looked good on paper but boy it looks like he has upset a few of his team mates.

I agree since he signed that contract he as looked nothing like he did last year. I did wander if he thought or had the idea that if he signed with the WRU Every body else would follow his lead. He would be come the(Head Boy) of Wales.


Correct if i am wrong but he is the only one too sign right?

Notch wrote:

Gretgael1 wrote:Shame about Touhy breaking his arm. It's hard not to feel sorry for him.        

Yeah gutted for him. That is probably the end of his Six Nations- now more concerned about whether he'll be ready for the Heineken Cup quarter-final. Hopefully he has Rory Best-like powers of recovery.

I think Henderson is the ideal impact player for us to bring onto the bench now.

Big time on Henderson. Covers second row and 6 which is invaluable, easily worth one of the forward bench spots for England game.

majesticimperialman wrote:

Scrumpy wrote:WRUburton has divided the squad since becoming the WRUs golden boy, I think he made the wrong call in signing that contract it might have looked good on paper but boy it looks like he has upset a few of his team mates.

I agree since he signed that contract he as looked nothing like he did last year. I did wander if he thought or had the idea that if he signed with the WRU Every body else would follow his lead. He would be come the(Head Boy) of Wales.


Correct if i am wrong but he is the only one too sign right?

Yes he is but thought he had a good game today and no worse than he has been before he signed so fail to see what difference of his signature makes.

TJ wrote:The dust up at the end would have been nothing without Phillips assistance.  the original "foul" was nothing much when you saw it in replay. Certainly the "fouled" player didn't react much

Agree, Kearney shouldn't have reacted and Phillips shouldn't have come running in.

Henderson will come in and our bench will look equally as strong as today, maybe even stronger. I think that's one of the things I'm most happy about, the quality we have on the bench and even outside of the 23. Schmidt has faith in them and is not afraid to throw them in the deep end, it has to have a positive effect on the squad. Our replacement front row is unbelievable considering the bad situation we've had with developing props.

Well done Ireland quality win  
Played better man for man but more importantly played smarter. Good luck lads for rest of tournament.  (had few of those)