Ireland v Italy, 4 October

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IRELAND V ITALY
4 October 2015
KO: 16:45
Olympic Stadium, London

Live on [tbc]

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Touch judges: Pascal Gaüzère (France) & Angus Gardner (Australia)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

A. Head to Head

24 Played 24
20 Won 4
0 Drawn 0
4 Lost 20
772 Points 382

B. Recent Form

7 February 2015
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
3 – 26 to Ireland

8 March 2014
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
46 – 7 to Ireland

16 March 2013
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
22 – 15 to Italy

25 February 2012
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
42 – 10 to Ireland

2 October 2011
Otago Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand
36 – 6 to Ireland

C. Teams

IRELAND

15. Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)
14. Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
13. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
12. Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)
11. Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)
10. Johnny Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster)
9. Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)

1. Jack McGrath (St Mary's College/Leinster)
2. Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3. Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4. Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
5. Paul O'Connell (Young Munster) captain
6. Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
7. Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster)
8. Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster)

Replacements

16. Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
18. Nathan White (Connacht)
19. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
20. Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster)
21. Eoin Reddan (Old Crescent/Leinster)
22. Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)
23. Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster)

ITALY

Luke McLean; Leonardo Sarto, Michele Capagnaro, Gonzalo Garcia, Giovanbattista Venditti; Tommaso Allan, Edoardo Gori; Matias Aguero, Andrea Manici, Lorenzo Cittadini; Quintin Geldenhuys, Josh Furno; Francesco Minton, Simone Favaro, Sergio Parisse (capt).

Replacements: Davide Giazzon, Michele Rizzo, Dario Chistolini, Alessandro Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco, Guglielmo Palazzani, Carlo Canna, Tommaso Benvenuti.

RubyGuby wrote:Ireland may play with flair and Verve
But beyond the Pool awaits the Curve

Auld Ruby was great with a rhyme,
And his Wales were having a time,
But a clash with Australia's,
Not good for what ails ya,
So the boks will be next in the line!

Marshes wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:Ireland may play with flair and Verve
But beyond the Pool awaits the Curve

Auld Ruby was great with a rhyme,
And his Wales were having a time,
But a clash with Australia's,
Not good for what ails ya,
So the boks will be next in the end of line!

Another possible version

When you're ready:
https://www.606v2.com/t60790-france-v-ireland-11-october

Jackson must in a box marked "Open only in the event of an emergency"

Pretty much. I feel if he had a better place kicking ratio he'd be in the match day squad, but with no other place kickers in the squad bar Sexton and Madigan we can't take the chance.

I like Paddy Jackson and feel that he is a much better 10 than Madigan, certainly controls the game better. His kicking is not that bad but Madigan's is better but I would certainly have him ahead of Madigan. Hell, I would have Keatley over Madigan

Good luck tonight Ireland. I reckon your lads will give them more than a good pasta.
The question remains though. Will it be a rich Puttanesca? Or a standard sun-dried tomato variety with a little extra parmesan thanks.

Cheers LD. With Earls playing 13, Ireland should dance over the pasta source

We should have more place kickers!

No excuse for it.  Ireland is all too lazy in that department through all the Provinces.  Kicking isn't taken seriously enough - far too many on-day/off-day exponents of the art (and I'd add Sexton to the list)

It isn't rocket science but neither is it by chance that Wales always seems to hit on good clinically consistent kickers.

More players in other positions should be seriously dragged on board to see what their skills are like and to hone those skills if promising.  We don't always have to fixate on flyhalves as designated kickers.
As we push forward over the next years, we have to get more serious about the serious bonus of having consistently accurate kickers (short range/long range)

eirebilly wrote:Cheers LD. With Earls playing 13, Ireland should dance over the pasta source

Is he from within swinging distance of the Six Mile Bridge? If so... then I'm sure all will be OK, Alec.

The Loaded Dog wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Cheers LD. With Earls playing 13, Ireland should dance over the pasta source

Is he from within swinging distance of the Six Mile Bridge? If so... then I'm sure all will be OK, Alec.

Munster by the grace of god mate

The Loaded Dog wrote:Good luck tonight Ireland. I reckon your lads will give them more than a good pasta.
The question remains though. Will it be a rich Puttanesca? Or a standard sun-dried tomato variety with a little extra parmesan thanks.

Just give us back our bloody coach, Laoded!

SecretFly wrote:

The Loaded Dog wrote:Good luck tonight Ireland. I reckon your lads will give them more than a good pasta.
The question remains though. Will it be a rich Puttanesca? Or a standard sun-dried tomato variety with a little extra parmesan thanks.

Just give us back our bloody coach, Laoded!

Go bugger yerself, mun!

One thing is for certain, you can't say Joe Schmidt doesn't make himself available to and accommodating to the media.

He tries to answer every question as detailed as possible... and really lets us into his head, his thoughts, ideas, attitude. He doesn't even deflect the more........... irrelevant...... questions about days off and fairground rides.
I can't image EOS ever being drawn into chatting about fairground rides. I think such a moment might be a sneer and a walk-off.

Not long to go now. Really interested to see just how Earls goes at 13 against Italy. Last outing at 13 against Wales in the warmup he was quality and I feel he has been one of Irelands best players so far at the RWC.

Hope he shows the lot...defence as much as helping Ireland release itself into attack. But I guess, given we have prospectively a list of France and Argentina or New Zealand up next - it has to be a confident all round game - attack won't be enough.

He has already shown that his defence is good, has he not Fly?

In a high tension game against allegedly a step up team....

You know what I mean, billy. The whole team have to notch it up the gears now to be ready for the battles ahead. Earls is but one of the team and he's therefore included. No sloppiness or lack of concentration can be tolerated at this point...a no over eagerness running away from support either.

Here's wishing we put our marker on this contest.

I'm concerned about our defensive shape when we play France. We are organised and drift well, but we give them the chance to build up a head of steam. If they are making yards and get their support play right, we'll find it hard to stop teams gaining momentum.

I'm with you Notch, Ireland's defensive line is very passive. It's hard to see on the television as to whether this is the plan or if the addition of Earls had slightly unsettled the organisation of the backline.

Good Irish try. Tremendous steal in the lineout by O'Mahony, excellent interplay from Sexton and Henshaw. Henderson arguably Ireland's best player so far

Not been a great game so far but I think Ireland will run away with it in the second half. Lovely ball from Hensahw to set up Earls for his try.

Exiled Gael wrote:I'm with you Notch, Ireland's defensive line is very passive. It's hard to see on the television as to whether this is the plan or if the addition of Earls had slightly unsettled the organisation of the backline.

Good Irish try. Tremendous steal in the lineout by O'Mahony, excellent interplay from Sexton and Henshaw. Henderson arguably Ireland's best player so far

I think it's the plan, at least to a certain extent. It's not like we usually aggressively blitz when Payne is in the team! And what a lovely offload out of the tackle to Earls on his shoulder.

You would expect any change to disrupt the defence until the players got comfortable with each other. I am surprised the defence is not a bit more 'blitz'esque. I wonder why that is the case.

I am concerned about our discipline so far. Too many penalties are being given away.

Quite a fair bit of indiscipline being shown from Ireland here. Really allowing Italy to have too much possession.

Good officiating, just a penalty for that.

When we have the ball the backs look threatening. The pack had been disappointing so far except for Henderson. POM and SOB in particular need to seriously up their games

Zebo has got to stop running so upright into tackles. It's dreadful technique.

Who is the no. 5 for Italy ? He is everywhere, he is having a stormer of a game, he is also negating all of Ireland's rolling mauls.

If Italy had a lineout they could actually be ahead...

it is a closer game than i thought it would be at half time.

Tell Parrise is back, Italy play a lot better when he is in the team.

Very frustrating game so far. A lot of indiscipline and mistakes, which is alarming.

Thats slightly frustrating to end the half from Ireland, the offload would have broken them open but it wasn't a likely one. Quick recycle to put them under pressure there could have led to something. We do get a bit obsessed with offloading, but the judgment of when to use it as important as the skill.

The pack needs a bit of a rocket up the posterior. We're losing too many collisions, not getting through the phases with enough speed. And then you have guys taking the ball static and we become easy to defend against.

Our usual Italian game. Mr Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang.....Bang............................ Bang

God, I hate this because a game can slide away so easily in this damn supposed 'softening up' stuff.


...............Bang.

The forwards have been poor. POC is not having a very good game at all and SOB needs to get motoring more.

Henshaw, great pass aside, has not been too good either.

Maybe Fitz on for him around the 50min mark.

I don't want to have this argument again, but are you sure its Henshaw that needs to be replaced on the evidence of that half?

I think we now lack the emotion sometimes.  It does sometimes look too mathematical and the players are letting their drills do the thinking for them as distinct from the heart, not like in the old days when our techniques mightn't have been great but we let our emotions drive the opposition backwards often.

Italy are emotionally in this and are bullying things.

Damn is Henderson good.

Henshaw and Earls have barely had the ball. I can't see how either could be judged on that performance.

Murray is utterly infuriating today. POM and SOB are having pretty poor days and are being dominated at the breakdown. Henry should come on soon.

The short inside balls to Bowe coming in on the angle at pace aren't working.

Great cover tackle from POM but way too much room there for Italy.

Artful_Dodger, frustrating isn't it.

Typical Earls. Good half break and terrible decision making.

POM having a pretty anonymous match but that was a superb tackle.

The Irish pack, except Henderson, second best by a distance.

It's so frustrating. He has such great feet and pace, he does the hard part then he loses the ball. Sometimes you just need to look after it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Keith Earls will never make it at the top level at 13. I think that argument has been well and truly answered.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Keith Earls will never make it at the top level at 13. I think that argument has been well and truly answered.

In what way has it been answered? He made a mistake, shock horror all players make mistakes. At least he gets into those positions. Do you remember his run and pass to set up Rob Kearney for his try?

Does the little inside pass to Bowe from Sexton (that has led to at least 3 knock-ons) mean that Sexton is a bad player?

I think Rory that might be a little harsh. He is a curates egg. He had all the attributes but his decision making is questionable. The two attempted offloads are not hanging offences but when you have so little ball you have to go through the phases.

I'd haul Murray and SOB off as soon as humanly possible.

If we win this, and it's a big if, the worst French team in a lifetime will will eat us for breakfast. Argentina would absolutely demolish us in the pack

No booing of the kickers as far as I could hear, makes a nice change.

Earls far from the worst of Ireland today Rory, but not proving those who think his instinctual style is best suited to wing wrong. Sometimes at 13 you need to just play solid, go to ground, present the ball well.

Lots of candidates in the pack more than deserving of your scorn. If we had 8 forwards working as hard as Iain Henderson is out there... Best also scrapping well.

Why won't we use the bench?

Oop, never mind here comes Chris Henry! Henderson going off for Toner though...

Did I just hear the commentators right - has the new Italian out-half not played a game of senior rugby??!!