6N 2017: Ireland v England, 18 March

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IRELAND v ENGLAND
18 March 2017
KO: 17:00 GMT
Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Referee: Jerome Garces (France)
Touch judges: Mathieu Raynal (France) & Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Live on [BBC, RTE, DMAX, FR2, ITV (H)]

A. Head to Head

131 Played 131
47 Won 76
8 Drawn 8
76 Lost 47
1,079 Points 1,526

B. Recent Form

27 February 2016
Twickenham, London
21 – 10 to England

5 September 2015
Twickenham, London
21 – 13 to England

1 March 2015
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
19 – 9 to Ireland

22 February 2014
Twickenham, London
13 – 10 to England

10 February 2013
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
6 – 12 to England

17 March 2012
Twickenham, London
30 – 9 to England

C. Teams

IRELAND

Payne; Earls, Ringrose, Henshaw, Zebo; Sexton, Marmion; McGrath, Best (captain), Furlong; Ryan, Henderson; Stander, O'Brien, Heaslip,

Replacements: Scannell, Healy, Ryan, Toner, O'Mahony, McGrath, Jackson, Conway.

ENGLAND

Brown; Watson, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Youngs; Marler, Hartley (captain), Cole; Launchbury, Lawes; Itoje, Haskell, B Vunipola.

Replacements: George, M Vunipola, Sinckler, Wood, Hughes, Care, Te'o, Nowell.

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

SimonofSurrey wrote:no complaints. A team on the up got stifled by a performance of limitless courage and limited ambition. As EJ has been saying to anyone who'll listen, it's a 4 year plan and there will be setbacks along the way. Of all the other nations who could have de-wheeled the chariot, thank God it was the Irish. Top fellers and refreshingly free from narky chips on shoulders. Have a great craic in Dublin and beyond tonight, you earned it.

Hahaha best post so far. Check out the big L on your forehead

Prize chopper..

Congrats to Ireland, better team on the day.

carpet baboon wrote:Well done England on the 6ns.
But today you just didn't raise your game.
Here's to next year.
But it might not have been pretty but we won. Ooooooo yeah

Disappointing thing is not only did we not raise our game, we lowered it. Everything that went right last week went wrong this week.

But you know, good winning run. Developing a very good squad and hopefully we'll learn.

Hood83 wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

Hood83 wrote:Well done Ireland. Definitely the better team.

I'm actually not too frustrated by that, we probably needed a loss. I think if the game was 5 minutes longer we'd have won, and I think that is pretty much the best Ireland can play. They'll be lots of talk of how it was a momentous underdog victory, but at the start of the tournament I made Ireland favourites, and playing them away was always a tough ask.

It's still another title and we're still the most consistent team for another year. Chin up England fans.

I'm sure we played better when we beat the best in the world

Ha, yeah actually that's a fair point. It's a shame we didn't require you to play like that again.

Slams are incredibly tough to win, and it was a nervy game from England, yet the score line was very close. Still, a 6N's trophy is a great achievement and well worth celebrating

Well done Ireland. England didn't back themselves ball in hand, Ireland did, and made the difference in possession count.

As others also queue up to comment on Geen something or other, I'm struggling to find a capital 'l' in '6 Nations Champions'.

Prize tool

In the England could not play what was in front of them and failed. Real shame but well done on matching the world record wins and another 6 nations. Get those Irish next year at HQ!

Congrats Ireland - shame you spoiled our party but I think most of us knew it was quite likely so disappointed but hopeful that this England team can continue to get better ...

kudos to Ireland, our worst game by far but still a great 18 months.

eirebilly wrote:Really happy that Ireland won but it does paper over what a poor coach Schmidt actually is. Only injuries, again, forced him to play the correct players in their correct positions.

Hard lines England, thought you may get that in the end.

Lord, you are a

GG England, we weren't great, but tactically we got it right and strangled you. POM was huge. Payne showed his skill going forward but multiple dropped balls are unacceptable for an international FB. He wont play there again for Ireland. Sexton is black and blue but only one of the hits on him looked a penalty to me. We finished second in the table and have beaten every team ranked above us in the last 6 months. We are far from the finished product but I hope all the doom and gloom of last week will be a bit more measured.

Yawn. Schmidt downplaying Henderson's role for Ireland over the seasons. Some things never change. "He needed to do it for the full 80". Schmidt, you've played passengers for years and some of them would have still been on the field if not for injury.

England are well deserved of the title, I even think they were deserved Slam winners to be fair.

Schmidt has to go, he really is a poor coach, he destroys players confidence's. He gets the odd big result but for the rest he is ordinary.

It was guaranteed. We cannot beat Ireland there when it matters and they cannot beat us in twickenham either,

Congrats Ireland. Deserved win 

England never really got going today and Ireland didn't let them. Put this one in the locker and learn from it.

Wasn't it lucky that both Jamie and Rob got injured for this game

SimonofSurrey wrote:A team on the up got stifled by a performance of limitless courage and limited ambition

Sorry to kick you while you're down but limited ambition would be how I'd describe England's play. Relying on mauls and penalties about sums up that England game plan.

I'd say that sums up the ref myself.

wolfball wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Really happy that Ireland won but it does paper over what a poor coach Schmidt actually is. Only injuries, again, forced him to play the correct players in their correct positions.

Hard lines England, thought you may get that in the end.

Lord, you are a

I may be but please at least counter my points... I am guessing you cannot which is why you have digs like that.

And so the only away win all season by anyone except in Rome (which hardly counts this year, sadly) was England in Cardiff. One more 'real' away win, one more win and one more BP than anyone else. Definitely the best side but to be honest, the double GS would have flattered this squad, which is definitely a work in progress.

To be fair - although I don't agree that Schmidt is a poor coach - if it weren't for injuries I think it would have been a different story today. We still aren't clinical, our support play is weak and only seem capable of muscling our way to victory and clinging onto a very tight lead. It isn't a sustainable or consistent way to win games. We are very fractured in our performances.

Imagine what this team could do with the doggedness of the pack and a bit of spark and pace in the backs.

eirebilly wrote:

wolfball wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Really happy that Ireland won but it does paper over what a poor coach Schmidt actually is. Only injuries, again, forced him to play the correct players in their correct positions.

Hard lines England, thought you may get that in the end.

Lord, you are a

I may be but please at least counter my points... I am guessing you cannot which is why you have digs like that.

Your point is that we only won because injuries forces him to play players in their best positions. And my comment includes the fact " We finished second in the table and have beaten every team ranked above us in the last 6 months. " Your response to that fact is?

Sure, you dislike Schmidt, you always have. I think its possible to not have him be either a poor coach or the best coach, but simply a pretty good coach. Which he is, and when I look at the coaches of the top 8 teams there are not many I would trade him for. I know you love Cotter, that's grand, he is a good coach as well, but has won nothing at international level. We have won multiple trophies under Schmidt, have a better winning record than our last two coaches and have beaten NZ and SA away, things that no irish team has ever done. I am very frustrated by parts of our game, but that is because I DISAGREE with Schmidt, not that he is wrong or a poor coach. He is clearly more right than wrong with his record and saying that his teams win because of injuries is insulting to the players who wear the jersey as well as the man himself.

Rory.. back it up next year in London and you wil prove how good you are.

I think this was the right result. But what happened to the England team that ripped Scotland apart? Equally where was the Ireland that Scotland shredded? It's been a weird 6N

ebop wrote:

SimonofSurrey wrote:A team on the up got stifled by a performance of limitless courage and limited ambition

Sorry to kick you while you're down but limited ambition would be how I'd describe England's play. Relying on mauls and penalties about sums up that England game plan.

Hahaha, behave, you're not sorry in the slightest ebop! I think it would be fairer to describe our mauling and scrum pens as 'plan B'. We tried to run, we tried to bosh it up the middle, and it wasn't working (Ireland wouldn't let it), so we switched to up the jumper stuff. It was what you guys failed to do in that first game where you just couldn't resist running from everywhere.

There seems to be this idea that just running it is 'ambitious'. I like the way Ireland play, but in some senses it IS quite low risk. It's multi-phase, rarely targeting angles that might lead to isolation, very few offloads etc. When it works though I think it looks great, because it looks completely irresistible.

Wrong Rory mate. I don't play for Ireland.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:To be fair - although I don't agree that Schmidt is a poor coach - if it weren't for injuries I think it would have been a different story today. We still aren't clinical, our support play is weak and only seem capable of muscling our way to victory and clinging onto a very tight lead. It isn't a sustainable or consistent way to win games. We are very fractured in our performances.

Imagine what this team could do with the doggedness of the pack and a bit of spark and pace in the backs.

Well said, though on the injuries I think Heaslip was a loss myself (do you remember a quieter ireland game from Stander?) with SOB very poor. I would not have him the irish squad and while having POM on was clearly huge for us, we would have been better served if it was at SOBs expense.

I didn't think Stander was quiet at all. He did his thing - carried the ball over and over.

wolfball wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

wolfball wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Really happy that Ireland won but it does paper over what a poor coach Schmidt actually is. Only injuries, again, forced him to play the correct players in their correct positions.

Hard lines England, thought you may get that in the end.

Lord, you are a

I may be but please at least counter my points... I am guessing you cannot which is why you have digs like that.

Your point is that we only won because injuries forces him to play players in their best positions. And my comment includes the fact " We finished second in the table and have beaten every team ranked above us in the last 6 months. " Your response to that fact is?

Sure, you dislike Schmidt, you always have. I think its possible to not have him be either a poor coach or the best coach, but simply a pretty good coach. Which he is, and when I look at the coaches of the top 8 teams there are not many I would trade him for. I know you love Cotter, that's grand, he is a good coach as well, but has won nothing at international level. We have won multiple trophies under Schmidt, have a better winning record than our last two coaches and have beaten NZ and SA away, things that no irish team has ever done. I am very frustrated by parts of our game, but that is because I DISAGREE with Schmidt, not that he is wrong or a poor coach. He is clearly more right than wrong with his record and saying that his teams win because of injuries is insulting to the players who wear the jersey as well as the man himself.

If you count trophies over two years ago and not being able to win consistently since as acceptable that is fine. Personally I think he is good because he makes us hard to beat. However today he got lucky because of injuries and the weather.  Attacking wise we are clueless

wolfball wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:To be fair - although I don't agree that Schmidt is a poor coach - if it weren't for injuries I think it would have been a different story today. We still aren't clinical, our support play is weak and only seem capable of muscling our way to victory and clinging onto a very tight lead. It isn't a sustainable or consistent way to win games. We are very fractured in our performances.

Imagine what this team could do with the doggedness of the pack and a bit of spark and pace in the backs.

Well said, though on the injuries I think Heaslip was a loss myself (do you remember a quieter ireland game from Stander?) with SOB very poor. I would not have him the irish squad and while having POM on was clearly huge for us, we would have been better served if it was at SOBs expense.

Joe excuses. CJ was everywhere

Haha, good stuff Hood, you took that well. And honestly I mean it when I say congratulations on the great winning run. Obviously I want England to lose every game because it's in my DNA but I doff my hat to your team and Jones.

wolfball wrote:

Your point is that we only won because injuries forces him to play players in their best positions. And my comment includes the fact " We finished second in the table and have beaten every team ranked above us in the last 6 months. " Your response to that fact is?

Sure, you dislike Schmidt, you always have. I think its possible to not have him be either a poor coach or the best coach, but simply a pretty good coach. Which he is, and when I look at the coaches of the top 8 teams there are not many I would trade him for. I know you love Cotter, that's grand, he is a good coach as well, but has won nothing at international level. We have won multiple trophies under Schmidt, have a better winning record than our last two coaches and have beaten NZ and SA away, things that no irish team has ever done. I am very frustrated by parts of our game, but that is because I DISAGREE with Schmidt, not that he is wrong or a poor coach. He is clearly more right than wrong with his record and saying that his teams win because of injuries is insulting to the players who wear the jersey as well as the man himself.

I feel that Schmidt takes good players and makes them solid players to fit his game plan. He has one game plan and when it works, it works but when not working he has no plan B or C.

Do you disagree that POM is the best 6 Ireland have to offer (MOTM today) and that CJ is a better 8 and would he have started if Heaslip was not injured?
Do you like the style of play Ireland have right now under him?

Vern Cotter may have won nothing but he is by far the superior coach in my opinion. Schmidt gets the odd good win over the higher rated sides but so did Kidney. Where is the consistency though, if he is a great coach he would have a far better win ratio with this side. He relies far too much on players he knows and not the form players. Sad thing is, he is found out more often than not by superior coaches.

Loving the limited ambition remark. One team had their ambition limited to day and it was not Ireland.

Well let Ireland prove what they can do next year. The door Is open and they had better be a lot better than this.

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

If you count trophies over two years ago and not being able to win consistently since as acceptable that is fine. Personally I think he is good because he makes us hard to beat. However today he got lucky because of injuries and the weather.  Attacking wise we are clueless

Again, it isnt all or nothing? It is not acceptable to lose, but it is reasonable to count both wins and losses. I love the hgh expectation we place on Ireland now. No talk of golden generations or any of that nonsense, this current Irish team is more successful than the golden generation ever was and yet we still complain. Its great in a way, that expectation. But like I can agree when Schmidt gets it wrong (as he has several times this season) I can also give him his due when he gets it right.

trebellbobaggins wrote:Well let Ireland prove what they can do next year.  The door Is open and they had better be a lot better than this.

I'd probably be more concerned with your team and their grand designs on greatness and wanting to be the number 1 team. Because in the three games I've seen in this 6Ns against Wales, France and Ireland they're a fair ways off. Time to just concentrate on being a good team perhaps.

Hood83 wrote:

ebop wrote:

SimonofSurrey wrote:A team on the up got stifled by a performance of limitless courage and limited ambition

Sorry to kick you while you're down but limited ambition would be how I'd describe England's play. Relying on mauls and penalties about sums up that England game plan.

Hahaha, behave, you're not sorry in the slightest ebop! I think it would be fairer to describe our mauling and scrum pens as 'plan B'. We tried to run, we tried to bosh it up the middle, and it wasn't working (Ireland wouldn't let it), so we switched to up the jumper stuff. It was what you guys failed to do in that first game where you just couldn't resist running from everywhere.

There seems to be this idea that just running it is 'ambitious'. I like the way Ireland play, but in some senses it IS quite low risk. It's multi-phase, rarely targeting angles that might lead to isolation, very few offloads etc. When it works though I think it looks great, because it looks completely irresistible.

 Hoody us Kiwis are extremely sorry you lost, we wanted you guys to win and take the record, then you would have paid us moonbeams to play you in November at Twickers.

 On this point of Ireland holding possession, at times they are probably the best team in the World at doing it, however you have to do one of two things with that ball either starve the opposition of territory or score points, and when you score points you give the opposition another kick restart and possession becomes a raffle.

Gwlad wrote:Loving the limited ambition remark. One team had their ambition limited to day and it was not Ireland.

A Welsh poster commenting on limited ambition? Did you see the dirge your lot served up in Paris?

eirebilly wrote:

wolfball wrote:

Your point is that we only won because injuries forces him to play players in their best positions. And my comment includes the fact " We finished second in the table and have beaten every team ranked above us in the last 6 months. " Your response to that fact is?

Sure, you dislike Schmidt, you always have. I think its possible to not have him be either a poor coach or the best coach, but simply a pretty good coach. Which he is, and when I look at the coaches of the top 8 teams there are not many I would trade him for. I know you love Cotter, that's grand, he is a good coach as well, but has won nothing at international level. We have won multiple trophies under Schmidt, have a better winning record than our last two coaches and have beaten NZ and SA away, things that no irish team has ever done. I am very frustrated by parts of our game, but that is because I DISAGREE with Schmidt, not that he is wrong or a poor coach. He is clearly more right than wrong with his record and saying that his teams win because of injuries is insulting to the players who wear the jersey as well as the man himself.

I feel that Schmidt takes good players and makes them solid players to fit his game plan. He has one game plan and when it works, it works but when not working he has no plan B or C.

Do you disagree that POM is the best 6 Ireland have to offer (MOTM today) and that CJ is a better 8 and would he have started if Heaslip was not injured?
Do you like the style of play Ireland have right now under him?

Vern Cotter may have won nothing but he is by far the superior coach in my opinion. Schmidt gets the odd good win over the higher rated sides but so did Kidney. Where is the consistency though, if he is a great coach he would have a far better win ratio with this side. He relies far too much on players he knows and not the form players. Sad thing is, he is found out more often than not by superior coaches.

Every question you asked me I have answered in my last couple of posts, but once more:

Do you disagree that POM is the best 6 Ireland have to offer (MOTM today) and that CJ is a better 8 and would he have started if Heaslip was not injured? - POM is the best flanker we have to offer for specific tasks and SOB should not be in the Ireland squad. However, Heaslip was a loss, and I think he is a better 8 than Stander (Heaslips control at scrumtime is well superiour as an example). Stander is the best 6 Ireland have. A Heaslip/Stander/POM backrow is my preference with JDF on bench.

Do you like the style of play Ireland have right now under him? - 'I am very frustrated by parts of our game, but that is because I DISAGREE withSchmidt, not that he is wrong or a poor coach.'

Where is the consistency though, if he is a great coach he would have a far better win ratio with this side. - Who said he was a great coach? I did not. His win ratio is better than EOS and Kidney. What win % would make him "great" in your eyes?

About time POM started a game, he should be first on the teamsheet and our captain. Marmion was excellent as well. Payne dropped a couple of balls but also had a few passes/offloads that highlights what we are missing out on by having a conservative fullback. I asked after the Scotland game and I'll ask again, is Zebo injured? He has no acceleration.

England have been labouring through the tournament a bit so a loss was always on the cards. Still the best all round team though.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

Gwlad wrote:Loving the limited ambition remark. One team had their ambition limited to day and it was not Ireland.

A Welsh poster commenting on limited ambition? Did you see the dirge your lot served up in Paris?

Wales are only a little bit better than Italy, the table never lies.

ebop wrote:

trebellbobaggins wrote:Well let Ireland prove what they can do next year.  The door Is open and they had better be a lot better than this.

I'd probably be more concerned with your team and their grand designs on greatness and wanting to be the number 1 team. Because in the three games I've seen in this 6Ns against Wales, France and Ireland they're a fair ways off. Time to just concentrate on being a good team perhaps.

I agree they need to concentrate on being a good team but given they are currently ranked no.2 isn't it logical they'd want to be no.1 even though for sure they've got some way to go?

Wolfball,

Quite simply put, I feel that Schmidt is an absolutely outstanding club coach (in Ireland) but not a national coach for Ireland. He has too much loyalty in players whom he used to coach. His comments aimed against players (especially Ulster players) have left a sour taste in my mouth.

There really is no way POM would have started today if Heaslip was not injured and yet I feel he was one of the main reasons Ireland won. Not that Heaslip is a bad player but the back row has more balance with POM there.

Too many times I have seen Ireland perform better when certain 'key' players have been injured and Schmidt is forced to think outside the box and pick form players in their best positions.

Maybe I am harsh in saying he is a poor coach but he is not a great coach either, he is built up beyond belief but his tactics are far too easily countered at International level.

wolfball wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

If you count trophies over two years ago and not being able to win consistently since as acceptable that is fine. Personally I think he is good because he makes us hard to beat. However today he got lucky because of injuries and the weather.  Attacking wise we are clueless

Again, it isnt all or nothing? It is not acceptable to lose, but it is reasonable to count both wins and losses. I love the hgh expectation we place on Ireland now. No talk of golden generations or any of that nonsense, this current Irish team is more successful than the golden generation ever was and yet we still complain. Its great in a way, that expectation. But like I can agree when Schmidt gets it wrong (as he has several times this season) I can also give him his due when he gets it right.

Show me a grand slam a World Cup semi and some sign of development of the team and I will wholeheartedly agree with you

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

wolfball wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

If you count trophies over two years ago and not being able to win consistently since as acceptable that is fine. Personally I think he is good because he makes us hard to beat. However today he got lucky because of injuries and the weather.  Attacking wise we are clueless

Again, it isnt all or nothing? It is not acceptable to lose, but it is reasonable to count both wins and losses. I love the hgh expectation we place on Ireland now. No talk of golden generations or any of that nonsense, this current Irish team is more successful than the golden generation ever was and yet we still complain. Its great in a way, that expectation. But like I can agree when Schmidt gets it wrong (as he has several times this season) I can also give him his due when he gets it right.

Show me a grand slam a World Cup semi and some sign of development of the team and I will wholeheartedly agree with you

Grand slam is nice, but in this new world of bonus points, I think a championship is sufficient before RWC. Agreed, a semi is minimal requirement and he should be sacked if that is not achieved.

ebop wrote:Haha, good stuff Hood, you took that well. And honestly I mean it when I say congratulations on the great winning run. Obviously I want England to lose every game because it's in my DNA but I doff my hat to your team and Jones.

Haha, well of course. Yeah it was a good run. To be honest though it's not the same as yours, clearly. 18 games playing against SA (OK, they've been poopie for awhile but still tough to beat), Aus and Argentina is to me a greater achievement. I mean one of our 18 was Uruguay, so you have to take it with a pinch of salt.

eirebilly wrote:Wolfball,

Quite simply put, I feel that Schmidt is an absolutely outstanding club coach (in Ireland) but not a national coach for Ireland. He has too much loyalty in players whom he used to coach. His comments aimed against players (especially Ulster players) have left a sour taste in my mouth.

There really is no way POM would have started today if Heaslip was not injured and yet I feel he was one of the main reasons Ireland won. Not that Heaslip is a bad player but the back row has more balance with POM there.

Too many times I have seen Ireland perform better when certain 'key' players have been injured and Schmidt is forced to think outside the box and pick form players in their best positions.

Maybe I am harsh in saying he is a poor coach but he is not a great coach either, he is built up beyond belief but his tactics are far too easily countered at International level.

So lets talk about what makes a good or poor coach so we are speaking the same language. I think about the best 23 players each country has and how they compare to Ireland's. I believe that NZ, England and Wales have 23 better players than us, with Australia, SA and France about our level (you are free to rerank as you wish). An average coach for me is one who has his teamed ranked about where the quality of his players sit. A great coach gets his players to a few notches above where they should be and a poor coach underperforms compared to the quality of his team. Based on this I believe we should be ranked between 4th and 7th. As we are 4th that indicates to me that our coach is slightly above average. If we drop to 7/8 he is below average/poor. If we get consistently in the top 2 he is a great coach. When we drop to 7/8 for a full season, finish outside top half of 6 Nations more than once than Schmidt should go. We are far from being that poor though, so the idea of sacking Schmidt (an idea you raised on a day his side won of all days) is very strange to me.

wolfball wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

wolfball wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

If you count trophies over two years ago and not being able to win consistently since as acceptable that is fine. Personally I think he is good because he makes us hard to beat. However today he got lucky because of injuries and the weather.  Attacking wise we are clueless

Again, it isnt all or nothing? It is not acceptable to lose, but it is reasonable to count both wins and losses. I love the hgh expectation we place on Ireland now. No talk of golden generations or any of that nonsense, this current Irish team is more successful than the golden generation ever was and yet we still complain. Its great in a way, that expectation. But like I can agree when Schmidt gets it wrong (as he has several times this season) I can also give him his due when he gets it right.

Show me a grand slam a World Cup semi and some sign of development of the team and I will wholeheartedly agree with you

Grand slam is nice, but in this new world of bonus points, I think a championship is sufficient before RWC. Agreed, a semi is minimal requirement and he should be sacked if that is not achieved.

I have to say where your comments become pure Joe apologising relate to POM and Stander. In actual fact I would call them out as down right mealy mouthed.

Was with non rugby people tonight and they said why was England not motivated whilst Ireland were....think that summed it up.

Ireland weren't going to get beat England couldn't care less!

trebellbobaggins wrote:Just very angry at the homer ref and our dire performance Rory.  Ireland have played their game as I knew they would, fair play.

Get a grip - if anything the ref favoured England and I am a neutral on this. another ref could have carded Itoje 3 times and a couple of others for no arms tackles, late hits and so on. If that had been Mitrea reffing it would have been a much bigger victory

The 'limited ambition' thing was a recognition that Ireland sought to win by depriving England of ball and strangling them. Nothing wrong in that but my point is I'd like a team with so much ball and dominance to open up a bit. Ireland left a shed load of points on the field today: where were the scintillating backs move?