Ireland v Wales 24/02/2018 14:15

First topic message reminder :

So, Wales have gone with Dan Biggar, Liam Williams & Leigh Halfpenny for the game against Ireland. George North & Gareth Anscombe drop to the bench, and Rhys Patchell & Josh Adams drop out of the match day squad. Not bad decisions in my opinion, though I think I might have had Patchell on the bench over Anscombe... and possibly switched Halfpenny & Williams- I just think Williams offers more threat from fullback than Halfpenny does.

Wales Team:
Halfpenny (Scarlets); L Williams (Saracens), S Williams (Scarlets), Parkes (Scarlets), S Evans (Scarlets); Biggar (Ospreys), G Davies (Scarlets); R Evans (Scarlets), Owens (Scarlets), Lee (Scarlets), Hill (Dragons), AW Jones (Ospreys capt), Shingler (Scarlets), Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Moriarty (Gloucester).

Replacements:
Dee (Dragons), W Jones (Scarlets), Francis (Exeter Chiefs), B Davies (Ospreys), Tipuric (Ospreys), A Davies (Scarlets), Anscombe (Blues), North (Northampton).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/43127349

Ireland Team:
Kearney; Earls, Farrell, Aki, Stockdale; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best (capt), Porter; James Ryan, Toner; O'Mahony, Leavy, Stander.

Replacements: Cronin, McGrath, John Ryan, Roux, Conan, Marmion, Carbery, McFadden.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/43152956

RDW_Scotland wrote:All Ireland just now but plenty time for Wales, especially with sexton missing so many kicks and keeping it to 2 scores

What did I just say!

Wales go side to side far too much, but that's a good try.

Amazing what you can do when you run forward

Dan Biggar- yes, a cockwomble but a cockwomble with skills!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:All Ireland just now but plenty time for Wales, especially with sexton missing so many kicks and keeping it to 2 scores

What did I just say!

100%

When Sexton is missing and Halfpenny is getting them, Wales stay in touch.

eirebilly wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:All Ireland just now but plenty time for Wales, especially with sexton missing so many kicks and keeping it to 2 scores

What did I just say!

100%

When Sexton is missing and Halfpenny is getting them, Wales stay in touch.

Ireland can't afford to go into their shell - Wales will go at it all 80

Why the absolute feck do you take Earls off, who has been in excellent form, to bring on McFadden?

I did not see Earls take a knock.

Biggar does annoy me with the way he acts to officials, but Murray is doing it a lot today too.

Cmon Wales, big last 14mins

Nothing wrong with that

RiscaGame wrote:Biggar does annoy me with the way he acts to officials, but Murray is doing it a lot today too.

Murray is a 9, that's the job description.

Ooh big call from the ref - it did look like the correct call though.

Huge call from sexton not to kick it - that was the game!

Irish arrogance there, take the points

Think Williams initiated the rip in the tackle myself, thought it was play on.

TightHEAD wrote:Irish arrogance there, take the points

To be fair or could be a lack of confidence in their kicking?

Excellent exit from Wales - they've got the momentum just now.

Sexton should have gone for goal.

McFadden knocks on, great replacement for Earls

omg all those arms waving around....

Farrell should have been penalised there - he didn't release Williams before competing for the ball

And put his hands on the floor ...

didnt realised being on all fours was fine while competing for ball

Very lucky there for Ireland, that really should have been a penalty to Wales. Ireland get the 3 points and I would say that is the game now.

How the hell has he penalised Wales at that scrum? That is the most obvious wrong penalty I've ever seen at a scrum

mckay1402 wrote:How the hell has he penalised Wales at that scrum?  That is the most obvious wrong penalty I've ever seen at a scrum

Wales didn't even try to hook anyway.

Spoke too soon...

Wales showing what they can do it they get the ball !

interesting...

They had to give it a go Wales, sad finish for them.

good win for ireland. far from convincing. breakdown an inconsistent mess. wales look dangerous ball in hand. biggar is a ***b.

my 2 cents.

Scottrf wrote:

mckay1402 wrote:How the hell has he penalised Wales at that scrum?  That is the most obvious wrong penalty I've ever seen at a scrum

Wales didn't even try to hook anyway.

Yes they did. The point is that the penalty was given the wrong way.

Lost patience ... should have kept the phases going and waited for a penalty ...

Phew, that took some doing from Ireland. For a moment i thopught Wales was going to steal it in the dying minutes. 

Well played Ireland. and a very hard luck Wales.

Ah well. Well done Ireland.

Wales were poor too much today, with some bits of brilliance all too rare. 

Fair result.

Nos da.

Not quite sure how that ended up as close as it did! Well done Ireland, hard luck Wales

Lots of credit for Wales but probably a deserved win for Ireland given the amount of possession they had

Heaf wrote:Lost patience ... should have kept the phases going and waited for a penalty ...

Or they could have stayed with the short passes, Ireland were opening up. Enjoyed that game a lot but have to feel sorry for Wales, that penalty that took Ireland 10 clear should have been for Wales. Not saying the would have scored but Ireland were struggling for the last 10mins.

Stockdale now has 8 try's in 7 matches. That is some return...

mckay1402 wrote:How the hell has he penalised Wales at that scrum?  That is the most obvious wrong penalty I've ever seen at a scrum

Multiple offences. Wales didn't hook then both bored in and walked around

Ireland definitely deserved the win. Bit of a choker to lose the LBP at the end, but maybe we didn’t deserve anything from it.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Lots of credit for Wales but probably a deserved win for Ireland given the amount of possession they had

Definitely deserved. Two Welsh tries were dubious.

Have to say I was unsure on Farrell going I to the game, but he had a great game, big engine always a threat.
Earls must have pulled something why else would be go off.
Sextons kicking was way off today.
We wasted a lot of opportunities in the Welsh 22.
Stockdale knows how to score.
Bonus point win

Can’t wait to watch England v Ireland last game now. Going to be some match. I hope it is a Grand Slam shootout (which I suspect it will be).

carpet baboon wrote:Have to say I was unsure on Farrell going I to the game, but he had a great game, big engine always a threat.
Earls must have pulled something why else would be go off.
Sextons kicking was way off today.
We wasted a lot of opportunities in the Welsh 22.
Stockdale knows how to score.
Bonus point win

Another one that got away for Ulster. Possibly an even bigger loss than Tommy Seymour.

I was well pleased with how well Farrell did, on that display Henshaw and Ringrose will have a job getting the 13 shirt. Oxo in for another 2 tries, he may need to work on defensive issues but if he keeps saving us like he did today we can allow him that.

For Wales, I would expect us to finish third now, which wouldn’t be too bad at all, given that England and probably Ireland are a little bit ahead of us. Be interesting to see what changes Gatland makes next game. He won’t be happy that we were pretty bullied.

The major concern for me was Ireland had 70% possession and looked very gassed in the last 10mins. That and the fact that Wales scored 27 points with only 30% possession. A side like England will not allow Ireland 70% possession.

With Howley and McBryde as the lead coaches Wales will continue to travel hopefully without satisfactory outcome.The performance of the Welsh forwards was just inadequate at international level and the comparison between the respective 9's and 10's was just embarrassing.You have to wonder what the players do at the Vale because for at least 60-70 minutes of the Ireland and England games Wales looked like Italy in red shirts.Not good enough.When you've got a winger choosing to run into 3 Irish forwards,an unfit 8 and a 10 auditioning for The Voice you know you've got problems even without the Irish being up for it.

Fair play to Ireland,they were well more than 10 points better.

wales were out muscled in all areas......you cant compare the 9/10 performance of sexton and murray with davies and biggar... with 70/30 possession your 9/10 are in the arm chair.............credit that wales showed what they could do when they had the ball......reality check for wales on strength in depth , welsh 8 were beaten up......that's where the game was lost .......before the patchel fans start calling for his return he wouldn't have done any more behind such a beaten pack

Weird feeling after that,we played some great stuff but it was still too close when we should have had it wrapped up.That said,given the players we were missing a one point scrappy win would have done.
Great to see the more attacking approach we’ve been working on starting to work.If Sexton can get fully fit and we get Furlong back we’re in good shape.
Fair play to Chris Farrell,best performance from an Irish 13 since BoD was at his best.

Not a bad result for the backup troops today.

Stockdale looks like he could be useful. Scoring more tries because Sexton can’t kick is a good sign. Quinn Roux showed some signs of understanding what test rugby requires.
Commiserations Wales.

Terrible game from Wales. But we were within a whisker, rolled the dice and f*cked it up. Ah well. Can’t expect to win with so many errors and living off scraps.

I’m hoping (praying!) Ireland go on and win this tournament now.