Wales vs Ireland - Round 5

First topic message reminder :


Teams TBA Thursday the 14th March

Referee Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant 1 Ben O'Keeffe (New Zelaand)
Assistant 2 Karl Dickson (England)
TMO Marius Jonker (South Africa)


Wales:

L Williams (Saracens); North (Ospreys), J Davies (Scarlets), Parkes (Scarlets), Adams (Worcester); Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), G Davies (Scarlets); R Evans (Scarlets), Owens (Scarlets), Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Beard (Ospreys), AW Jones (Ospreys, capt), Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Tipuric (Ospreys), Moriarty (Dragons).

Replacements: Dee (Dragons), Smith (Ospreys), D Lewis (Cardiff Blues), Ball (Scarlets), Wainwright (Dragons), A Davies (Ospreys), Biggar (Northampton), Watkin (Ospreys).



Ireland:


Kearney; Earls, Ringrose, Aki, Stockdale; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best (capt), Furlong, Beirne, Ryan, O'Mahony, O'Brien, Stander.

Replacements: Scannell, Kilcoyne, Porter, Roux, Conan, Marmion, Carty, Larmour.

Ireland wanted it open because they can't be guaranteed a dry field if the roof is closed. Sounds counter-intuitive in logical terms but it seems it's a reasonable argument

majesticimperialman wrote:I do believe that both teams have to agree the roof be open or closed and not Wales alone.

Ireland said that they would prefair the roof open because rugby is a winter sport  and should be played in the open air and not under a roof indoors.

The default is open, both teams have to agree to close the roof. The WRU didn't check with Ireland first before requesting permission to close it.
This happens almost every year, I suspect part of it is them trying to make it clear that the fans getting wet and cold isnt their fault, it almost makes the opposition look like dicks when they have to publicly kick off about it. So there might also be some mind games and distraction going on, Gatland has certainly used it as a tool in the past.
Irelands specific response in this case was that last time they agreed to have it closed the pitch was intentionally over watered which made playing conditions even worse than they wouldve been if the roof had been open. How true that is I dont know, but it does again sound like the whole thing has become more about annoying the opposition and manipulating public perception that it has about spending a lot of money on a retractable roof to improve conditions for both fans and players.

Maybe next time they should build a stadium somewhere it doesnt rain as much, like Essex.

Gibson wrote:Well done Ireland U20's on their SLAM. If the kids can do it...

This game is HUGE. " Huger"  than 2009 even.  

And both squads are light years better than they were back then.

Its Kiwi v Kiwi, And English v English.  With a few Taffs and Paddies thrown in.

Cant call it. Cant wait.

Sexton to make the difference.

Enjoy the spectacle rugby fans.

This is a cool mature thread btw. Minimal gobshoites. What happened?

Great to see you post on here. Good luck for today mo chara, just maybe not too much luck ha.

Is a Gibbo post a good omen, btw?
A lot of manly kisses awaits him.....or a stoning. Whichever

The pessimist in me says Wales 16 Ireland 25

The optimist says Wales 22 Ireland 17

Right, that’s me done on here til after the game. Off out now.

Good luck all. Regardless of the result I hope it’s a cracker, like 2005. Or 2008. Or 2012. Or 2017! But not like 2009 or 2018, thank you very much!

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:Korfball gets boring after some time. Don’t worry Gibson, Guns is still an expert gobshoite

Look whose talking

Horrible weather today. So is it open or not?

Good luck to both teams. Whatever happens make sure you have a few

Come on Ireland!

Collapse2005 wrote:Horrible weather today. So is it open or not?

Opened at 11:30 this morning. Which really sucks for anyone who went there early to watch the Italy game on the big screens.

Apparently they also opened it for Irelands pitch run out yesterday just to make them do it in the rain, not that anyones got childish about this.

SecretFly wrote:Is a Gibbo post a good omen, btw?
A lot of manly kisses awaits him.....or a stoning.  Whichever

I hope so Fly. Wales favs for good reason. A team who really have forgotten how to lose.

Stoning and kisses?  What a combo. Im in.

Enjoy the game peoples. Good to touch base with ye after a long time. It was 2009 when Welsh Cari and I opened up a Virtual Pub. 10 years ago. Man. Just had a pre-game chat with her earlier. She lives close by the stadium.  

I'm watching it from the Dam.





Forza Italia!

Butler manages to talk through the start of the minutes silence.

Loves the sound of his own voice

Canny start for Wales

Well that's a decent start.

Wales off to a flyer ....

Followed by great defence.

What a start by Wales. Perfect first two minutes.

Am I the only one who thought trips were cards?

Parkes great cover tackle.

Tackles like that win matches.

formerly known as Sam wrote:What a start by Wales. Perfect first two minutes.

Am I the only one who thought trips were cards?

Parkes great cover tackle.

Usually a card, but it may have been deemed accidental.

LondonTiger wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:What a start by Wales. Perfect first two minutes.

Am I the only one who thought trips were cards?

Parkes great cover tackle.

Usually a card, but it may have been deemed accidental.

That's a very generous decision then because he slides in and kicks his leg out to definitely take Earles down.

Wales getting the scrum pen and now another maul pen. All over the Irish.

Difficult to say if it was accidental or not, looked worse in slow mo ... but if accidental is it a penalty?

Couple of big turnovers for the Irish, steadying the ship.

Atmosphere very flat, oddly. Guessing the rain isn't helping.

Going to be an interesting game this one....

About time Wales were done for a high tackle

If they keep this pace up it'll be exhausting ...

Ireland haven’t turned up.

Wales making ground to easy

Heaf wrote:Difficult to say if it was accidental or not, looked worse in slow mo ... but if accidental is it a penalty?

As soon as you leave your feet and slide tackle another player it's a penalty. Definite kick out of the leg to catch Earles when he doesn't initially go to floor.

Wales attack has been pretty mediocre for most of the tournament but it's turned up today. Defence is excellent as per usual. Ireland haven't got out of second gear.

Ref is awful

Another cheap shot from wales

TightHEAD wrote:Another cheap shot from wales

Calm down, dear.

Gareth Davies is an idiot, what a waste...

TightHEAD wrote:Ref is awful

I thought he'd done ok so far. Little bit strict but probably wants to set out his stall early against two teams that like to compete at the breakdown.

Great defence by Wales.
Wales should be 13-0 up, but am grateful it's not 10-7 after Gareth Davies stupidity.
Davies is one of those players like Priestland or Cuthbert that Gatland likes to flirt with... an accident waiting to happen.

Hmm, pretty sure Tipuric came in from the wrong side. Great defence by Beard earlier.

The ref is too quick on his whistle, centre of attention so far

Tips was on from wrong side he became detached and rejoined

Was that a knock on by the Welsh scrum half...?

AWJs should be binned

Oh CJ you plank...

TightHEAD wrote:AWJs should be binned

A penalty rather than a scrum would be fair

Shocking

Quite a few players from both sides losing a little composure.

What a dumb error.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Was that a knock on by the Welsh scrum half...?

backwards fumble, but it lost time and put pressure on the kickers. Gareth Davies is having another poor game. Though quite a few players are under pressure by the look of it.

Yeah lots of mistakes...but players are being given no time..

This is one scrappy old game, they really should have shut the roof, it is not doing Ireland any favours

This game isn't the best advert for NH rugby.

Ireland slightly more offside than usual today

Anscombe kicking very well today, that is a decent lead now