Ireland - just wasn't to be

 

Sometimes you want to write poetry. Sometimes you don’t want to talk about it.

The weekend started with an intense close encounter between Wales and the Springboks. By this stage of the tournament, the cupboard was bare for Wales. They didn’t have anything left except trying to bash through the Boks. And if anyone is the master of bashing, it’s the Springboks, tirelessly taking the ball up, until the Welsh were absolutely exhausted and South Africa could nick it at the end. It’s no frills, bare necessities from the Springboks, enough to win, enough to take them any further though?

After that, a rugby masterclass from the All Blacks, decimating France, tearing them limb from limb. Imperious from New Zealand, but just so sad to see France with so few ideas, and so uncompetitive.

Then it was our turn to step up and take the challenge, and this occasion, we came up short. No lack of effort, but, apart from a 20 minute purple patch, we were always on the back foot. And whatever about our performance, Argentina played out of their socks, they looked they could score at will. That French match just took too much out of us, we didn’t have the energy, and missed our three forwards. Madigan was superb, and so was Best. Just wasn’t to be.

In the final match, Scotland had a win cruelly  snatched from their grasp in the last minute. There was definitely a touch of luck about how they took the lead at the end, but not about how they played the game, their best game of the last 10 years. Australia looked brilliant and ordinary in equal turns. I will say this though, that group of death with England, Australia and Wales, took a huge amount out of the Welsh and the Wallabies.

South Africa 23 – 19  Wales   
France 13 – 62 New Zealand
Ireland 20 – 43 Argentina
Australia 35 – 34 Scotland

Some thoughts on injuries, and let me at the quarter finals!

 

 Paul O'Connell ( picture http://bit.ly/1Mtsp6y )

A quick word on the injury toll this world cup.

Already 34 players have been replaced because of injury from the point when the 31-man squads were finalised to the end of the pool stage. At the same point in the 2011 World Cup, there had been 16 withdrawals.

Players are on average 9kgs heavier than the last world cup, and just play too much rugby. Whereas in America's National Football League there are only 16 regular season games in a season, England first five-eighth George Ford played 32 matches for club and country last season.

Our own Jonny Sexton was known as Jonny Vaccances for the amount of time he spent injured during his Racing Metro stay. With concussion a hot topic, the amount of games being played really has to be looked at.

And now, on the quarter finals!

First up on Saturday is the real heavy weight contest between South Africa and Wales. It’s unlikely to be a feast of running rugby, Wales have a strategy of seeking as much contact as possible, and the Springboks are the biggest team in the tournament, and pride themselves more than any other team in their physical approach, formed deep in their psyche as the way ‘real’ men play rugby. I’ve added in some effects for you to stick on you TV screen to enhance the experience!

 

 For Wales scrum half  Gareth Davies is one of the finds of the tournament, their best player so far for me, although Dan Biggar’s kicking has been awesome. South Africa actually have a better running backline than Wales should they choose use it. Wales don’t seem to have a plan B when smashing into the other team doesn’t work, so I’m going with South Africa.

France v the All Blacks is another  mouth watering prospect, so much to look forward to and enjoy. The French are the New Zealanders bogey team, and All Blacks have been under par by their high standards so far. And the French, what can you say? The biggest game of the last four years, and what do they do? Fire the coach on the eve of the match. It’s just so French, just so ‘We don’t care, we’ll do what we want, when we want, and if we want’. You have to have a bit of sneaky admiration for the cussedness of it! They so could win this, but I think this all Black team is just good and too organised.

Ireland head into their quarter with Argentina, shorn of a few players, but not down hearted and pretty realistic about the challenge ahead. The team is in a fantastic place when they lose of the best Irish players of all time, have doubts over Jonny Sexton, no Peter O ’Mahoney and have the Tullow Tank parked in the shed, but still  have the players to step in and take up the challenge. Argentina have a great team and have been playing fantastic rugby. But when you hear them talking about how well they can do at this World Cup…easy Tiger, you have beat Ireland before you can do well at the World Cup! I’ve no doubt that Joe Schmidt has the plans in place to rein their running game, and then their discipline is not always great, so I could see a yellow card for them easy enough. So basically, we’re going to win!

Finally Australia get to take on Scotland. Form suggests that this will be the least competitive of the 4, but Scotland know that this is knock out rugby now. They can play a nigglingly physical game, where the other team gets sucked down into endless tackles and mauls, they bang over a few penalties, and surprise!  I also don’t know how Australia will react to the ‘favourites to win the World Cup ‘ tag, and if they struggle early on, Scotland have a chance, But I’d be surprised to see Australia lose.

Finally, a quote from Jono Gibbs, former All Black, and Leinster player and coach , eloquently making his point: “Nobody in Rugby should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”

Saturday, October 17               
MATCH        TIME  (BST)    TV    LOCATION
South Africa v    Wales     4:00 PM        Twickenham Stadium, London
France v    New Zealand     8:00 PM        Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Sunday, October 18               
MATCH        TIME  (BST)    TV    LOCATION
Argentina v    Ireland     1:00 PM        Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Australia v    Scotland     4:00 PM        Twickenham Stadium, London

Ireland deliver in fine style!

Joe Schmidt (picture http://bbc.in/1Mm7McF)

New Zealand took on Tonga on Friday and got a good win. But they don’t quite look like the professional child eating monsters that obliterate all before them, like the 15 terminators we’ve been expecting. Tonga kept it decent for quite a lot of the match, and pulled enough errors out of the All Blacks to give everyone else a bit of hope.

Samoa v Scotland gave the real Samoans a chance to stand up, this was the form we’d been expecting from them in every match. Both teams started like a house on fire, but as the game wore on the Samoans started  running out of steam, Scotland gained the upper hand, got a try – then generously let the Samoans back into the match to torture their fans unmercifully until they finally scraped home.

Wales v Australia was intense, powerful stuff to watch. The defining period of the match saw Wales camped on the Wallabies line for 10 minutes, 6 points behind, two man advantage, and an absolute bloody minded refusal by Australia to concede a try. That failure to score a try broke the Welsh, they continued to ship injuries, and won’t be looking forward to the Springboks. But with that sort of commitment, the Springboks won’t be underestimating their task. Australia meanwhile, look like the team to beat.

Argentina dispatched Namibia with ruthless efficiency, and if you enjoy watching 30 men wrestling, refereed by a tetchy Frenchman, Italy v Romania was for you. I unfortunately missed Italy get home in no particular style.

Then it was the big match of the weekend, the match of the tournament for Ireland, the match we’ve been anticipating ever since the draw was announced. Sometimes you want to write about what happened, sometimes you just want to write poetry! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such focus, such single mindedness from Ireland, that just got stronger as the match wore on, stronger as the injuries came, stronger the tireder they became. St Andre has  stripped most of the flair away from the French team, Ireland took the rest, pounding the French physically and mentally. I’ve rarely enjoyed a victory more! We have picked up serious injuries, we  haven’t won anything yet, but you just feel this team has more to give!




Finally, Japan rounded off a fairly tale world up, this time winning over the USA. They are the first team to win three first round matches and not go through.



Friday, October 9   
New Zealand 47 - 9    Tonga
Saturday, October 10   
England v    Uruguay
Samoa 33 - 36    Scotland
Australia 15 - 6    Wales
Sunday, October 11
Argentina 64 - 19    Namibia
Italy 32 - 22    Romania
France 9 - 24    Ireland