Ireland - the World's best team?

If the All Blacks had lost yesterday, Ireland would have taken the top position in the IRB rankings. It would have been a first for Ireland, and perhaps only the second time a Northern Hemisphere had ever lead the IRB rankings.

The standard of rugby has improved in Europe- as more and more South African and New Zealand players opt for a bigger pay cheque. Players not guaranteed of test rugby positions are just leaving, and some are even sacrificing test rugby for a better pay cheque. 

The Northern Hemisphere outside backs have improved, but the main area is their forward packs are very competitive at the rucks. They also accept 3-year residency schemes with Ireland a United Nations team, including the likes of Al Bundee.

The Southern Hemisphere has led the IRB in the professional era (last 30 years) for around 95% of the time, often in first, second and third position.

Even Argentina although fairing badly in the IRB rankings, have done well in the World Cup tournaments with 2 semis.

If the Boks were as good as results suggested in the 4 nations, then the EOYT should be easy- but that is not the case at all. 

While the Springboks have improved judging by the results on the 4 nations, the current All Black team is not looking as dominant as usual. The player drain to Europe may be finally starting to take its toll on New Zealand... The combinations are not as refined as in the past- and some of the more established players are no longer as certain for the next world cup.

Ireland -Best halfback combination in world rugby. Excellent at playing 10 man territory and kicking rugby- and very able to play XV man rugby. Their ball retention and ruck play are exceptional and combined with their kicking game enough to beat a team like the Boks. Helped themselves to players from around the world such as Al Bundee. 

Scotland - Improved immensely - and easiest their best team ever. Playing XV man rugby for the first time, while their packs has always been solid.

England - had a good few years of Eddie Jones, but then the wheels fell off. John Mitchell may be able to bring new life to the coaching team and game plan- even if he is only a short-term solution due to his people management skills.

Wales - Another team that on their day is good. Probably not good enough to beat the current Boks or All Blacks. 

France- Traditionally the best team in Europe, have had over 10 years of being terrible. They finally seemed to have turned the corner.

Australia- completely lacks a tight five, and will never be a factor in a world cup or EOYT tournament. 

South Africa-  The Springbok forwards have no answer to the rucking and fetching ability of Northern Hemisphere teams on wet pitches, and their superior kicking games.  

The Boks have serious depth issues in certain positions- where many of the second choices are not test-rugby standard- and there is limited time to blood new combinations before the world cup. The Bok Pack is solid- but loosies could have more depth and could be exposed at the breakdown. The backs are very short on depth an injuries could mean disaster

1. Scrumhalf- Very limited options outside of Faff. The only kicking game we have.
   
2. Flyhalf- Jantjies is inconsistent- especially in wet weather and rush defence, while Willemse is not getting enough game time to be the backup flyhalf
   
3. Inside centre- Delande and Carhuizen are limited
   
4. Fullback- No real backup to Leroux as Willemse is more of a flyhalf, and unlikely to have the game time to compete. 

For New Zealand,  Unlimited resources for SuperXV high tempo rugby, but lesser so in tight 10 man games including rush defences and territorial kicking. 

1. Retallack is the only real enforcer in the pack that is also mobile. They have chosen bigger tight five players during this years 4 nations in his absence- but at the expense of mobility. Some could only play one half over this weekend test vs Boks, and they were subbed. Retalick is the mongrel with mobility. 
   
2. Beuden Bharatt the world player of the year has been exposed as a flyhalf that cant control tight matches and or rush defences. The likely hood is that he will be moved to 15, which means the starting flyhalf in the world cup (Mo-unga) may not have much test experience. by the world cup. The third choice cashed in his chips and is already playing in Europe.
   
3. Sonny Bill has forgotten how to offload and is too injury prone, and it is unclear what the combination will be in the midfield.
   
4. Ben Smith is a smart player, but will they opt for bigger wingers if Beuden plays at 15.
   

The England series was a god growth period for them. Don't be fooled by the series loss. This is not going to be an easy team. 

Ireland are very strong. Their work in the Aussie series was first class. They smashed Pocock off the ball, very quick to clean and very accurate. They function very well as coherent combinations. Australia played their best rugby this year against Ireland, they threw everything at Ireland and still lost. They both would have beaten the Boks playing like that!

The NH is overtaking the SH. It has successfully broken up the "big 3". The gap between 3rd and 9th in reality isn't very big. Its great for world rugby, but not so great for our record. I touched upon this recently.

Going into the world cup year, Ireland and England are the most complete teams. New Zealand has learned a lot about itself in this RC. They have good information to review and the Kiwis are exceptional at problem solving. They have a strong player pool.

The Boks have the emergence of a strong player pool. We may just be ready for the World Cup. In spite of some of Rassie's mistakes, there is an identity to the team. Its been a very big leap for the team. Comparing the England series to the RC, there was an enormous step up. The team got better. As much as I critiqued some of Rassie blunders, he has done a lot of good work. I hope he learns from these and wishes up to some of he chaff he selected. We can be very strong.

Up north, we'll have to compete very well at the breakdown. The NH sides can stall our game. Thankfully the kicking has improved a bit. We can Ill afford the likes of Notshe, Koch, Damian et al. 

The upcoming NH tour will tell us a lot about the AB readiness for the RWC but I bet Hansen is still testing to see which players to take (there are still some undecided selections or question marks). He will want to win but he will be prioritizing being ready for the RWC itself so if the price is a loss he won't cry about it. I doubt we will hear "peaked too soon" bleating as ABs won't show all their cards either.

I think Sonny is finished. At least he should be. Within their payer pool, I don't see very much scope for change. Not a bad thing, as they set the bar so high as it is. 

I hear this a lot lately but I want to see him after a few more games. IMO he is working his way back into form.

If the ball is slow, just sit a little deeper and probe with kicks or go wide. If the line is condensed, cross kick. Simple options if he sees what's in front of him. I still think he is too green though.

We have good cleaners, but the Irish pack is a mobile unit. They attack the rucks fast. The line speed of the NH sides is much faster. They contest possession with greater intent. Most of our forwards will be okay, but the likes of Kolisi will be thoroughly tested. I'd drop him for Louw. I wonder how Whiteley is doing. A bit think at 8. There is always Jean-Luc. It's a shame that Rassie will stick with Kriel and Damian. That severely limits what we can do. Kriel less so. When is Mapimpi coming back? What about Nkosi? 

If Ireland played in NZ  this year instead of France they would be 3rd or 4th .

Barrett scored more tries vs the Aussies in ONE test than Ireland in THREE tests ,and Ireland barely scraped in on both winning tests.

If NZ are on song we will see Ireland get hammered.

I wonder sometimes about whether Mozart and AO know what they are writing.   When I said that SBW is one of the weak spots  in the AB team - they went bananas about I wrote and carried on about he will over-power De Allende - which never happened.

New suddenly they have seen the heaven opening up and they also realize that SBW is declining in performance as is normal with players over 30.

For years the two has suffered from age mania about players.   When they were told about the issue of declining performances they raved about the players who were already past their sell-by date.  The older the better and they refused to see the bugger=ups made by the elderly - the Japan disaster was a typical case in point.   Of somebody else pointed out the real  bugger-ups by for instance Matfield in matches the result was pages of excuses.  

One would have thought that they would learn something about the decline in performances of the elderly and the useless.   So now they are again raving about three 33 year-olds.    

*    When it was pointed out that Beast's scrumming power is on the decline - they went bananas and insisted that he should be in the starting line-up u to the WC.

*    Then there is Louw - who has failed repeatedly in test matches this year,   The cover-up of the failures were amazing and the praise-songs even more so.

*     The third player is Vermeulen.   He was brilliant in the first two English tests in June and struggled to be average in the third test.   He then went off to play in Japan missing out on the whole SR series,     Now it is rumoured that he may be in the EOYT squad and that he would play Super rugby next year,   We all know that players coming back from Japan is notoriously unfit and as a result injury-prone.   What will happen in his case - but cannot see how he as 34 year-old will meet performance requirements in the WC next year.

So carry on and keep us amused - petty ignorance is always a joke. LMAO          

Sounds like BS Sharkbok ...NZ would've been # 1 regardless...show us the maths

...not so clever mike how about forming a forum fantasy league for the European Champions Cup ... you can show us what you know about European rugby

And you can't talk about Ireland without mentioning James Lowe . Will he qualify to play for the Irish before the next RWC is the question. Currently he is in scintallating form and would be an automatic selection. 

How dopey was Hansen to let him go . A decision that could come back and bite NZ in the butt.... Although i am happy for him to be the toast of Europe at the moment. 

Did  Lügnerin? I rated Sonny behind Crotty and Laumape. I've been very consistent with this. I wasn't expecting much from Sonny other than a few offloads. I didn't speak very much about Damian vs Sonny actually. In fact, I can't recall anything specifically, though I did laugh at Damian  being run over by Sonny in Super rugby. 

Consider that Sonny is coming back from injury. As anonymous as he was, he didn't make anywhere near the amount of errors. Damian was terrible on defence and slowed the entire attack down. Exactly what I have been saying he'd do all RC. 

Lets form context here for the info of the leading BSers on site.    The lie about what AO write on site is clear it was all-out attack on De Allende and how SBW would play the fool with him.   Mozart was onto the same story - when I warned them about the fact that SBW was not the player he used to be;   

Now suddenly they came up with the BS about the few times SBW had the ball in the last test - sure but what they  ignored was his 25% mtr and the penalty he gave away.

One must wonder about their sanity as well.   I mentioned that both Crotty and Laumape would be better selections at 12 = now suddenly AO claimed he initially supported the selection of Laumape.   Dishonesty rule supreme in their case.   By the way this is going to be followed by posting of the thread on the issue - with their contributions changed,

Another weird issue on site is that AO and Mozart still have the 10 man game as the key to all rugby.   Accusing Ireland of playing the ten man game only is not only weird, but also totally foreign to he game played this week and one has to bear in mind the following facts:-

*   AO as Lurker wrote a long precis of the Meyer game plan he alleged was used - and when challenged and asked about how the backline players fit into the gamne plan - all he came up was defense.   

*    Mozart shamelessly wrote that 90% functions of the flyhalf entails the kicking of balls.   Both are fierce defenders of Morne - the epitome of a kicking flyhalf wit virtually nothing to add to that.   I wonder what Sexton would say if he foun out he is categorized by the two in the same league as Morne.

*   Both disregard completely the scoring of tries in matches.   In response to their constant attack on Erasmus I referred to the fact that the teams of both Meyer and Du Toit played the   same teams in their initial year as coaches,   I then went on and referred to various aspects where the 2018 team performed better than the 2012 tam - one of which was the scoring of tries and points scored by the two respective sides in 2012 and 2018 respectively.   Neither responded at all.   The same was noteworthy about the fact that three tries were in fact scored by backline players on Saturday - their silence on the issue was deafening and in their initial responses there were no mention of tries scored.

In essense the two support 10 man rugby and disregards completely the scoring of tries,   Unfortunately the 1 man game is not played by any country anymore and the fact that they said Ireland does is in fact a joke ibn bad taste.

I do agree with most posters about what the posters says about quota players and I think the inclusion of Jantjies as back-up flyhalf and Willemse as the back=up full abck and wing was a huge mistake made by Erasmus.

In that regard the latest  bout of support for Jamtjies by our ridiculous two after years of failure on test level is ridiculous = I think that Jantjies should not be in the test side at all.    Worse still fact is that Willemse I believe never played at full back fir the WP or the Stormers.  To expect from Willemse to cover that position on test level is rather ridiculous.   

I believe that the better choices on the bench should have been Willemse at 22 and Bosch at 23.   That would still not disturb the quota selections at all.   There are various other options he could have followed as well.   He could have brought Augustus in as loosie and eave the door open for the selection of a player like Combrinck in as back-up wing and full back or select Nkosi to start on the wing and use  Kolbe as back-up full back.     Augustus could never be worse than Louw was in the test matches he played in this year. 

Whether we like it or not  the quota issue remains a problem in SA rugby.   Meyer under much less pressure  made a balls-up of it - selections like Mohoje and Paige are examples of that.   Coetzee's selections were a nightmare of huge proportions whether it involves the quota system or not.   

Erasmus is feeling  much more pressure on the issue than Meyer ever did - but at least he is trying desperately to ensure that there are some merit in his quota selections.  He tried a wide range of players and rejected most of them after the Wales test.  Other than the dead head statement that building a competitive squad for the WC next year is not important - there are likely to be further experimenting of players to really  identify whether there are ways and means to reduce the impact of a BS policy by at least  selecting some really acceptable players without weakening the team as a whole too much.

Well no NZ are ranked #1. ABS lost the RC in 2014. And won the RWC year later. So too early to gauge. Cos of the Lions series, and the Boks loss. I think ABS well win the WC. It forced them to refine their gameplan. And the win ova the Boks. Showed they learnt their lesson in adapting. As for Richie at 10, and BB at 15 nxt year. Well that is not even going to happen. Hanson has already said repeatdily. BB is the incumbant at Ten, and they well not be moving him to fullback for the RWC. Regardless of RM Potential Ability. He's a back up 10, as Damian is. 

Hansen is cunningly putting players in positions they are not familiar with to see how they respond - and he sells it to everyone by simply stating the simple truth that sickness and injury to players in those positions have forced his hand to do so. Addie Savea at 8, Ben Smith at wing, Mackenzie at 10 / Wing / FB etc The Lions Series saw the SBW Redcard and how the ABs responded. The 2011 RWC saw Dan Carter and then Aaron Cruden succumb to injury = Donald was white bait fishing but he knew what was required of him. This year Super Rugby and Mid Year Tests and the RC saw Coles, Moody, Retallick, Crotty, SBW injured and various players sick with flu or stomack bugs and various players standing up. They are well drilled. I pray the 2019 RWC be an outstanding and awesome RWC with no injuries and no ref brain implosions for us to be thoroughly entertained and May the All Blacks win it again, the 2019 RWC.

if Hansen sticks with BB at 10 the AB are not going to win the WC,... and if the coaching staff stick with BB means that they have NOT "learnt their lesson in adapting" at all,... precisely the difference btwin losing to the boks and winning them was to introduce Mo'unga at nº10 and shifting Barrett to FB

BB is not a 10,... since the rushing defense is being applied putting pressure on the halves BB struggles and the backline is nulified,... it's not only the Lions series and the boks loss,... it's everytime he has faced a rushing defense,... each and every time,... it's the Irish losss, it's each SR game played against the saders, chiefs or landers this year, especially the SF against the saders where BB was completely nulified by the rushing defense while the canes' rushing defense couldn't stop Mo'unga, it's both games against the boks but also the game against the argies,...

when he's pressured he fails to manage the backline,... he takes the wrong options, kicks aimlessly and usually to the opposition hands, doesn't attack the line and goes always wide which significantly facilitates the defenses work, fails to put his teammates in game,....

his place at test level is at FB where he can take full advantage of his speed,... no other AB could have stand in that run against Diyanti,.... his instict and vision for the counterattack is second to none as it's his ability for the broken play (in opposition to his lack of ability for the structured game),... he's a natural FB and probably the best FB in the world once he'll have some tests there

sure @ABF, but players get carded, get injured and players switch positions on the field. It is dynamic. To say, BB should only play at FB with Richie Mo'unga at 10 is probably selling these dynamic players short. I want them to switch it up, make it fun, play what is infront of you and play total rugby for the full 80minutes.

What irritates me is how the ref rescues the Teams we are playing against and tries to level the playing field = THAT IS NOT YOUR JOB = case in point, the ref in the last Test Match against Argentina, the ref in the last Test Match against the Lions, Wayne Barnes in the 2007 RWC Quarter Final against France. Leave it alone, let them play.