Ireland totally dominates Welsh boyos

What a wipe out....the Welsh pack were nowhere. And in the centres O Driscoll and D'Arcy comfortably outplayed the tank Roberts and his partner. The incredibly decent Irish commentators, fairest in the business, made note of how D'Arcy gave away stones in weight, but brought players down first time with low ankle tackles.

Also of interest technically was Sextons high kick as an alternative to the usual drop when a kickable penalty was given. Why not go for the bomb landing on the goal line rather than the drop....a chance at 7 points and the kick to come if you lose possession.

I thought there were a few Welsh players who were quite dirty....Phillips for one. And that elbow to the head of Paddy Jackson after he scored, was particularly nasty.

Well done Ireland....more steak and less Kidney.

 Mozart

Three months ago we beat the Welsh - same team - with great difficulty and because the ref made a mistake in awarding the Springboks a try.

Three months later - the same Welsh team struggle dreadfully against the Italians - the latter team being beaten comprehensively by the French today,   Then the Irish wiped the floor with them.  

That worries me very much - was Wales really the strong opponent that we thought in evaluating the Springbok win over them - or were they struggling even then.  

The joke of the matter is - that if we played the Irish in the EOYT  - they would have wiped the floor with us as well - as they nearly beat the AB's against we lost badly because of poor defence by three of pour key players = two of which also played against the Welsh.

 I often thought the Welsh were a bit overrated especially captain warburton - seems like a good guy but IMO he's not even in top 5 open flankers in the game let alone top 10...

Lots to like about the Irish very physical pack and sexton is a very competent flyhalf - looking like the NH teams are shaping up nicely for a competitive RWC...

Wales tried to bully the Irish and it simply backfired -

Ireland v England and v France should be crackers...

Gotta love the February sporting calendar...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I concur Mozart - the winter Olympics coverage is just amazing to add to it all...

DId I mention I cannot wait till 730pm our time Wednesday night to see the start of the 1st test....

BTW the kiwis have lifted their cricket skills - well done defeating the Indians - notoriously bad travellers...

There are signs that England has the same problem SA has had for years - an inability to score tries.   They were on the attack against Scotland throughout the second half of the game and should have scored more tries - but did not.  That ultimately lead to the problem encountered by the Stormers and the Springboks and they get ultimately run over by opposing teams.

There is still three Rounds to go - but indications are that the 6 Nations will be won by either Ireland or France.   England's chances are remote and depend on whether the top two countries on the log gets run over.   Based on their performances thus far I do not give Wales much of a chance against France and Scotland should present no problem for them.  

The only hope England has is to beat Ireland and then hope that Ireland beats France by such a margin that they could get in through points difference.   That makes England's chances of winning the 6 Nations very small.

We shall see what happens in the Ireland - England game.  The Irish seems to be on such a high that I think their chances of winning are good.   It is always difficult to judge what will happen in French games.  It largely depends which French team turns up for the game - but the Welsh performances have been so weak thus far - ir is unlikely that they would make much headway against the French.   The other game is really irrelevant to the outcome of the series.              

Matey you sum up the argument for experience very well. When you have a superstar youngster....Habana, Jean, Schalk, Etzebeth in their youth....they demand to be selected. And once selected they immediatelt contributed, there was no need to wait 10 tests for them to get comfortable.

Hell NZ have kept immediate producers like Dagg and Barrett on the bench while more experienced players were retained. When a kid wins his NZ place, it's not because he showed promise, it's because he simply wont be denied.

I agree some of the oldsters wont make it....but some will and the team will be better off for it.