I know Becs is probably a little disappointed but England tried hard with minus one player but that's the game today. England however never looked like they were ever going to score a try.
I like Irelands speed and their new style. I'm happy with the way they are now playing. France did not come up to expectations yesterday by the score margins yesterday and Moz said it was a poor game.
Well done Ireland.
England can be very proud of how they played. Going down to 14 players really galvanized them and the vocal home supporters did their part in lifting their teams. You could see how hard they fought and how much they wanted it, celebrating every little win in the game. Going down to 14 players they had no choice but to double down on what are England's traditional strengths, physicality, the set piece and kick chasing. The absolutely wiped the floor with Ireland's scrum and they pressured Ireland into many mistakes. However it was always likely that when playing with 14 men for so long they would tire and that's exactly what happened. The last 15 minutes they where out on their feet and Ireland finished them off.
Ireland on the other hand, well its harder to call. Normally Irish fans would of taken your hand off before the ga me if you told them we would win with a bonus point and of the two teams they where the only ones who played attacking rugby though England didn't really have that option and Ireland always looked like they had potential to score when they got into England's have but they made a load of unforced errors in addition to penalties caused by English pressure. Silly penalties and forcing too many offloads in the tackle. They did do some nice attacking plays at times but they looked over eager to exploit the player advantage, going wide too early. Scrum was obliterated, with Andrew Porter not playing we look pretty vulnerable there.
Still will take the win and move on, and hope the English can do us a massive favour in Paris next weekend. If not 4 wins from 5 won't be a bad return for our 6 Nations campaign.
To me the biggest surprise was the poor performance of Furlong in the scrums. I can’t recall him being serially vulnerable before.
Just wish we had played like that with 15 on the pitch this 6 Nations !!
No complaints from me about the Red Card, nor the result. The draw would have been nice and I don’t think the score fully represented the match but I hadn’t expected a win anyway.
Our inability to score tries is becoming terminal and, having never been an Eddie fan, I just wish he’d do the decent thing and go. But I know that’s never going to happen regardless of being so close to a RWC.
Is there a difference between national foul play and international foul play... lol
As much as I agree with Saffex, players that don't know by this time that going above the shoulders for a tackle leaves you open for a red card if you accidentally hit the head or neck need to catch a wakeup. You simply can't do it anymore and those not willing to learn and adjust will keep letting their teams down by copping marching orders for "accidents".
Agree Pakie, accidental vs deliberate will just add to the already confusing rules.
But the millions watching shouldn’t be punished. Red card the player….he can’t come back, but allow the team to substitute a different player . Then if the card is upheld, ban the player for 6 weeks.
That way we still have a contest and the punishment of the individual is sufficiently heavy to deter deliberate foul play.
Yes there will always be unavoidable clashes. Moz's idea of a replacement being allowed for a red carded player is solid.
