Owens choked the call. He didn’t want to be the one giving Ireland a penalty to win the game.

It was abs put in so they’re always gonna get benefit of doubt on a scrum turned 90. Penalty at the end for off feet was worse

Bloody heartbreak braveest player Ireland have ever seen, in Bod we trust!

Spot on but I still think Murray was poor enough he just had a good platform to work from provided by the forwards today redden is so much quicker at distributing

You’re right Dylan. It’s known that New Zealand play very very close to cheating consistently. McCaw is a hawk at the breakdown and gets away with very dirty tricks. I don’t respect them like I used to.

Shocking decision by Poite. And Owen, who’s normally good, got that wheeling scrum call wrong. Back five weren’t running… they were dragged.

The ABs played very poorly so I wouldn’t be holding my breadth for next week !

Steady on. The Irish rugby team have always been one of the top nations in the world with some of the worlds most successful provinces, so its not surprising to see them compete against the worlds best team. Comparing apples and oranges there mate.

Rubbish. Yes the rugby team put in a great performance but why compare in to the Spain game. And did you forget the rugby team got thrashed last week as well. Why can’t we support all our teams without giving digs to the others.

Well said warren

it’s a very fair comparison. the reason for the lack of current world class talent in Irish soccer when compared to rugby is down to organisation and effort put in at grassroots level. the IRFU have better policies in place than the FAI. Simple as that.

@Simon

Completely agree. I was at a schools All-Ireland soccer final a few weeks back. They didn’t know where it would be played until that week. They made speeches at the end of the game but you couldn’t hear them because they had no PA system. The match “programme” was a single A3 page back and front with the names of the players. And then the coup de grace. They mixed the medals up. They handed out the medals for a 5 a-side competition. This was the final of a national competition. If you have this level of mediocrity from the FAI at grassroots, it’ll creep up through the organisation. The GAA or IRFU would not have had such a shabby set up for a national final. It was an embarrasment and an insult to the young players, their parents and their teachers that an All-Ireland final was played under such circumstances.

Well said Michael, and there is also the fact that youth development is centered around being physically big and not on skills or passing. My younger brother and cousin played in the Wexford football league at the same time as Kevin Doyle was playing in it. They both say he was nowhere near the best player in the league, yes he was good, fast and physical but many unknown players would have wiped the field with him…do we see these guys playing for Cirk city or Shelbourne or Bohemians or Rovers and being scouted by UK clubs??? No…because we dont admire or even encourage skill levels here in Ireland…its all route one…lump the ball to the big centre forward with usually stalemates of mediocrity in midfield and cynical bad boys who will break your leg if you have the audacity to drop the shoulder and send him the wrong way. Rugby, being a game designed to be played by people of all shapes and sizes naturally mitigates against this to a degree and skills have as much a place as size and strength…while GAA sports especially hurling is a game where skills are paramount. Also the way soccer is being refereed now there is virtually no contact allowed of any sort…thus further relegating the big physical lump to the evolutionary scrap heap. If Lionel Messi was irish, he’d never get anywhere near the Irish team…the youth team coachs would all say of this diminutive teenager, “he’s too small”…”would never win a header in midfield”…”none of the other players can play with him because he doesnt want to lump it forward”…”he’s a bit of an arrogant little shit with all this passing and moving lark, and I hated arrogant little flashy gits when i was in my hayday before i became a coach, I used to put them up in the heavens”…”whats this, he expects my midfielders to be able to play a one-two pass aswell???” Thats all that matters in the underage soccer game….winning….and in those developmental days the big ignorant lump will beat the skillful little guy (who probably hasnt perfected his passing and moving abilities yet and will give the ball away sometimes). If Lionel Messi was Irish, he’d be playing knockabout soccer on the village green with his kids…and Sunday league football, because Might is Right…and Bigger is always Better!!!

Are you having a laugh? Hurling played by the majority? A great sport but your idealism is pretty way off the mark. The IRFU are very well organised. Same can’t be said for FAI. Just because a sport is amateur doesn’t make it any better than another. Pride in the parish and all that. I’m sure Seanie Johnston agrees with you.

You missed the point.

I’ve never seen or heard of irish fans celebrating a loss.

The Irish football team didn’t deserve it end of! anyway this isn’t about football it’s about the rugby boys, well done Ireland you fought hard!