1. Ireland’s licence to compete
The best Irish performances in recent years have invariably been down to aggressive defence. Our players thrive on being given the freedom to come off the defensive line with speed and Ireland excel when they compete ferociously at the breakdown too. Both of those aspects were present against the All Blacks.
The visitors seemed genuinely put out at Ireland’s competitiveness in every area of the game, particularly in the first half. In the closing stages the Irish effort did wilt and that allowed New Zealand to make the 60 metres or so they needed for the winning try. Still, this is the template Ireland’s defence should operate under from now on.
2. All Blacks accuracy under pressure
Ireland’s excellence managed to restrict the Kiwis in terms of the usual attacking genius they show, but the final passage of play was a prime example of what makes them the best team in the world. There was no panic, just steely determination to get the score they knew they were capable of.
The handling skills were sublime and there was pure patience in the build-up, before Dane Coles finally released Ryan Crotty to cross the whitewash. Rucks were cleared out with precision and the fitness Steve Hansen’s men showed was impressive. Ireland didn’t deserve to lose, but the passage of play summed up the All Blacks’ power, accuracy and belief.
3. Ireland’s players are good enough
Much of the frustration around Ireland’s form in the last three years was down to the fact that there are world class players in this country. Ireland has failed to be the sum of its parts far too often in recent seasons, but today we saw just how good Ireland can be when their players are used to best effect.
Sean O’Brien did damage with his explosive power, as did Cian Healy. The sight of the prop running over the top of Richie McCaw will stick in the memory, but actions like that need to become a more common occurrence. Gordon D’Arcy was magnificent, as was Rob Kearney. Joe Schmidt now needs to ensure this level of individual performance continues. When Ireland’s best players turn up, they are a match for any team in the world.
Rob Kearney shows his dejection after one of his best Ireland displays ever. ©INPHO/James Crombie.
4. An incredible Test match
The All Blacks Rugby Championship clash against South Africa in October has been lauded as the best game of the year repeatedly, but this thriller in Dublin had everything to offer. Smashing tackles, searing line-breaks, deft offloads and an ending nobody could have made up.
The sheer physicality of Ireland’s challenge allowed them to dominate the first half, but the All Blacks grew into the game and enjoyed a large majority of possession in the second 40. Both teams showed their strengths, and both demonstrated weaknesses too. For sheer drama, Dublin has never seen the likes. An unforgettable game.
5. The Aviva Stadium comes to life
This was the encounter Ireland needed to finally make this stadium their home. Never before has the re-built Lansdowne Road crackled with such excitement for the Irish rugby team. The atmosphere as Ireland strove in vain to close out the game was deafening.
The memory of this encounter will live on into 2014, and there will be a keen appetite to fill the Aviva for the Six Nations. Ireland fans showed that they need no encouragement from the PA system, but rather an injection of passion from the players themselves. Ireland didn’t win, but this was still a special game and the real beginning of the Joe Schmidt era.
So many positives. But as O’Brien said ‘we lost’. Summer 2012, Ireland lose to the All Blacks in the last play with a drop goal from Carter. And all us Irish said they were brilliant, great performance, we can be proud of them and most of all this benefits the team as they’ll learn from this. A year later and this happens. And we’ll learn from it again apparently. No doubt there’s so much we can take from that game. To be honest the whole game bar the last play would Ireland really change a thing. Because mistakes do Happen sextons kick. Toners shoulder. Little knock ons. But the lady play. 60 metre Gain and letting them over the line?
Conor Murray’s box kick when we were trying to close out the game ?!?!?! Aaaarrrgh
Infairness to murray he kicked really well but when you are minutes away from history you do not kick the ball to the all blacks
There was still over two minutes to go. Murray was right.
Murray was sublime with his try, his tackles and his intensity.
Just a pity about those 2 box kicks at a crucial time of the game when it was obvious the way to go was up the jumper and keep possession.
That said it was a fantastic game of rugby.
Bo kick was pointless. What they should have done was recycled the ball and booted it back down behind the goals. Forced the All Blacks to re-start from own 22. Would have wasted all the or else forced them to run it from their own goal line all the whole way up the pitch.
You said it. It’s a kind of wild madness. One minute to go and all you have to do is keep the ball.
I don’t see why Murray’s box kick’s are even an issue. Even after his two late ones, we still had possession on their 22. The only relevant moment was the penalty against us which started their play which led to the try.
Pissing around with 4 minutes to go, on the half way line, against NZ, with Owens as ref is asking for trouble. He was right to change it up and try to pin them back and put them under pressure deep in their half. The execution could have been better, but like I said, we still ended up with possession on their 22.
We lost possession well after that box kick
Bollox , Keep possession has to be priority.
My point was that with the ebb and flow of psychic energy between two teams in a game like this box kicking away possession like that literally handed the ABs the momentum and it was from then on that we looked beaten.
Come off it, they had possession, then they lost it, and they didn’t lose possession because of Murray’s kick
Was lucky enough to be there today, can’t say many teams would have beaten us, crowd were amazing the lads were fired up. I’m not going to bemoan Nigel Owens although I really really would like to, suffice to say immense performance by Ire, so damn proud bring on the 6 nations.
Nigel was very generous to us on at least 3 occasions that I saw .
Admittedly my vantage point pitch side and roars of Nigel we’re not in NZ from myself and fellow crowd members may have clouded my judgement.
Classic comment … Auld match day chants . Nigel we are not in New Zealand !!!
I knew we were going to lose even after going ahead. Ireland always does. They dont have the killer instinct to win big games. Its been the same for years and is boring now. Moral victories are useless. Time to grow up.
“I knew we were going to lose”. alright George time to retire the I told ya so rhetoric. Nobody knew anything about that match until the final few seconds. We bet them over 80 minutes, they didn’t even beat us for eight seconds. Grow up.
Well Sean O Brien seems to agree with me.
When Ireland had the lead and control of the ball at 79.30 did you still think we were going to lose Conor?
Be honest now, no telling porkies….
Yea I did, it always happens against the big teams. They try to play to the whistle instead of going for another try and it always backfires. Always.
Conor you must either have a crystal ball or know nothing about rugby if you genuinely thought that Ireland couldn’t hold on to the ball for one more phase and then kick to touch for the win.
When it comes to the Ireland team I do have a crystal ball.
Show me where in the O’Brien article he agrees with you? He says he’s frustrated and it wasn’t good enough. Don’t see him saying anywhere he knew they were going to lose in the last few minutes. Sounds to me like you’re a self righteous know-it-all-after-the-event blow in rugby fan. Did you know the housing market would collapse too? Course ya did. You know everything!
He said they need to grow up. I dont know everything, thats just silly.
“They dont have the killer instinct to win big games”
What, like the World Cup 2011 match against Aus? We win plenty of big games.
Should never have kicked away possession and I would like to know where all the Darcy knockers are tonight ? A great performance against the best team in the world .
Darcy deserved to be knocked before this game. He is a fantastic player but his from of late? You canont just give a player test caps because hes been there since 99. He was immense today and his battle with Nonu? Nobody predicted that Darcy would challenge him the way he did. Players come in and out of form, when they’re out of form you need to look at other options. Imagine another player had the 12 shirt for the past year and performed the same as Darcy, we would be screaming to have him cut. But anyway onwards and upwards.
And the last time Darcy played against the AB we nearly did them as well
The missing of the penalty cost the game. From what I saw Murray had no option but to kick, we had run out of carriers after many phases, but we were bloody good and deserved more.
If we continue to do this aggressive hungry full on rugby there are great days ahead.
“Missing the penalty cost us the game”
Change the record. Only muppets and loosers speak like that. 15 man game
Well Jag man, the response was to a post which was linking the loss to Murray’s kick, and only a tosser like yourself would choose to defend the indefensible.
I’m a Massey Ferguson man myself.
Hang-on how is Murray getting the blame for this? Ireland regathered possession and had another chance to shut out the game but after that and conceded a penalty by Fitzpatrick going off his feet. You all forget Murray’s sublime kick after to touch that gain us valuable ground. This is more of Leinster fans blaming Munster players and vice-versa. We can focus on Sexton’s missed kick, Madigan not trusting the inside man (O’Brien) to take his man and marking Crotty on the wing, Toner’s penalty. Murray’s loose kick – or actually give credit to those players for the rest of their performance. Yes a moral victory is crap and we should be able to close out a game 19 nil up but don’t blame individual players for a defeat when you would credit the collective for a win.
I would be one of those Darcy knockers and credit where credits due he played outstanding , tommy bowe on the other hand was invisible and again Murray should never ever kick a ball regardless of its shape, he played well tho other than that..
Not scoring a single point in 40 mins cost us the game so ya sexton bottled it
Losers
I agree with all of the above except fir the one regarding Nigel Owens. He is an excellent referee but was bullied again today by the All Blacks. Slow runners, Richie McCaw refereeing the game continually. A schools referee wouldn’t take the constant chat.
Agreed. Nigel Owens let the AB’s get to him, constant bombardment. But still #1 ref
This result was so cruel can’t believe some of the vindictive comments. The squad and coaches gave their all for the win and came up a little short. That is sport and during the course of a game there will be miss reads and mistakes from everybody on both sides. On a good note it looks like we have a coach that can make us very competitive with other teams, that’s good.
Bang on, the team gave their all, stop not picking!
If Sexton concentrated as much on that kick as he did about running the clock down we’d have won.
He’s not to be trusted under pressure!!
You clearly only saw 20 seconds of the game or else can’t understand and never played rugby
I’d trust Jackson more than sexton at this stage and that last call by Owens was total bullish*t! Our guys would of stayed where they were had the AB kicker not moved but he clearly did. AB’s cheated to win
I think you need to have a read of the laws.
Watching the final play of the game, I was screaming at someone to commit a deliberate and obvious foul and concede a penalty. 3 points and the clock ran down and we’d have won. I think its what the All Blacks would’ve done had the roles been reversed.
Regardless I can’t find it in me to be critical of that Irish effort. It was incredible and unless anyone here has performed at that level of intensity at the highest level of sport I can’t see how they can knock that performance.
It was gutsy and raw. It took arguably the greatest rugby side of all time to deny us.
Pride restored. Good times to come.
In fairness mark if Ireland had committed a penalty then New Zealand would have run it, we would have had to retreat 10, possibly had a player binned and the outcome might not have been any different.
Possibly yeah, and I dont know how the lads usually do make the right decisions in such a technical game when they’re subjecting themselves to such brutality and physical effort.
When was the last time anyone saw a soccer player with a look on his face like Kearney when he was pushing himself to the limit sprinting for the line.
Full of admiration for them all
What’s soccer to do with this? I don’t see snooker players or badminton players with those looks either, and they are fine sports
Mark have you ever watched a game of rugby before today or any sport for that matter, firstly you reckon d all blacks would have taken the 3 points when they were 5 behind with the last play of the game… There are many sports where players push through d pain barrier and stretch themselves to the limit, not so long ago cesc fabregas buried a penalty for arsenal with a broken bone in his leg
Lol
Nah, I full agree with you Mark. Its not about whether they’d take the 3 points, its about killing momentum and slowing down play. Letting your defence get reset. Think we were a little bit naive but thats what happens when you’re on the verge of a historic win. We got nervous and were backing off, hoping for the whistle. If that was NZ, no way they’d allow any other team to march down the field like that… McCaw would in there lying on the ball, cynically getting his hands where they shouldnt be, and just taking the tempo out of the game.
But on a more positive note, Ireland were great. Amazing occasion. Brilliant performances across the board and just hope we can build on it going into the 6 Nations.
Sextons’s kicking is just not up to standard. General play and game management is superb but his kicking really lets him down, out of hand for touch and at goal.
At goal he is just not up to an international standard and this is coming from a Sexton fan.
Ive read so many comments here tonight and it annoys me that bery few seem to admit this. During the world cup we lost to Wales because Sexton choked. We lost today because Sexton choked. Ireland have been most successful when their kicking game is impeccable. Just thing 19-16 at Croke Park. Generally, we create enough kicking chances to win a game. OGara never let us down in that regard. Had he been first choice in world cup things would certainly have gone differently. Id have bet my house on him kicking that penalty. When Sexton stands up to kick any kind of pressure shot I worry. He LITERALLY cost us a win against the all blacks tonight. Some of you will talk about how everyone feels pressure but when it was the last kick of the game to win what happened? Cool, calm, precision from the All Blacks. Exactly what OGara gave for a generation. Sexton is a decent field player. He is a terrible kicker and a bottler. Not to mention a traitor. He doesnt deserve to wear the jersey. When I look at performances all over the field today I was proud, the atmosphere was tear jerking, yes there were mistakes made but only one player out there was a bottler. Just not good enough for international level.
John – you really don’t get it do you? Every player brings strengths and weaknesses to their game. It just happens that out halves have to bring a wider range than most players. I don’t agree that Sexton’s kicking is a weak part of his play – his stats are good. agreed O Gara was probably a better kicker – but Ronan was always weaker defensively to Sexton, and Sexton gets a back line moving better. So you have to look at everything each player brings to the game.
Yesterday’s result was bitterly disappointing – but you can’t fault the players – for 80 minutes they lead the current World Champions, who everyone agrees have improved since they won’t the World a Cup. They matched them physically, outplayed them in many aspects of the game, and unfortunately came up short in the end. I was very proud of the manner in which our team played yesterday. I hope it’s the beginning of a ‘Schmidt era’. The players can take confidence from this that they can compete with the best in the world – let’s hope they bring that confidence into the 6 nations.
Spot on sextons over hyped and his kicking game is no where near good enough. OGara would have pinned the all blacks in the corners every chance he got so we could defend higher up the pitch , hopefully he can teach sexton this in France but I don’t think that’s the way racing will set up
Another ‘heroic loss’ for Ireland getting very fed up of it. the crowd put Sexton off but he should have scored the penalty and the conversion miss he’s let his team down big time as did toner with his ridiculous attempt to interfere with the chaser to give away 3 points when we cleared our lines. Not scoring a single point in the 2nd half isn’t good enuf either.. Unfortunately another golden opportunity lost to beat the all blacks , individual errors cost us again.
Murray has to either stop or improve his box kicking. Sexton needs to cop on or Jackson or Madigan should start the Scotish game.
Hanrahan will eclipse them all…
Box kicking in my opinion is one of the stupidest strategies in any sport. Ireland needlessly kick away possession far too often. Today they deserved to win but stupidly kicked for touch with 2 minutes in the clock when they should have held out.
That pic of rob sums up totally how I feel aswell.
Ireland’s first try has to be a talking point. I felt Murray lost control before grounding.
Also the Aviva crowd booing the best team in world sport was a poor moment, Owens gave us a lot today and did his best to find something wrong with the NZ’s last score
Crap. He let them retake the kick.
Ireland lost because our kicker didn’t put his kicks between the posts.
No so called top notch kicker should have missed the penalty that
would have put us two scores ahead . A terrible miss .
Presume ur going home for the hols, down under??
I agree Joel it’s very poor form to boo another team like that have to say was always very proud of the respect irish supporters showed in Lansdowne road you could hear a pin drop when penalties and conversions were taken. Ironically some out halfs in the past have said the silence when taking kicks is more off putting than the heckling. Nigel Owens did everything in his power to find something amiss with the last AB try.
Regarding the grounding, since they changed the rules at the start of last year (open to correction on the date) a player no longer has to be in control for the grounding he/she just has to be in contact with the ball.
@Silver Fern
ahh here now! The Irish crowd was absolutely silent for all the New Zealand kicks but one. They had just seen their team concede an extremely close try in extra time and then have the kick taken twice. They were booing the decision to allow him to retake the kick. It was the right decision by Owens but no way the crowd could tell that at the time. An understandable and momentary lapse
David regardless it’s very poor form. Maybe if they had been silent he would have missed he hadn’t a perfect score himself at that stage.
Nonetheless great performance by Ireland in the first half pity they failed to score in the second because there would have been 4million people in the Aviva just as there were thousands in Thomond park in 78 if they’d managed the win.
@09celts a penalty in rugby is 3 points a conversion is 2 points
Nell
If Sexton hadn’t missed the penalty The AB’s would have needed two scores to beat Ireland a converted try and a drop goal or penalty. I presume that’s what Celt09 meant in his comment.
All Blacks played Australia a few months back in Christchurch I think. the All Blacks fans gave Cooper hell during every kick.
The NZ fans are no angels.
Exactly my point the AB’s aren’t used to the silence therefore it’s more off putting.
Also that AB team know what they’d go home to if they lost being treated like pariahs for loosing its a great incentive.
Since when Nell did you think I didn’t know that, we were 5 points
clear and we missed a penalty . It should not have been a difficult
kick but it was missed and it left us hanging on .
Better of save the victory against the all blacks for a game that means something and not a challenge match, a World Cup semi or final preferably
Whatever about Murray’s kick. Sexton shouldn’t have missed his. Buck stops with him.
I just think you don’t like sexton or at least that what it looks like. Everybody else’s miss reads or mistakes are fine and dont affect the result except for Sextons miss. Not a very good analysis
I think sexton is a cracking player and a great guy but he should have gotten that kick. Simple as
The buck stops with the collective of the team, not a single player, team success or failure is down to the team effort, as I look through these comments you see the lack of rugby knowledge and spite shining through. Credit is due to this team not because of a heroic failure, they would hate that but because they were competitive for 80 mins and if you can compete with the ABs today you can do it tomorrow. They missed out today and they do need to tighten down a few things but they all do, simple as that.
There were many moments in the match were Irish players lost their heads individually. Toner with that shoulder charge on the blockdown runner? Utter madness…
These things happen on the field. They lost as a team.
Sexton died for us today, carried an injury, all line kicks short so any fault is on the sideline calls
Great day , good performance, unlucky not to get a result… Q, Murray, why no Mention of the heroics of Mahoney, o Connell, Murray ..
Was down at the game, absolutely amazing spectacle.
For me, the turning point was about 20 or so minutes to go….I can’t pick an exact moment, but it seemed Ireland started to believe they could win, and their mentality started to switch to trying to run down the clock, rather than taking the game by the scruff of the neck. On the other hand, maybe they just started to run out of steam.
Either way, they can be proud of how they played.
Ireland werent good enough simple as. They were good but good enough. Failing to score in second half sums it up really and not defending properly to the end.
That and Sexton cacked himself again on the big occasion.
Sorry Anto golden a Mayo fan is not allowed to comment on players cacking themselves
Ye are the world champions in cacking it ! The Irish team did their best and it just didn’t go
Their way today.
I thought that was the best game of rugby that Ireland have played for years. The team came together, played well as a unit and defended as if their lives depended on it. There was so much commitment and belief in ALL of them. I can’t remember ever seeing us play with so much pride and conviction. Did we make some mistakes….yes. Did New Zealand make mistakes…hell yes. But we still came within inches of beating the World Champions. I don’t care what anyone says, the loss cannot be blamed on any one player….nor is a match won by one player. What I saw was a rattled Richie McCaw and a marked Ma’a Nonu. I’ll definitely be taking more positives into the 6 Nations. I wonder how many reds I’ll get for not slagging off our lads?!
Tell roy keane vs juventus in 99 that one player cant win a game, or again against holland, or sherlock in 95, zidane in 98 against brazil, del piero in 96 euro final, O’Connell in 07 against Italy, O Gara against England. Often great games are decided by one individual player or one moment. Real men take them and enter the annals of sporting history like the above, others wimp out under pressure. Sextons kick was an easy on by any standards. He choked under pressure yet again and instead of being the hero he cost a triumphant Irish side a victory against the All Blacks
2012 and the All Blacks had to score a three pointer at the close to win. 2013 and they required a converted try. As bleak as things may seem that is progress. With most teams it’s enough to be in front at full time, with the All Blacks you need to be 7+ points ahead at full time. A valuable lesson.
As a New Zealander I enjoyed the All Blacks’ win and the successful attainment of the perfect year but I’m split over whether it was worth it for the cost of again seeing Brian O’Driscoll’s heartbreak. The man is one of my very favourite players and he has deserved to be part of the team to get the elusive win over NZ; he has wanted and deserved it probably more than anyone on the planet. Nothing would have made me happier than to watch that man celebrate a win over the All Blacks, perfect year be damned.
Is “unlucky” a new word for bottlers?
It actually sickens me to think we were so close and didn’t win .we can be proud but still we were so close to beating the best team in the world our next step is to keep up that consistently for the next 2 years leading up to the World Cup and during it
Sexton bottled it. Remember he is one of the best payed players in world rugby and he stuffed two relatively straight forward kicks. As for Murray,he gave any young scrum halves an example of what not to do when pressures on. Dont panic,dont kick the ball away to the most capable counter attackin team in the world. I hope Joe held no punches,i hope there were no pats on the back,no ‘bad lucks’. Professional players crumbled and played liked amateurs letting down the rest of the team. Please let us drop the ‘irishness’ from our sports. Expect to be and beat the best when we can.
Bit off topic but I’d love to see hanrahan get called up for the 6 nations, if he can get a consistent run in the munster team. IMO he has the potential to be Ireland’s best 10 ever, all the lad needs is more playing time
JJ’s main area for improvement is that he has to learn how to leverage his undoubted skills to the benefit of the team and style of play. Right now, in my mind, he hasn’t perfected how or when to launch a kick, pass it inside, cross field kick, etc – but there’s an exciting spark about Double Jesus, hopefully Penney can nurture this. I’d put him ahead of Jackson, but a fair distance from Madigan.
Yeah I agree. But jj is only 21. He is at 95% accuracy this season and on a run of 12 straight kicks. He is going to be a Munster and Irish legend. He surely has passed Keats at this stage. Cant wait to see him have a run of games with Murray.
What a great game. We brought everything power, passion, pace and intensity. Even from the get go you could see POM reaction, ok we could have won but what a performance, tell me now who fears us in the 6 nations,
Another Ireland nearly got there, so typical we just do not have the killer instinct, we can say the missed kick by sexton but NZ missed a kick also, Murray’s try was ?? great performance just not good enough Murray was brilliant and o Connell showed great leadership. can’t believe Luke Fitz was even on the bench tho
Really sick of the comments blaming Sexton. He missed two kicks, it happens. Otherwise he was superb. Best display by an Irish team since England in Croke park.
Alone it Stands ’78
Ah Jaysus are ye still crying over the loss of this friendly match. In fairness it doesn’t say a lot for the skill level of rugby players when one if the highest paid players in the game missed a kick a little over 20 yards out and slightly right of the posts. A middling GAA junior footballer would knock that over with his eyes closed and wouldn’t even need a kicking tee!
There is no ‘friendlies’ in rugby nothing friendly about any of the hits yesterday..
I know it’s not the same as soccer but in the end it was only a friendly and won’t matter if we can repeat that level of performance in February.
I don’t think we will have to wait too much longer for the win over the all blacks.
One man had the chance at his feet to win the game. He bottled it. Sexton chocked on an easy kick with the world looking on. Would I? Maybe. But I don’t get paid €400, 000 a year to do what he was asked to and has been training all his life to do. He bottled it.
All other b#llsh!t about losing as a team is tripe. They could have won. The team put themselves in a position to do so. The man they look to to finish the job didn’t. To say otherwise is to miss the point.
If Oireland want to be taken seriously as a Rugby team then they should call up Stephen Cluxton, a man who’s has proven himself to be reliable under pressure. He would have slotted that penalty blindfolded and with one leg tied to the other. If Johnny Sexton gets paid €400,000 a year to kick penalties then Cluxton, and several other GAA players, would easily make €500,000
Great aggression/pressure in first half!
Questioned Schmidt’s selection (17 Leinster) but maybe they knew his system better? Fine until he had to
use the bench and players who could
not make first selection for Leinster!
found themselves out of their depth
facing the ABs
Plenty of Internationally experienced
Players available for selection from
the 3 other Provinces! A major/blinkered
Coaching decision!
Excellent writing; accurate, passionate, intelligent, unbiased and informed.
When I posted that comment I ment you. Joel, go south for the hols…. Murray knock ……,
As a true and true Munster women I also believe sexton was great- yeah he missed a kick- who cares? It’s not one man that loses the game- and I’m not really sure anyone of those Irish players out there deserves to be called a loser- Healy brilliant, best for 15 great, cronin for the remaining brilliant in the loose, o’connell- led by example, Sean o brien needs a medal, heaslip stood up and was counted, o’mahoney did the business, half backs dominated the game completely- kearnys were sublime! Well done the men in green!
I reckon Sexton and every other man in a green jersey out there yesterday cares that he bottled that kick.
They are professional rugby players their paid to care enough to do their job well just like any other professional.
Box kick straight from the Munster manual!! Why why why??????
You can’t score 3pts vs NZ in 2nd half and expect to win! Disappointing!big time
They didn’t score 3 points in the second half, in fact they didn’t score any points at all in the second half!
I do have to query Nigel Owen’s decision to award a penalty for timewasting in the ruck with 20 seconds left. I didn’t hear him call “use it” first. This was an very bad mistake for a referee of his standing to make. It would be another example of how referees tend to be weak at the knee when the All Blacks are playing.
Contrast that with the last three minutes of the 2011 world cup final when NZ were blatently timewasting in the ruck and the referee didn’t call “use it” once.
It wasn’t for time wasting. It was for going off our feet.
We lost !!!!
just saw on against the head that Rory Best went into a ruck with a broken arm. That is commitment of the very highest order. RESPECT
Munster still. Only Irish team to beat um and will remain I think for a long time …very proud of the boys . feel sorry for. Brian ODriscoll beating. The all blacks would nice addition to a great career
The autumn Internationals were a wasted opportunity . We are no
closer to finding out who our centres will be . One has already said
he won’t be around for the World Cup and the other is highly
unlikely. I would have thought we should have started blooding
new centres with the hope of having a reasonable experienced
pair for the World Cup.
This was one of the greatest performances ever by an Irishteam and all some people can do is crib. Pathetic !!!
They lost !