In saying that England will comfortably beat Ireland in Twickenham if we can field a team at this stage.
Given the advantages England has in terms of numbers of players and money they should be confident of beating the other 5 nations 9 times out of 10 and the Southern Hemisphere teams at least half the time, Australia, where Union isn't even a particularly popular sport, much more. We are light years from that, and have never been close.
England woefully error strewn, particularly in the first half. Some mercurial work from the backs, especially Joseph, but overall, I hope no one in the England camp gets carried away. Much to improve, particularly naive mistakes in the scrum
Wouldn't call Rugby a minority sport in Munster, although it is in Leinster especially when the high street sales are on in Dublin, Brown Thomas in particular (BT is a bit like Harrods)..... The problem that is affecting Irish Rugby at the moment is that Munster, Leinster & Ulster are now becoming too reliant on overseas players and are not developing the young home grown talent in sufficient numbers to enable the step up to International standard. The only Province to maintain a nucleus of home grown players is Connaught but they are viewed by many as not in the same league as the other 3 although they have had notable wins against the others recently. This has a feeling of Provinces v National side whereby they need to be working together for the mutual good......
Yep - he (& Wales) needed that. Hopefully, we can now kick-on, beat France and set up a title decider at Twickenham. I'll be there - got tickets for my wife & I, and my son and his (English) girlfriend.......
Tramore Statistically rugby is languishing as the fifth most played sport in Ireland. Considering we have one of the smallest populations in Europe the figures don't add up. The IRFU have deliberately used Connaught as a breeding ground for young talent to eventually move to Leinster or Munster when they are ready. This has worked really well. Irish rugby is generally in a very good place except for the current unfortunate situation where 6-7 of our first team is out injured. We can't take that amount of injuries. Other countries have a much better strength in depth.
You've also lost two awesome players in O'Driscoll and O'Connell, those are the small percentages that make such a difference...
Very very true. World class players don't come along too often for us. We're just going through a difficult period. It's hard watching players who are just not good enough giving their all. I genuinely expect England to beat us by 10-12 points. There's lots of potential with your young players but they were stiffiled under Lancaster. I've no doubt whatsoever that Jones will build a very strong English team but it will take a couple of years. Patience is needed.
We'll see at the next World Cup. I really fancy a trip to Japan for that, but will require a bit of organisation.
Not disputing the stats Nutso.....GAA has a huge advantage over Rugby in that youngsters start playing the various forms of GAA from the time they're out of nappies, whereas they don't start playing Rugby until the ages of 9, 10 or 11, plus no doubt parents are worried that the kids will be hurt given the severity of hits in Rugby, so maybe it's not until they go to secondary school that Rugby has a chance....... Still say that Munster, Leinster & Ulster are a tad culpable in not bringing on the homegrown talent especially up front in recent years, hence now the dependency on a 37 year old Mike Ross.......where are the 28 - 33 year old props that could cover for the likes of Healy? Just an observation......
Mmm..................don't quite agree with that. England have a long way to go, but Jones will get them playing exciting, attacking rugby within a few months imo. Bags and bags of potential in the squad.
Read back through my posts Col. IMO, this English team need 12-18 months. I think they will dominate the six nations for the next few years.
The current irish team is one dimensional and boring. The current Welsh team is boring as hell under Gatland, crash wallop bang. It's all there
I think the nay-sayers are being a bit harsh on England. So far in the 6 Nations, they have beaten a Scotland side who always turn up against England, unsurprisingly. It was a tough game, and was always going to be one they needed to grind out a win, but they managed that in a manner that suggested that Scotland were always likely to come up a little short. Against Italy, it was clear from the singing of the Anthems that Italy had taken a lot of confidence from the narrow defeat to France, and were right up for the game. The first half was about holding their enthusiasm and energy, and keeping discipline - something the English did with certainly more success we've seen over the past couple of years. Fitness and application showed, and when Danny Care came on, he seemed to provide the spark that set England apart in the last half an hour. They were very impressive out of the scrums, and having tired the Italians, were able to let their superior fitness show. Don't forget this is a new team, under a new captain, with a new coach and backroom staff. Had they clicked 100% immediately, I'd have been very suspicious. But the signs are there and the signs are good...
I think we agree tbh mate. I just feel that it will (hopefully) start to show a bit quicker than you, that's all. I think England have a more promising back line than I can remember in a long while, with some very good half backs also. The thing they need to fix quickly is the lineout and that means getting rid of Robshaw and getting a third jumper in. They are improving at the breakdown and that's an area that I expect Jones to really make a difference in.
Don't know about the rest of the island Tramore but my two youngest lads are in their second season with Sligo, and they are aged 7 and 8, and most of the local clubs have similar aged starters, like Enniskillen, Ballina, Westport, Castlebar etc
That's good to know Grinners, maybe Rugby is beginning to eat into the GAA domination after all......down our way Waterford has 2 clubs running 15 a side and mini rugby sections and Tramore has a mini rugby section but no 15 a side set up as yet....
I think we'll see how much progress is being made on the tour of Australia in the summer. I am absolutely sure that Eddie Jones is the best man for the job and we will be a much better team in a bit. But there are some fundamentals to sort out - the line out yesterday was rubbish, are we actually playing our best players in their best positions, is there really no one better than Robshaw, is Dylan Hartley (temperament aside) our best hooker etc etc. Good thing is we have choices and a bit of time.
