Six Nations Rugby-English young bloods too strong for Ireland at Twickenham

England comprehensively defeated Ireland on a score of 33-10. Ireland opened this game in whirlwind fashion and after ten minutes led England by 0-10. An expansive Irish move led to a try by Rob Kearney. Ronan O'Gara converted and it was 0-7. Iain Balshaw was penalised for holding on. Ronan O’Gara duly converted the penalty. This was the final Irish score. In the first twenty minutes-ably marshalled by Ronan O’Gara- Ireland played an exciting brand of open rugby.

Cipriani the twenty year old English out-half orchestrated the English revival. Gradually the English pack asserted its dominance. A penalty by Cipriani made the score 3-10. Sackey scored a fine try for England and Cipriani duly converted. It was 10-10 and the writing was on the wall for Ireland. A penalty by Cipriani made the score 13-10.
The first half had its share of errors but nevertheless it was brimful of exciting rugby.


In the second half England assumed total dominance. Further tries from Matthew Tail and Noon, both converted by Cipriani and penalties converted by Cipriani made the score 33-10. Ireland did not fail for want of effort. However the centre pairing of Horgan and Trimble lacked the cutting edge of O’Driscoll and Darcy. The loss of Geordan Murphy in the first half further weakened Ireland as an attacking force. Several promising Irish attacks broke down as the moves lacked the required subtlety to unlock the English defense. Generally Irish moves broke down for lack of support as Irish players regularly found themselves outnumbered. The English forwards dominated.

Cipriani, Noon , Lipman, Croft, Borthwick, Shaw were among the English stars.
For Ireland O ’Gara, Luke Fitzgerald and Kearney had their moments.


In recent years Eddie O’Sullivan has failed to blood sufficient new players. Now the day of reckoning has arrived for Ireland. It is time to rebuild the team. Whilst new players such as Fitzgerald, Kearney, Heaslip and Buckley have been blooded they need much more playing experience to compete at higher levels. Fortunately there is a reasonably good pool of talent from which to draw. In 2007 Ireland produced a fine U-20 team. Ireland can recover.
Brian Ashton has fashioned a new English side brimful of exciting young talent. The future for England is bright

Wales outfox Ireland to win the Triple Crown

In windy conditions at Croke Park today Wales deservedly defeated Ireland by 16-12 to win the Triple Crown. Most of the positive rugby was played by Wales. Ireland dominated the first twenty minutes of the first half. However as this half progressed Wales came into the game more and more and could quite possibly have scored two tries. In fairness a tackle by Mike Phillips denied Ireland’s Shane Horgan an almost certain try.

The Irish strategy of breaking up the flow of the play and slowing down the game was coming apart as half time approached. Ireland made little effort to play creative rugby. Ronan O’Gara rarely passed the ball preferring instead to resort to the boot. This reflected Eddie O’Sullivan’s thinking that it was best to ensure that Wales would not play free flowing rugby Wales would have been on level terms at half time were it not for the idiocy of Mike Phillips who used the knee on Marcus Horan. The penalty awarded to Wales under the Irish posts was reversed and Phillips received the yellow card.

In the second half Wales weathered the loss of Phillips. The Welsh forwards kept possession of the ball and ran the clock down until Phillips returned. Wales controlled the ball for most of the second half and went through the phases. The Welsh front five was more than a match for Ireland. A fine try by Shane Williams was the decisive score. Welsh indiscipline could have been costly. Martyn Williams was sin binned for a trip. Warren Gatland will undoubtedly administer a tongue lashing to Phillips and Martyn Williams. In the last five minutes the Welsh forwards retained complete possession of the ball and snuffed out all possibility of a late Irish try.
For Wales Alun Wyn Jones , Shane Williams, Ryan Jones and Gavin Henson starred. For Ireland Rob Kearney, Eoin Reddan, Paul O’Connell and Shane Horgan were best.

It is time for Eddie O’Sullivan to jettison the negative approach. Ireland had sufficient class players to defeat Wales today. The conservative and spoiling approach is unworthy of skilful players and cost Ireland the game. Spoiling tactics have their place in any game but creativity is a sine qua non. The ham string injury to Brian O’Driscoll rules him out for the game against England at Twickenham. Hopefully Geordan Murphy and Girvan Dempsey will return. It is time for Eddie O’Sullivan to take risks.

Scores
Ireland: Pens: O'Gara 4

Wales: Try: S.Williams
Con: S.Jones
Pens: S.Jones 2

Rugby Union World Cup-Irish expectations were unrealistic.

Amongst some elements of the media and supporters there was a belief that Ireland was a credible World Cup contender.

These expectations were built on a foundation of sand. Sure Ireland won the Triple Crown in 2006 and 2007. But it is worth remembering that the English team has been in free fall since 2003. The present English team is but a pale shadow of the World Cup winning team of 2003.

Scotland is in decline. Wales during this period had injury problems. So winning two Triple Crowns in successive years probably masked some glaring inefficiencies in Ireland's game.

Much is made of the fact that Ireland defeated South Africa and Australia in Autumn Internationals. Both South Africa and Australia sent experimental sides. They were more concerned with developing strong squads for the World Cup. This was the correct approach and is in marked contrast to the ill-advised policy pursued by Eddie O Sullivan.

A disappointing tour of Argentina and a shockingly poor performance against Italy in a warm up match ought to have sounded the alarm bells.

World Cup Rugby-France defeats Ireland

Tonight Eddie O'Sullivan appeared to rest some of the responsibility for Ireland's defeat on referee Chris White's shoulders. White had an excellent game and was consistent.

Unfortunately for Eddie reasons for Ireland's defeat rest closer to home. In the four year period leading up to this World Cup he has been slow to introduce new players. He was not prepared to introduce too many new players and risk criticism. This has allowed him to maintain a high success rate. Good for the ego but useless for the future development of the International squad. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have experimented. They are now reaping the benefits of such a policy.

Eddie's selection policy is open to question. He dropped the highly talented Geordan Murphy and Denis Hickey. Why?

Tonight he he made his first substitutions in the 72nd minute. This was a pointless exercise as it was too late to influence the outcome. Contrast this with the policy adopted by France. The first strength Irish team has now played its third match in the World Cup- a suicidal policy.

Defence alignments left much to be desired. This has been glaringly obvious for some time. Why was this not rectified? Similarly with the forwards. Likewise the line out was a mess.

Flair has been squeezed out of the team to be replaced by a robotic approach. It is time to end this madness.

Rugby Union-World Cup

One of the most encouraging aspects of the pool stages is the performance of the minnows such as the USA, Canada, Namibia, Georgia and Samoa. On the African continent Rugby Union is growing in popularity. The game is becoming a truly world wide sport.

Ireland's performance against Namibia was abysmal. Todays laboured victory against Georgia was scarcely much better. Ireland fielded its strongest team whilst Georgia introduced eleven new players. The part timers from the French second division outfought the Irish full time professionals.

On the field of play Eddie O Sullivans conservatism is smothering flair. In the course of games he is slow to alter tactics. Since he was appointed coach he has tended to use a safety first approach and has failed to blood sufficient new talent. In many cases there is an absence of real competition for places. In addition I suspect that some players are more concerned with the European Cup than the World Cup. Most of their income comes from club rugby. There appears to be an absence of hunger in the squad.

Georgian players are using the World Cup to showcase their talents. Undoubtedly some of them will secure lucrative contracts with European clubs. Their scrummaging tackling and line out work tonight were excellent. They dominated possession for much of the game and deserved at least a draw.

Ireland now face France. The omens are not good. Hopefully the team shakes off the conservative shackles and plays with flair.

Irish Rugby Union- Money talks

Apparently All Black wing Doug Howlett appears to be on the verge of signing for Munster. However he will not be available until the latter stages of the Heineken Cup.



The 28-year-old Auckland rocket is part of New Zealand's World Cup squad. The deal is believed to be worth €1 million.

Undoubtedly the Munster back division lacks flair. A fit and eager Howlett could electrify the province. Though only 28 years old he has a lot of mileage on the clock. He has played for the All Blacks on 60 occasions. He has 93 Super 12/14 caps and 52 provincial caps. Munster may gain in the short term but is it not time for the province to produce dynamic backs of its own?

The signing of Howlett will hinder the development of indigenous backs. The huge influx of players from New Zealand and South Africa into French and English clubs has probably forced Munsters hand. Success in Heineken Cup Rugby is a financial necessity.

Indeed Irish Rugby Union has suffered from the failure of the IRFU to cultivate Sevens Rugby both domestically and Internationally. It is noticeable that countries such as New Zealand and Australia take International Sevens very seriously. In general Southern Hemisphere players are more comfortable with ball in hand than Irish players. Granted that the Leinster back division -with players such as Hickie, O'Driscoll, Darcy and Horgan- exudes class. Unfortunately this is the exception rather than the rule.

IRISH coach Eddie O’Sullivan is believed to have signed a 4 year contract with the IRFU worth €5 million. This is in advance of the World Cup. It would make more sense to negotiate with O'Sullivan after the World Cup. This generous deal will have knock on effects as players who do the hard graft will look with jaundiced eye at such generosity.

Renewal of player's contracts may be more costly than the IRFU anticipate. Player contract inflation may haunt the IRFU for a prolonged period of time.