So the weekend is over, Ireland won out over England, it was fantastic in a cup final type of way. We narrowly won a match which we should have won comfortably but a Triple Crown is still sweet. I’m so happy we won, I backed Ireland heavily so I was shocked that it needed a last minute effort to win. Last year I demanded Eddie leave the Ireland coaching job and unfortunately all the problems I had still remain.

On the always excellent irishrugby email group some posters made excellent posts on the the match so I’m going to summarise them here.

Firstly Andrew Jagoe made some excellent points. I’m in full agreement with him.

Michael asked some time ago whatconstituted success for Ireland, personally winning the triple crown and defeating the English at Twickenham no longer do it for me. Yes, it makes my life more enjoyable as I go to work with my England supporting colleagues but as a concept it has more to do with life pre 1990 than 2006. When the triple crown concept was born there were four teams and it meant a grandslam. It continued to have some meaning in the true amateur days when I started watching. What I would like is at least one championship and a semifinal spot at the World Cup and that will necessitate turning over one or more from France, England, SA, Australia and New Zealand. We are probably no closer that goal than we were when Gatland was in charge.

Indeed Andrew, I’m sick of finishing 2nd, we’ve done it far too many times for my liking. Worse than finishing 2nd is the fact that regularly we finish 2nd just because we can’t score points. If we had got 10 more against Italy, Scotland and Wales we’d have won. How painful is that!

Next up Myles threw his opinions out there.

I had four major issues with this squad selection. MOK, Murphy, Easterby & JOC………….. All four almost cost us the game yesterday. MOK was dire, we were screaming for him to be replaced prior to Borthwick’s try, yet he had to be exposed in such a manner before our “crown waving” leader grew some balls, the fact that Eddie actually made a non-injury substitution in the 53rd minute shows how appalling MOK was playing. Play 5 games in the 6N perform well in one, coach is happy.

Murphy continues to rack up huge figures in the ball carrying stats, yet compared to the likes of Leamy who did most of his carries from the launching pad of a retreating scrum, Murphy’s seldom if ever get within 10m of the gainline. When he does join the line he seems very worried about where the hit might come from and THAT is the main reason for some of his woeful passes when seemingly under no pressure, his coach calls them offloads yet there isn’t a member of the opposition within six feet of him????

Easterby, for all his honest toil does not have the skill level or athleticism to play the type of game we appear to pursue. He looks adequate when the opposition are looking for contact, he will tackle all day……but so too will the much vaunted Scottish backrow. If there was a case for punting Foley, then Easterby should have gone long before.

JOC demonstrated why he is so well thought of in the English Premiership, he would have been totally at home playing for England, slowing ball illegally, coming in from the side and giving the opposition penalty kicks. A typical headsdown player, all balls and kamikaze and no bloody vision at all. His selection on the bench made us look fragile, his introduction when Leamy got injured just about finished us. If we are to have a prayer on our summer tour we must get all 4 backrow players in the squad correct, from the correct balance of the starting trio, to the boy on the bench.

I thought in particular that it was an excellent summation of the problems with Johnny O’Connor. On Malcolm O’Kelly his time should have been up 3 seasons ago but disgracefully he’s still there. Donncha probably isn’t the answer either, the answer is Mick O’Driscoll.

Finally for another opinion on things have a read of this. Of course if you disagree with the opinions of the email group we’d love to have alternative opinions!

By Gerry O’Sullivan, 16 March 2006.

Ahead of the match on Saturday, I thought I’d post my reminiscences of the last England-Ireland match in Twickenham, 6 March 2004.

I was invited to come to the match by a business contact, and having thought about it for all of about 0.005 seconds, accepted the offer. I’d never been to Twickenham before. There were about a dozen or so of us in the group, a good mix of Irish and English, so plenty of banter.

Game on. Ronan O’Gara misses a sitter of a penalty in the fifth minute and I think “Shit! It’s going to be one of those games.” But then Ireland start picking off the English lineout at will. ROG slots home two penalties, both more difficult than the one he missed earlier. Shortly afterwards, a defensive mix-up lets Dawson in for a soft try. A few more penalties on either side and we go into half-time 12-10 up. At this point, confidence is building up in the camp.

I was coming back from the jacks to my seat for the start of the second half, when I realised that play had already begun, and worryingly enough there was a pile of both white and green shirts by the corner flag of the Irish tryline. When the replay was shown we all knew it wouldn’t stand. Well, when I say “knew”, I mean “hoped”. “NO TRY” comes up on the big screen.

A short time later it happened. D’Arcy breaks and makes 50 metres. The ball comes back and across to the right. Horgan brings it into the 22. It changes hands a couple of times and a ruck forms five metres from the English line. Stringer to D’Arcy to O’Driscoll to Howe to Dempsey… It was at that moment when Girvan Dempsey took Tyrone Howe’s pass and we realised that he was going to get to the line before anyone got to him. “TRY” flashes up on the big screen. Irish euphoria all round. ROG nails the conversion from the touchline. 10-19. One more penalty for England leaves the score at 13-19, and the final ten minutes go on for what feels like ten years. Mark Regan, who has replaced the quivering wreck that is Steve Thompson, thinks he has scored in the corner, but thankfully big Mal O’Kelly has dealt with him and the magic words “NO TRY” flash again on the big screen. I’m looking at the score board counting up 40 minutes and at 39 minutes am thinking that there is going to be at least 6 or 7 minutes of stoppage time. I didn’t realise that they were stopping the clock during the game, so when it turns 40 and play breaks down, the ref blows time and Ireland have beaten the world champions in their first game in their own back yard since the World Cup.

Fair dues to the English fans, they weren’t shy about coming over to anyone in a green shirt and congratulating them. We all ended up on the piss in Soho till late, still wearing our green jerseys. What a night. What a win.

Let’s hope something similar happens on Saturday.

Posted by Gerry O’Sullivan, Sunday, 12 March 2006

I was in Cork for the weekend, and didn’t have a chance while away to post my thoughts on the Ireland-Scotland match.

The final result of 15-9 didn’t really reflect the reality on the day. The weather played a major part of that, as it made passing difficult. It was disappointing that Ireland didn’t manage to turn a lot of the possession they had into tries, but a win is a win, and we have to be grateful for that. The fact that Scotland managed to spend large periods of time offside with impunity was another factor to contend with. (Incidentally, The Observer awarded Man of the Match to Jason White. Why??)

I felt that this was a more assured performance by Ireland all round. This was their best opening quarter so far in the championship, and crucially, this time they scored first. Some individual performances were much better as well. Geordan Murphy was much improved on previous outings and he ran some intelligent lines and mixed things up well. Malcolm O’Kelly had a good game too, nicking a number of Scottish lineout throws and giving their hooker the yips. The Irish back row was immense, in terms of tackling, turnovers and carrying. Paul O’Connell showed again just why he is probably the best second row in the world with an awesome display both at the set-piece and around the park. I thought Peter Stringer had a fine game as well.

So we look forward to the climax next weekend. Ireland are poised to take their second Triple Crown in three seasons, and the runners-up spot in the Championship. In the unlikely event of France losing to Wales, Ireland would have a chance of the Championship itself. If England are as God-awful as they were in Paris today, then Ireland should beat them next week in Twickenham. Even if they improve by 10%, then they should still be there for the taking. Ireland have improved a lot since the stuttering opening-day win against Italy, whereas England have gotten worse since the day they saw off Wales with ease.

It’s all to play for, lads. It’s all to play for.

Gavin tells of his connection to Victor Connell who was on the news this evening because there is a big push on to collect money for his rehabilitation. Victor got hurt playing rugby so obviously I can relate. I wish him the best and I really hope that they manage to collect a lot for him up at the match on Sunday. I’m sure even the Scots will contribute!

By Gerry O’Sullivan. Sunday, 26 February 2006.

Ireland’s 31-5 win over Wales today was a much-needed boost. That they restricted the Welsh to one score in total was heartening. Now they are on four points along with England, France and Scotland.

Ireland appeared to have learned a good few lessons from the debacle in Paris. Their defence was excellent today, and even when they didn’t have the ball, they looked like never letting the Welsh in to score. There was the one occasion when they were caught flat-footed and Mark Jones got the better of Andrew Trimble, but on another day the bounce of the ball might have favoured the Ulsterman.

Ireland’s slow start was a worry at first, and it took about ten minutes or so before they got any meaningful possession. The set piece held up pretty well, even in the absence of Paul O’Connell. The line-out functioned effectively, and although the scrum looked a bit shaky at times, the front eight held on for most of the match.

The turning point was the loss to Wales of out-half Stephen Jones. In partnership with Dwayne Peel, they were the only Welsh players with any creativity. His replacement, Gavin Henson, was utterly hopeless. He kicked when he should have passed and every now and then he attempted a breakout himself only to be completely smothered by the Irish cover. As one of the RTÉ panelists commented, his girlfriend Charlotte Church would have been about as effective as he was.

There is still some room for improvement from Ireland. We could have won by a much bigger margin. Once again there were too many handling errors and some indiscipline at the breakdown, resulting in turnover ball to the Welsh. O’Gara had a good game, but missed a couple of place kicks that he would normally put away with his eyes closed. Stringer had a fine game, capping it with a last minute try. Shane Horgan deservedly won Man of the Match for a barnstorming performance on the wing. In Fact, Ah have a tribute to the Drogheda man here. Marcus Horan was stretchered off late in the game, but thankfully it looks like his injury is not serious.

So, it’s the reborn Scots next. Having seen off England at Murrayfield, their tails will be up when they come to Dublin on Saturday week. If Ireland can mount that sort of defence again then it shouldn’t be too massive a task to keep them at bay.

By Gerry O’Sullivan. Saturday, 25 February 2006.

Six Nations 2006 is developing into the most open contest in years. As I write, five of the six teams are still in with a shout of the championship. There will be no Grand Slam winner this year, as England’s loss to Scotland this evening means that every team has lost at least one game. Ireland are the only team left who can win the Triple Crown, as we have yet to play the three British nations, and Wales have lost to England, who in turn have lost to Scotland, who in turn have lost to Wales.

Tomorrow’s game is very hard to predict. Wales have been through the wringer in the last couple of weeks, with the departure of their coach Mike Ruddock, and the loss of their influential captain Gareth Thomas. I’m really sorry that Thomas will play no further part in the Six Nations, as he is a great player. Also missing tomorrow is the other Welsh sharpshooter Shane Williams, which leaves their attack somewhat blunted.

We, of course, are missing Paul O’Connell, our most influential forward. This could mean that there is a lack of leadership in the pack, particularly now that Anthony Foley seems to be out of the frame altogether. Who else is there? Easterby? He has captained the side a few times and he’s captain of Llanelli, but I don’t think he has the sheer presence of O’Connell in the front eight. This could be crucial, as in order to get the upper hand in the match, the Irish forwards will need to boss their Welsh counterparts. If the Irish pack can come up with a decent supply of quality ball, then our backs should be able to finish the job. Particularly if they show the sort of flair that was on display during the second half of the French match. Having Trimble, who is still relatively unknown, on the wing could make the difference.

Also, there’s the maul. O’Connell’s absence here could be telling, as it is he who is always at the centre of the maul, whether for Ireland or Munster. But they need to get it going early in the match to see if it’s an option. The scrum should hold up better this time.

So overall, I’m cautiously optimistic. As long as the Irish game plan isn’t too rigid, and they can stifle the Welsh half-backs, then a win shouldn’t be beyond them.

A few years ago the Celtic League was a bit of a farce because of the fact that with International commitments some of the bigger teams were pretty much unable to compete on a lot of weekends. Thankfully this situation is somewhat resolved these days but unfortunately there still are weekends when many players are missing. This weekend was one of those.

Munster lost at to Glasgow at Thomond Park by 26 points to 20. It was a poor performance by the Munster men who never seemed to get going at all. But it was a well deserved victory for Glasgow.

Leinster were also without their full side and it took it’s toll on them also. The Dragons managed to beat them quite convincingly.

But there was good news for the other Irish sides in the Celtic League last weekend. Firstly on Friday night Ulster got their title hopes back on track with a good win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield. The Ulstermen were always in control of the game and the win sees them climb into 2nd place in the league.

Meanwhile Connacht grabbed only their third win of the season when they saw off the challenge of Llanelli at the Sportsgrounds in Galway. Llanelli had led at half-time but Connacht held them to only a penalty in the 2nd half to run out winners by a margin of 33 points to 19.

The Celtic League takes another break next weekend for the Internationals but when it returns the following weekend I’m sure Munster will be very worried about their league position. They’ve been hugely unconvincing without their star players and they may not be able to afford another below par performance.

So it’s taken me almost two days to get my head around what the hell happened on Saturday in Paris. Basically I’ve reached the view that Ireland did nothing much different in the last 30 minutes but the French decided to go on their week break a bit early. Having watched the match again there’s no doubt in my mind that the French were trying in the last 30 minutes — they weren’t!

So where do we go from here, to be honest I have no idea. Well I would make some selection changes, O’Kelly has been past it for about two seasons now but has yet to get dropped, but the difference when O’Callaghan comes on these days is incredible. Andrew Trimble should be given a shot also. I’d also make changes in the back-row but that’s never going to happen.

So with respect to Wales, what’s the plan? Well I’d throttle them upfront, they didn’t have a pack last year when they mugged everyone else to win a Championship and this year they’ve got an even worse pack, so take them on upfront, wear them down and then cut through their centres with our far far superior backline.

In the meantime it’s back to the Celtic League next week. As a Munster man I’ll be hoping our 9/10 pairing will work a lot lot better this time than in the last Celtic League match without Stringer & O’Gara.

So following the weekend’s action serious questions have to be asked about what is going wrong with Irish International rugby. At lower-levels, the Irish sides have shown flair, vision and adventure but on Saturday when the International side lined out to take on Italy all of this was missing. In the end Ireland were extremely lucky to get out of Landsdowne Road with a win.

Watching the other games of the weekend, you have to ask were Ireland the poorest team on show? Wales lost to England quite badly but at least they showed some adventure before being outmuscled. At the end of the day that Welsh side was ruined with injuries while Ireland had a pretty much injury free panel to select from.

Personally I think the Six Nations could go from bad to worse for us. Next weekend see’s us in Paris. Last time we were here we didn’t bother to show up and it cost us a Grand Slam, I really fear of the consequences if we don’t show up on Saturday.

So here we find ourselves, just under 24 hours before the kick-off of the 2006 Six Nations, will Ireland do themselves justice or will they fail to deliver the goods. The omens for a good performance might be there, Munster & Leinster have been going fantastically well in the Heineken Cup while Ulster have had their best year in ages. Unfortunately 2005 was a horrible year for the National side.

However it looks like a bit of positivity has spread through the rugby community, with the overwhelming feeling amongst the people I’ve spoken to, being that this team is full of talent and that all is needed is for them to play their natural game.

Since the conservative method was tried last year to no avail we can only hope that Eddie O’Sullivan gets Ireland to play more dynamically this year.