• You may have to login or register before you can post and view our exclusive members only forums.
    To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

November Internationals

Rosco

Worse than Brendan
Member
Has anyone been watching so far ?

Last weekend the All Blacks edged England by a point. I didn't see the game, so all i know is England had a try disallowed that would have won them the game. Did the All blacks deserve a win ?

Wales beat Australia by three in what i'm assuming must have been a dire game simply on account of the 9-6 scoreline.

Ireland beat Argentina 28-17.

Next weekend we play the All Blacks, England play Japan and Wales take on South Africa

The Ireland Argentina game was very close up until about the hour mark. I think we were just fitter and our bench made a good impact on the game - Leavy and McGrath in particular.

There was plenty to be concerned about though - the main thing in my mind is whether the mileage has caught up with Rory Best.

Best played as though his body wasn't ready for the game. His throws were short / low on too many occasions, which to me indicates a tiredness/weakness is the shoulders and neck.

I didn't think Stander had a particularly good outing either but i think he'll start again next weekend.
 
Very happy with the Boks ... finally they have a proper coach, and the team is playing really well with some big big performances.
 
What a game. What a victory. That was much more like the thing, and is showing the depth we have now. Was amazing seeing our front row dismantle their scrum. Generally, as far as it is possible in a 7 point game, we bossed them.
 
Is Scotland any good? We beat 'em 26-20 but it was a wee bit too close for my liking considering I think we're a 'top team'!
 
I think the gap between the 6 nations and Southern Hemisphere has been closed. Scotland have really come on under Townsend and whilst lacking the consistency of Wales, for instance, can give any team a scare on their day. I think you should take the win and be happy with it.
 
The kiwi press have been complaining about the foreign born Irish players.

Er, what?
 
Well Bundee Aki and CJ Stander are from NZ and SA respectively but both weren't even an afterthought for their national teams when they moved to play in Ireland.
They each played 3 years here, before becoming eligible to play for Ireland.

And the All Blacks are no stranger to fielding a foreign born player anyway - Fiji, Samoa and Tonga have all lost players to them.

The thing from last nights game that stood out was how we absolutely bullied them out of the game in the first half. We won the physical battle and really knocked them out of their stride, all we were missing was a try or two from that dominance.
Barrett opting for a drop goal in the first half when they were playing through an advantage was telling too. I took that to be an admission he knew he was up against it.

That said I was worried at half time because you're never going to do that to the All Blacks for 80 mins.

Then came Stockdale's try. I have to look at it again but it struck me as a piece of coaching genius. We made it look like we were going out wide until Aki changed direction. And i'll bet on a replay you'll see the All Black forwards moving to the middle, the AB right winger playing flat and the full back edging towards the other side until that ball goes to Stockdale.

It was far from easy, but Schmidt's planning put Stockdale in a position to score from deep. And he took it brilliantly.

As for the individuals - i don't know how they picked a MOTM. O'Mahony got two huge turnovers for us when the All Blacks began to get some momentum. The entire pack was outstanding really - the carries, tackles, rucking and set pieces were all top class.
 


I was close enough. The right winger was defending deep but had to move up to the line when he saw the ball coming to his side.
 
Back
Top Bottom