6 Nations 2021

[wixfjord]

Impressed again with Connors. His tackle technique is something that’s valuable with the stricter rulings. He is able to lasso the ankles and get out of the way to leave room for a jackal to come in. Potentially you are going to see a bit more of that in the defensive line rather than trying to meet people on the gainline with riskyish tackles. Certainly when defending in the opposition half.

The Ryan-Henderson-Beirne axis has passed the first (albeit not difficult) test too. I like it. Henderson in the row means it feels like we have 4 backrows in the pitch; Beirne at 6 means it feels like we have 3 locks. He’s taken on the front jumping lineout of O’Mahony no bother, and then does a bit of everything else. In this match we were able to compete on their lineout ball fairly aggressively, but without giving anything up in the maul if we didn’t get it. We’ll give bother for anybody’s lineout.

Stander is a turnover threat on the ground too as an 8, but he could fit anywhere in the backrow imo. He’s been like that for Munster a lot on the ground this year. In my book he’s been unlucky to give away a few penalties for them when jackaling. He was maybe lucky not to give one or two away today! But it means we have plenty of men who can go after the ball effectively on the deck. With Keenan covering the backfield quite well for whatever type of kick might come, there’s the makings of a decent defence there that can quickly switch to be a weapon then itself.

Our own attack was far more relaxed. Particularly sexton. Theres no way I could say he’s been going well this last while, but they were giving him all day today and it was like the old days running whatever play he chose. And he was enjoying that. JGP was setting a good tempo for him. Was prepared to have a go too. Larmour I liked! Lowe was probably the one that was still probably over eager, but I still think he’s worth persevering through the current frustration.

Look, Italy are cat at the minute, but whaddya do? It’s the momentum that we were looking for, now just have to use it!

England Wales was hilarious really and great entertainment. It’s been a good championship so far, some smashing games. Although still so weird. 6 points in it, England - Wales, last 5 minutes, and it’s totally silent.

Bang on analysis.

If they bring back in POM now ahead of Beirne or move Beirne back into second row ahead of the other two it's absolutely ridiculous.

I'm nowhere near as much of a POM hater as many on here, but it makes absolutely no sense for him to be a starter when we have Ryan, Hendo and Beirne at 4,5,6.

[wixfjord]

when they were down to 13 men our OH consistently took the wrong option.

It was actually our sub scrumhalf who cost us one try and almost another at that stage.

Casey was good, but jaysus the attempt to deify him is a bit much.

Btw, JGP had another solid game. Kicked well, threatened and his pass is excellent.

[erskinechilders]

I wasn't very impressed with Irelands experienced subs yesterday at all. The 2nd half in general was incredibly frustrating IMO but jaysus some our subs were poor. That one play were Healy knocked, Italy cleared upfield, Earls gathered and then kicked out on the full... That was horrendous. Healy gave away a penalty or two after that too! Baird & Casey were decent for there debuts, Baird looks a phenomenal athlete, Caseys speed to get to the rucks and speed of pass were excellent but his passing tech. still needs a bit of work, too much backswing. Could get to Stringer / Smith's level of pass though!

I really like the back 5 of that pack. Really good balance between them! Add in Doris & Leavy ( fingers crossed ) and that leaves a serious back row conundrum. If Beirne & Connors give 7 or 8 / 10 performances against Scotland they deserve to nail down those spots. O'Mahony could come into contention but can't see VDF getting back in ahead of Connors, especially after his performance against France.

[enby]

A serious word needs to be had about the carry on of the TMOs yesterday. Poite must be the only person on the planet who didn't believe that Henderson had scored a try. Such was his arrogance that he didn't give the ref a look at the incident and then allowed him to compound the error by letting him contemptuously upbraid Sexton for daring to query the call. Then there was the fiasco in Cardiff over the Williams try. The less said about that the better.

As for the first Welsh try, no captain should in future "have a word" with his team without first extracting from the ref an undertaking not to restart the game until his team are in position. I don't believe the warning should be necessary before a card is produced in any event. The game is too punctuated by stoppages and there seems no reason why a further one is required to remind a consistently offending team of its obligations to play within the laws. If a warning is deemed necessary then the ref should give a signal ( two arms outstretched or black card or whatever) to indicate that a yellow card is on the way rather than the current charade of telling the captain to instruct his minions to behave like gentlemen and the captain using the welcome break in play for a mini team talk with his pressurised team

[FLIP]

A serious word needs to be had about the carry on of the TMOs yesterday. Poite must be the only person on the planet who didn't believe that Henderson had scored a try. Such was his arrogance that he didn't give the ref a look at the incident and then allowed him to compound the error by letting him contemptuously upbraid Sexton for daring to query the call. Then there was the fiasco in Cardiff over the Williams try. The less said about that the better.

As for the first Welsh try, no captain should in future "have a word" with his team without first extracting from the ref an undertaking not to restart the game until his team are in position. I don't believe the warning should be necessary before a card is produced in any event. The game is too punctuated by stoppages and there seems no reason why a further one is required to remind a consistently offending team of its obligations to play within the laws. If a warning is deemed necessary then the ref should give a signal ( two arms outstretched or black card or whatever) to indicate that a yellow card is on the way rather than the current charade of telling the captain to instruct his minions to behave like gentlemen and the captain using the welcome break in play for a mini team talk with his pressurised team

Yesterday was a dark day for the standard of refereeing at the top level of our game. Arguments could be made that 3 tries that should have been given weren't and 2 that shouldn't have been were across 2 games. If Ireland by some miracle miss out on the championship by 21 points or less points difference fingers could be pointed at this game.

But the real travisty is the Wales-England game. A undeserved 14 point swing for the Welsh left England chasing the game, and despite the game ending with the points difference being greater than 14, only the most rabid Welshman or curmudgeon could try to say that the 2 tries didn't decide the game. And yet again, Wales benefit from grossly beneficial refereeing while their misdeeds are ignored. Just how do they keep getting away with it? Undoubtedly the worst Triple Crown winners and they could yet win the championship or even dare we say the Slam. Who could honestly say they deserve it?

[wixfjord]

I wasn't very impressed with Irelands experienced subs yesterday at all. The 2nd half in general was incredibly frustrating IMO but jaysus some our subs were poor. That one play were Healy knocked, Italy cleared upfield, Earls gathered and then kicked out on the full... That was horrendous. Healy gave away a penalty or two after that too! Baird & Casey were decent for there debuts, Baird looks a phenomenal athlete, Caseys speed to get to the rucks and speed of pass were excellent but his passing tech. still needs a bit of work, too much backswing. Could get to Stringer / Smith's level of pass though!

I really like the back 5 of that pack. Really good balance between them! Add in Doris & Leavy ( fingers crossed ) and that leaves a serious back row conundrum. If Beirne & Connors give 7 or 8 / 10 performances against Scotland they deserve to nail down those spots. O'Mahony could come into contention but can't see VDF getting back in ahead of Connors, especially after his performance against France.

Both Healy & Earls are on borrowed time.

If Kilcoyne were two years younger and Larmour could stay fit I'd say they'd be starting.

[hugonaut]

I wasn't very impressed with Irelands experienced subs yesterday at all. The 2nd half in general was incredibly frustrating IMO but jaysus some our subs were poor. That one play were Healy knocked, Italy cleared upfield, Earls gathered and then kicked out on the full... That was horrendous. Healy gave away a penalty or two after that too! Baird & Casey were decent for there debuts, Baird looks a phenomenal athlete, Caseys speed to get to the rucks and speed of pass were excellent but his passing tech. still needs a bit of work, too much backswing. Could get to Stringer / Smith's level of pass though!

I really like the back 5 of that pack. Really good balance between them! Add in Doris & Leavy ( fingers crossed ) and that leaves a serious back row conundrum. If Beirne & Connors give 7 or 8 / 10 performances against Scotland they deserve to nail down those spots. O'Mahony could come into contention but can't see VDF getting back in ahead of Connors, especially after his performance against France.

Both Healy & Earls are on borrowed time.

If Kilcoyne were two years younger and Larmour could stay fit I'd say they'd be starting.

They really are. They are both exceptional pros and have had great careers - almost 200 test caps and 40 international tries between them! Cian was the best loosehead in the world in 2012 and 2013, Earlsy is second on the list of Ireland's all-time try-scorers. Both have had really serious injuries during the prime of their respective careers and have come out the other side and made massive contributions.

Nobody with any decency likes criticising guys who have given so much to Irish rugby, but that's exactly the phrase: "borrowed time". They've both played a lot of rugby at test level in the last six months and it has only become more evident that both players are past their peak and well into the downslope of their careers.

[wixfjord]

I do think we'll see Ciano start against England though.

Kilcoyne's scrummaging is more hit and miss and he's a penalty machine at times. Might be more impactful for him to come from the bench.

[Fan with smartphone]

I do think we'll see Ciano start against England though.

Kilcoyne's scrummaging is more hit and miss and he's a penalty machine at times. Might be more impactful for him to come from the bench.

Healy isn’t going to be the force of nature that he once was. Those days are gone. But could he adapt for the last few years? He once put on weight and then struggled with his mobility because of it. Now, his game is moving away from that dynamism, so I’m thinking at this stage he could just focus on the basics. I’m not sure we have an out and out loosehead ready to scrum at his level, so could he act as Heinke van der Merve to one or two of these younger looseheads?

I can’t take the outrage over the quick Welsh penalty seriously. Tactical takeaway - from now on the captain has to run along the line of defenders like William Wallace in braveheart . They gave away the penalties , they turned their backs, they sauntered and dandered. And then it happened again with the Hardy try. It’s a problem for us because England were probably the better side, and they’ll hardly make same mistakes again, but the scoreboard in a game is important like.

[ronk]

Cian previously had an extended drop in form when struggled with injury but made a full recovery.

Age could be catching up, or he might have a niggle and take a break when the season quietens.

[Fan with smartphone]

I wouldn’t be writing him off at all just yet. 2.5 more years? Maybe I’m being a bit unrealistic I dunno. It does probably require him adapting his play a bit. Different player and position, but watching Sean O’Brien coming off the bench for London Irish and helping to change games for 30 minute spells - it’s some luxury having a player of that calibre and experience to fire in. Healy is in and around that bracket.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I do think we'll see Ciano start against England though.

Kilcoyne's scrummaging is more hit and miss and he's a penalty machine at times. Might be more impactful for him to come from the bench.

Healy isn’t going to be the force of nature that he once was. Those days are gone. But could he adapt for the last few years? He once put on weight and then struggled with his mobility because of it. Now, his game is moving away from that dynamism, so I’m thinking at this stage he could just focus on the basics. I’m not sure we have an out and out loosehead ready to scrum at his level, so could he act as Heinke van der Merve to one or two of these younger looseheads?

I can’t take the outrage over the quick Welsh penalty seriously. Tactical takeaway - from now on the captain has to run along the line of defenders like William Wallace in braveheart . They gave away the penalties , they turned their backs, they sauntered and dandered. And then it happened again with the Hardy try. It’s a problem for us because England were probably the better side, and they’ll hardly make same mistakes again, but the scoreboard in a game is important like.

Huh? It wasn’t just a quick penalty, the ref had told Farrell to have a word with his players and the water carriers were still on the pitch.

There was a lot of incredibly bad officiating yesterday. I think it’d be a bigger deal during a normal season but everything feels watered down now. Individually they should still all be in trouble though.

[fourthirtythree]

There were players out of the huddle, they weren't switched on. That they weren't for Hardy's try tells you what the dressing room was like.

The water was on is a much better argument. They had time.

The knock on was as far worse decision. Then again the TMO had missed a few yellow cards for Wales on review this championship so I'll have whatever they are having.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

If the ref tells you you’ve time to talk to the players then there’s no way play should be restarted until everyone is ready.

I’m hoping World Rugby clarify the knock on during the week. It looks wrong but I can’t actually decipher the law.

Hardy’s try was just very quick by him IMO. Daly made a terrible call to cornerflag when the threat was in the middle but other than that I thought he was just too quick, hard for other players to get back quickly enough.

[hugonaut]

Btw, JGP had another solid game. Kicked well, threatened and his pass is excellent.

Garry Doyle said it well in his article in The 42: "While we’re dishing out the praise, it has to be said that Gibson-Park is proving to be a better player than anyone is prepared to admit ..." [source: https://www.the42.ie/italy-six-nations-5367897-Feb2021/ ].

JGP has had absolute no issues with the step-up to international rugby. He's lively and inventive, his box-kicking is really, really good and he doesn't throw dud passes. He breaks very well and having a better running threat at No9 makes us a more difficult team to defend against.

[Ruckedtobits]

I do think we'll see Ciano start against England though.

Kilcoyne's scrummaging is more hit and miss and he's a penalty machine at times. Might be more impactful for him to come from the bench.

In addition to Kilcoyne's scrummaging problems, he may also have a problem with his clearout technique. Two successive clearouts at 44.50 & 45th minute on Irish right wing are 'no arm charges' on the Italian No 9 - at neck height - and the Italian No 2 - from a side entry. Kilcoyne often hits rucks like this and gets applauded by commentators and fans. However, it is illegal and in recent weeks has attracted Cards of both colours.

No certainty that the Citing Officer will ignore these incidents but the first one is certainly high risk.

[Oldschool]

The "knock on" try is an interesting one.
Does the law book even cover it properly.
The word control was mentioned but is that relevant.
Was the ball going backwards from the last contact that the player had with? Yes I think it waa and that being the case it wasn't a knock on. At least the decision was open to interpretation.
The first try was rank bad refereeing.

[hugonaut]

If the ref tells you you’ve time to talk to the players then there’s no way play should be restarted until everyone is ready.

I’m hoping World Rugby clarify the knock on during the week. It looks wrong but I can’t actually decipher the law.

Hardy’s try was just very quick by him IMO. Daly made a terrible call to cornerflag when the threat was in the middle but other than that I thought he was just too quick, hard for other players to get back quickly enough.

Hardy's try was great.

This is not a criticism of you LRIP, but I don't see that there is anything to clarify from World Rugby other than the ref team made a bad error. LRZ attempts to catch the ball but knocks it towards the opposition dead-ball line and doesn't regather it. In every game of rugby I have ever played or seen played, that is a knock on. It doesn't matter that he has run past it by the time it hits him again, it's the direction the ball has travelled in and his failure to regather it.

Everybody who has ever played rugby has attempted to [and sometimes succeeded in] kicking at a ball they've knocked on before it hits the deck. And even if you have connected with it, the ref has called you back for a knock-on.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

If the ref tells you you’ve time to talk to the players then there’s no way play should be restarted until everyone is ready.

I’m hoping World Rugby clarify the knock on during the week. It looks wrong but I can’t actually decipher the law.

Hardy’s try was just very quick by him IMO. Daly made a terrible call to cornerflag when the threat was in the middle but other than that I thought he was just too quick, hard for other players to get back quickly enough.

Hardy's try was great.

This is not a criticism of you LRIP, but I don't see that there is anything to clarify from World Rugby other than the ref team made a bad error. LRZ attempts to catch the ball but knocks it towards the opposition dead-ball line and doesn't regather it. In every game of rugby I have ever played or seen played, that is a knock on. It doesn't matter that he has run past it by the time it hits him again, it's the direction the ball has travelled in and his failure to regather it.

Everybody who has ever played rugby has attempted to [and sometimes succeeded in] kicking at a ball they've knocked on before it hits the deck. And even if you have connected with it, the ref has called you back for a knock-on.

I can’t link it at the moment but at the end of the law it says something about hitting the ground or another player for it to be a knock on but it’s not clear (to me at least) if those two elements are always taken into account or if it can be knocked on before those things come into play.

Not being funny Hugo but it’s not just me who’s unsure, the officials gave it, the pundits on BBC seemed torn, and most fans (and RZ) seem to think it was a knock on. So I think World rugby should just make a statement saying “this is why the officials were right/wrong”. To me it didn’t seem like the officials knew the law which is why they kept looking at it even though the angles all showed the same thing.

I think they’ve made clarifications before (with the forward pass/momentum issue) so they could do so again without much hassle.

[Oldschool]

Pretty sure it's not a knock on until the ball touches the ground or another player or in extreme case perhaps the uprights.
Not even sure if it's a knock on if it touches the ref.
However from my own experience and watching the game I've seen the ball knocked forward into the air and subsequently knocked backwards (in desparation, not control) and play waved on.
The last action of the ball was backwards off the player (in possession?).
My argument is not that the officials got it right but neither did they get it wrong and nowadays the doubt goes to the attacking team.
Try Yes or No and to a lesser extent I can see no reason not to award a try. The ball was knocked forward and then back hhmmm and hhmmm and hhmmm.
The officials thought about the decision for quite a while to be fair and the ref had initially ruled a knock on.
Due process was carried out, which you couldn't say happened for Henderson's disallowed try.