6 Nations 2021

[hugonaut]

Jesus - didn't see that coming! Great win for the lads. Really reminds me of 2011 when we had a very ordinary championship and then made a good few selection changes for the last games [again, at home against England] and put in our best performance in a couple of years.

The old timers had excellent games – Sexton, Earls, Murray and Cian were all very, very good. To be frank, picking out players who had good games is like shooting fish in a barrel, there were so many very good performances out there from our lads. Henshaw, Beirne and Hendo were all outstanding again. Hendo really turns it on in Lions years! I think the Nordies love playing for the Lions; it suits their cultural mentality. Very big game from Tadhg Furlong, who looked back to his best.

We'll miss CJ and his lunatic bravery!

[Hippo]

Ellis Genge in line for a bit of a holiday.

Yes, I'm sure he'll plead the 'psychological pressure of being in the England bubble' in mitigation.

[Fan with smartphone]

Anybody saying that a win here will just paper over the cracks etc can f%~k right off. It's beating England. We've been making them look better than they are. We've been beaten before we took to the field.
We need this.

while totally celebrating the victory, and absolutely loving every time we beat England (especially this version of them), I have no problem f%~king right off because this win is papering over the cracks

Sure every year is papering over the cracks and trying to win the odd game in the middle of it. I thought Ireland were really good today. Am annoyed about the red because I like Aki and thought he was good, with Henshaw totally outstanding at 13 beside him. Our scrum has improved a fair bit, lineout a real area of strength (though not particularly needed today), our fullback is hard to expose and contributes in attack. There are things we aren’t closer to answering yes, but I see things taking shape that I didn’t before.

Jones last week was saying England had got a jump start on the French, but I’d much prefer to be in Galthie’s shoes. Maybe Saracens thing is the problem, like Billy Vunipola is way off the pace, but France looked like they could score from anywhere at any time against England. Today England looked like they’d never score, prior to the red.

[riocard911]

Ellis Genge in line for a bit of a holiday.

100% !Under the Ireland posts in the 76th min he first takes Kelleher in a neck brace and then elbows Sexton, who's underneath him on the ground, in the side of head a couple of times. Serious shithousery!!! See:

https://twitter.com/bren_69/status/1373342346444738562

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Wow, what a performance. I think it was the Earls try that just blew the doors off, all the confidence that had been missing for the last two years just came flooding back and we built on it with Conan’s try. Im not saying we’ve had some amazing attacking game that just needed a confidence boost to click but we’ve had near misses like Keenan’s try that was ruled out in the autumn or Lowe’s foot in touch against France and think we’d have improved a lot if they’d been given.

I know what Hugo means about singling out individuals but I thought Robbie was the one to really step up and change the momentum when England were on top in the first quarter. Tadhg Beirne came alive then with his carrying as well, his stats must be off the charts.

I’ve never been sure about Conan as a top class 8 and been critical of Aki too but both had brilliant games. Aki bookended his performance with the run into touch and the stupid red card but was excellent in between.

Hugo’s ability in the air and general security at the back is a bit of a game changer for us too. I agree with whoever said he should have done better with the tackle on May but also it was at the end of a really big shift from him and the game was well won so it’s not a big deal.

Credit to all the coaches and players for that performance but POC has been a revelation. 6 months ago I’d never have imagined that we could dominate England without James Ryan and with Beirne in the row. He makes me confident about the future even if other areas still need work. Imagine what he might be able to do with the likes of Kelleher, Baird, Doris etc etc as they come through properly over the next few years.

For the first time since November 2018 there’s an Ireland game that I want to watch again

[LeinsterLeader]

Jaysus France deserved that! Some game

[FLIP]

Jaysus France deserved that! Some game

Thought it was all over after the red. But France out frenched themselves to win and deny Wales the slam they didn't deserve.

[LeinsterLeader]

Some days rugby all-round. If you didn't enjoy today, Rugby's not the game for you

[JohnB]

Given the utter cynicism of the Welsh in the red zone in the last 15 minutes I’m delighted that France pulled out the win.

[ronk]

Some days rugby all-round. If you didn't enjoy today, Rugby's not the game foe you

Or you support a team on the wrong side of the scoreboard

[Fan with smartphone]

Commiserations to JB1973. It was an epic.

[blockhead]

Isn't it an awful shame that that wasn't the final moment on the 2021 Six Nations.
And while we're at it, throw in a stadium full of Frenchies going bat sh!t crazy.

Wales are a far better team that they were when they played us.
Can't think of a French team from the last 20 years that would have pulled out a victory from 10 down with 4mins to play.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

Jaysus France deserved that! Some game

shame about the red but a great advert for the game of rugby. Wales will be kicking themselves for the cheap penalty when in the red but fair play to france...carved out a try to win the game and shatter welsh dreams.

for me it was a great six nations. enjoyed it immensely and hoping there are not too many injuries for our pro 14 final next week.,

[blockhead]

Henderson and Beirne having great games. Might be an unpopular opinion but I’d have both above Ryan for the Lions

Anyways, Jack Conan take a bow. Best performance in green.
Great performance by all. Felt sorry for Bundee, they were both very low at the point of contact, is that 2 of our 3 red cards in our history?
King Johnny justs keeps on rollin. Still world class.
His critics just look silly now.

[LeinsterLeader]

I thought I'd seen that move somewhere before alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTX0Vz8Etc8

[ronk]

I thought I'd seen that move somewhere before alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTX0Vz8Etc8

Good shout

[Xanthippe]

Felt sorry for Bundee, they were both very low at the point of contact, is that 2 of our 3 red cards in our history?

No 2 of 6

Duggan - 5 Nations v Wales
Heaslip - summer tour v New Zealand
Stander - summer tour v South Africa
Aki - RWC v Samoa
O’Mahony - 6 Nations v Wales
Aki

[Twist]

I thought Billy V sort of dipped his head (as opposed to his body) in the last attosecond before contact

[hugonaut]

Henderson and Beirne having great games. Might be an unpopular opinion but I’d have both above Ryan for the Lions

Anyways, Jack Conan take a bow. Best performance in green.
Great performance by all. Felt sorry for Bundee, they were both very low at the point of contact, is that 2 of our 3 red cards in our history?
King Johnny justs keeps on rollin. Still world class.
His critics just look silly now.

Felt sorry for Bundee too - it wasn't a cheap shot or dirty play, just an impact that was 75-100mm too high. It's unfortunate and I think it will continue to happen, whether or not red cards are given.

Hugo Keenan's excellence in the air was a big feature of the tactical battle, both offensively and defensively. England were missing a kicking option in Henry Slade, but they still had Youngs, Ford, Farrell and Daly – a very potent kicking attack. They couldn't manage to rattle Keenan or find him out of position though, and it is a tribute to his excellent game awareness, fielding, fitness and athleticism that a part of the game where they've excelled against us in the past just wasn't a feature yesterday.

England without Manu Tuilagi are a different and much less effective team. In all their big wins over us [Feb 2019, Aug 2019, Feb 2020] he was a starter for them, either at No12 or No13. He has an almost superhuman combination of explosiveness and raw strength; when he's on form, he's an absolute gamebreaker against any team in the world. I understand that Geordan Murphy is a long-time team-mate and coach of his, but I thought it was really telling when Dallaglio and Nick Mullins asked him for his opinion of Ollie Lawrence in the 'Manu Tuilagi role' and Murphy was basically: https://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/l ... e-58255800

[hugonaut]

Another thing to mention was that we took a lot of shots at goal. Obviously you have to get kickable penalties in order to have the option, but I can't recall another game in the last six or seven years when we took so many kicks – 6 penalties for 18 points. Having just checked, it looks like Sexton has never kicked 6 penalties in a test match before.