I think you need to read that article againriocard911 wrote:I dunno, to whom the reference is above, but certainly Paul Kimmage didn't cover himself in glory last weekend, essentially saying no one on the outside had the right to judge David Tweed. The daughter the very next day blew that notion to smithereens, fair play to her!!!
Women's Rugby World Cup
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Dave Cahill
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
I have Bumbleflex
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
I agree. It's not like they just underperformed in a couple of recent games, it's a fairly consistent longer term issue going back to the previous WC.LeRouxIsPHat wrote: ↑November 11th, 2021, 3:59 pm Quite surprised at the lack of support for the players speaking out here. I'm not sure why the focus is on the world cup qualifiers, the backlash to Eddy is clearly about a lot more than that.
Firstly, his attitude stinks, that's as clear as day to me. Secondly, I would look at something like the women's game not being given elite status and players having to change with rats running around recently. If you're operating in a landscape like that then I don't think you look at world cup qualifiers in isolation and question performances without looking at the bigger picture. Now I don't know the ins and outs of his role, but for things like that to be happening and then for him to put the blame on amateur players who have to operate in that environment is a disgrace. His attitude seems to be that the players have been given all the tools and f%~ked up, which is quite clearly bullshit.
It appears that Nucifora took Moloney to task about her tweet, did he also take Eddy to task for blaming the players? I think it's brilliant that so many of the players are speaking out. They obviously think change is needed and given how things have gone over the last 4 and a half years or so it's good that it's happening now. That interview deserved the reaction that it got, he has to go.
Plus they're not professional players with IRFU contracts.
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Oldschoolsocks
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
f%~k Paul Kimmage.
other than standing up to Lance Armstrong of course. Because Lance Armstrong can f%~k off and when he's done f%~king off he can f%~k off some more.
other than standing up to Lance Armstrong of course. Because Lance Armstrong can f%~k off and when he's done f%~king off he can f%~k off some more.
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riocard911
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Happy to be corrected. Will do.Dave Cahill wrote: ↑November 11th, 2021, 8:41 pmI think you need to read that article againriocard911 wrote:I dunno, to whom the reference is above, but certainly Paul Kimmage didn't cover himself in glory last weekend, essentially saying no one on the outside had the right to judge David Tweed. The daughter the very next day blew that notion to smithereens, fair play to her!!!
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Just checked for tickets for the game - looks like the only ones available are Blocks A and E in the Anglesea and Terrace - everything else showing as sold out.
I hope it's not that they only opened the Anglesea - would be good to have a decent crowd
I hope it's not that they only opened the Anglesea - would be good to have a decent crowd
I like your right leg. A lovely leg for the role.
I've got nothing against your right leg.
The trouble is ... neither have you
I've got nothing against your right leg.
The trouble is ... neither have you
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Ciara Griffin retiring at 27. Bit of a blow tbh.
You know I'm going to lose,
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Ireland's women getting schooled by Japan. Red card for Ireland in 1st half.
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Got the win but geoblocked for me 
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Great article from Fanning with genuine insight into recent events involving/surrounding the Irish Womens' Team [link:https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/ ... 85867.html ]
The shop window for the women’s rugby project in this country is a shambles
Brendan Fanning
November 24 2021 05:08 PM
The lingering image from the RDS last weekend featured Ireland captain Ciara Griffin being hoisted shoulder high by her team-mates.
For the player of the match it was an appropriate farewell on her early retirement.
Griffin’s team had held out against Japan despite being hampered by a sending off. As a snapshot of a united group finishing a failed season on a bright note you couldn’t have done better with an art director on hand.
The picture didn’t tell you anything of the performance, however, which illustrated the shortcomings in those rugby nations outside the handful at the top: poor skills leading to poor continuity making for a frustrating spectacle, well removed from elite status sport.
The following day we happened across an interested party on the way into Lansdowne Road for the men’s game with Argentina.
Their version of events in the women’s squad was well removed from sweetness and light.
The term ‘toxic’ was mentioned a few times to describe the culture in the group. Depending on who you talk to this is either ‘on the money’ or ‘over the top’.
What is inarguable is that the shop window for the women’s rugby project in this country is a shambles.
Saddled in 2018, by IRFU performance director David Nucifora, with the stratospheric target of accounting for 20 per cent of the Irish rugby model inside five years it has become a grim reality show where opportunities for publicity become endurance tests.
Going back a few months the plan for the Ireland squad was as follows: go to Parma and beat the teams Ireland were supposed to beat – Spain, Italy and Scotland – and come home happy that next year’s World Cup tickets were bought and paid for.
Then, look forward to the November series with the US and Japan as a confidence builder ahead of the Six Nations.
Next, crack on into that Championship with everyone on the same page and see if at least Ireland could be the best of the rest, after France and England. Maybe all the sessions and all the investment at the top end could produce some visible improvement against the big two, who are miles ahead.
Instead the World Cup qualifiers turned into a stress-fest, at the end of which the group was mentally scarred. On the night of the defeat by Scotland the Irish women had a few drinks in the team room at the hotel, followed by a few of them opting for a late night/early hours swim.
While it’s understood it got messy it’s important to put this in context. It wasn’t an orgy of destruction that had other guests hiding under their beds, but it was an embarrassment which compounded the disaster that had unfolded on the field earlier in the day.
“The IRFU was made aware of some minor damage to hotel furniture following the Ireland V Scotland WRWC in Parma last September,” an IRFU spokesman confirms. “The matter has been settled amicably.”
Most recently we were given a bizarre drama that reflected the divisions in the squad.
When Cliodhna Moloney reacted with an online swipe at the tone-deaf interview given by IRFU women’s director Anthony Eddy it sparked a flurry of activity among her team-mates.
It was painfully obvious the Sevens crew in the squad were reluctant to wade in to support her – they have those contracts and a potential World Cup place to be concerned about.
For some of the others, however, Sevens is an alien planet. Seemingly some were happy to row in behind their hooker; others felt pressured to do so. It is unlikely any coaching/management manual would prescribe this as good prep in the week of a Test match.
Eddy’s shortcomings in the communications stakes are obvious – quite a handicap given the sensitivities around the women’s game – but gathering up all the dirty laundry and putting it on display was from the same school of self-harm.
In any team setting, from minis to adults, cliques are corrosive. Surely this is the first thing incoming coach Greg McWilliams will address. But this is easier said than done.
The ludicrousness of the IRFU’s Strategic Plan, targeting the 20 per cent, was that it was coming off such a weak base. Any coach dreads a self-destructive core but radical surgery will almost certainly require plugging the hole with inexperienced and technically inferior players.
The trade-off comes in suffering on the scoreboard during the transition.
No coach wants to plead for a moratorium on the win/loss metric in his opening address, but in McWilliams’s case it might be worth it.
You’d imagine his next move will be to recruit the coaches in the women’s AIL as de facto assistants, to speed up the operation. We’d expect him to be pushing an open door on this one.
The domestic game is central to this production, and while it’s getting some love now you have to recognise the impact of years of neglect.
To be going over this ground yet again clarifies the confusion in the IRFU about what is needed in the women’s game.
You’d imagine at this point they might reckon Anthony Eddy is not the man for all seasons, and redraw his map solely for men’s Sevens, with a new appointment to the job of women’s director.
As for Ciara Griffin, a good friend of hers tells us she will be better off without “the mental drain of the group.”
What a sad commentary on that state of affairs. No wonder she looked so happy in the post-match snap.
The shop window for the women’s rugby project in this country is a shambles
Brendan Fanning
November 24 2021 05:08 PM
The lingering image from the RDS last weekend featured Ireland captain Ciara Griffin being hoisted shoulder high by her team-mates.
For the player of the match it was an appropriate farewell on her early retirement.
Griffin’s team had held out against Japan despite being hampered by a sending off. As a snapshot of a united group finishing a failed season on a bright note you couldn’t have done better with an art director on hand.
The picture didn’t tell you anything of the performance, however, which illustrated the shortcomings in those rugby nations outside the handful at the top: poor skills leading to poor continuity making for a frustrating spectacle, well removed from elite status sport.
The following day we happened across an interested party on the way into Lansdowne Road for the men’s game with Argentina.
Their version of events in the women’s squad was well removed from sweetness and light.
The term ‘toxic’ was mentioned a few times to describe the culture in the group. Depending on who you talk to this is either ‘on the money’ or ‘over the top’.
What is inarguable is that the shop window for the women’s rugby project in this country is a shambles.
Saddled in 2018, by IRFU performance director David Nucifora, with the stratospheric target of accounting for 20 per cent of the Irish rugby model inside five years it has become a grim reality show where opportunities for publicity become endurance tests.
Going back a few months the plan for the Ireland squad was as follows: go to Parma and beat the teams Ireland were supposed to beat – Spain, Italy and Scotland – and come home happy that next year’s World Cup tickets were bought and paid for.
Then, look forward to the November series with the US and Japan as a confidence builder ahead of the Six Nations.
Next, crack on into that Championship with everyone on the same page and see if at least Ireland could be the best of the rest, after France and England. Maybe all the sessions and all the investment at the top end could produce some visible improvement against the big two, who are miles ahead.
Instead the World Cup qualifiers turned into a stress-fest, at the end of which the group was mentally scarred. On the night of the defeat by Scotland the Irish women had a few drinks in the team room at the hotel, followed by a few of them opting for a late night/early hours swim.
While it’s understood it got messy it’s important to put this in context. It wasn’t an orgy of destruction that had other guests hiding under their beds, but it was an embarrassment which compounded the disaster that had unfolded on the field earlier in the day.
“The IRFU was made aware of some minor damage to hotel furniture following the Ireland V Scotland WRWC in Parma last September,” an IRFU spokesman confirms. “The matter has been settled amicably.”
Most recently we were given a bizarre drama that reflected the divisions in the squad.
When Cliodhna Moloney reacted with an online swipe at the tone-deaf interview given by IRFU women’s director Anthony Eddy it sparked a flurry of activity among her team-mates.
It was painfully obvious the Sevens crew in the squad were reluctant to wade in to support her – they have those contracts and a potential World Cup place to be concerned about.
For some of the others, however, Sevens is an alien planet. Seemingly some were happy to row in behind their hooker; others felt pressured to do so. It is unlikely any coaching/management manual would prescribe this as good prep in the week of a Test match.
Eddy’s shortcomings in the communications stakes are obvious – quite a handicap given the sensitivities around the women’s game – but gathering up all the dirty laundry and putting it on display was from the same school of self-harm.
In any team setting, from minis to adults, cliques are corrosive. Surely this is the first thing incoming coach Greg McWilliams will address. But this is easier said than done.
The ludicrousness of the IRFU’s Strategic Plan, targeting the 20 per cent, was that it was coming off such a weak base. Any coach dreads a self-destructive core but radical surgery will almost certainly require plugging the hole with inexperienced and technically inferior players.
The trade-off comes in suffering on the scoreboard during the transition.
No coach wants to plead for a moratorium on the win/loss metric in his opening address, but in McWilliams’s case it might be worth it.
You’d imagine his next move will be to recruit the coaches in the women’s AIL as de facto assistants, to speed up the operation. We’d expect him to be pushing an open door on this one.
The domestic game is central to this production, and while it’s getting some love now you have to recognise the impact of years of neglect.
To be going over this ground yet again clarifies the confusion in the IRFU about what is needed in the women’s game.
You’d imagine at this point they might reckon Anthony Eddy is not the man for all seasons, and redraw his map solely for men’s Sevens, with a new appointment to the job of women’s director.
As for Ciara Griffin, a good friend of hers tells us she will be better off without “the mental drain of the group.”
What a sad commentary on that state of affairs. No wonder she looked so happy in the post-match snap.
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Fanning hits it on the head.
You can get rid of the toxic elements but its not like there are many if any alternative players, the talent pool is very small.
The other problem is that England are light years ahead of France who are light years ahead of the rest of us. Winning stuff, or getting even close is not on the agenda. Regular hammerings are to be expected.
You can get rid of the toxic elements but its not like there are many if any alternative players, the talent pool is very small.
The other problem is that England are light years ahead of France who are light years ahead of the rest of us. Winning stuff, or getting even close is not on the agenda. Regular hammerings are to be expected.
You know I'm going to lose,
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
He bumped into an interested party and he's twisted the knife in public. No one really wins and the narrative that's left in some ways is that maybe the women's team is finished at this level.
And I don't think that's right. Not entirely anyway.
A new coach and some good rugby might turn things around. We're seen plenty of teams/players knuckle down.
Disfunction is often circular.
And I don't think that's right. Not entirely anyway.
A new coach and some good rugby might turn things around. We're seen plenty of teams/players knuckle down.
Disfunction is often circular.
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Fanning has been the Indo's rugby correspondent for 25 years, has been in the newspaper game for longer than that, and has been in club rugby for longer again.blockhead wrote: ↑November 24th, 2021, 9:38 pm Fanning hits it on the head.
You can get rid of the toxic elements but its not like there are many if any alternative players, the talent pool is very small.
The other problem is that England are light years ahead of France who are light years ahead of the rest of us. Winning stuff, or getting even close is not on the agenda. Regular hammerings are to be expected.
He knows an awful lot of people in the game and knows that people talk to each other at rugby clubs and at rugby matches. He has sources at all sorts of levels – people he can ring up and talk to and get inside information which will inform his understanding of the situation, but which he will keep off the record if requested.
And he's also a proper journalist. This is a story, and I have little doubt that it's an accurate take on the situation. There's lots of blame to go around, in all directions. It's not his job to be either the union's PR man or the womens' team PR man.
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Wow! To get quoted by Hugo The Great is a real and rare honor. Even if he meant to quote ronk.hugonaut wrote: ↑November 24th, 2021, 10:25 pmFanning has been the Indo's rugby correspondent for 25 years, has been in the newspaper game for longer than that, and has been in club rugby for longer again.blockhead wrote: ↑November 24th, 2021, 9:38 pm Fanning hits it on the head.
You can get rid of the toxic elements but its not like there are many if any alternative players, the talent pool is very small.
The other problem is that England are light years ahead of France who are light years ahead of the rest of us. Winning stuff, or getting even close is not on the agenda. Regular hammerings are to be expected.
He knows an awful lot of people in the game and knows that people talk to each other at rugby clubs and at rugby matches. He has sources at all sorts of levels – people he can ring up and talk to and get inside information which will inform his understanding of the situation, but which he will keep off the record if requested.
And he's also a proper journalist. This is a story, and I have little doubt that it's an accurate take on the situation. There's lots of blame to go around, in all directions. It's not his job to be either the union's PR man or the womens' team PR man.
You know I'm going to lose,
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Yeah I'm not having a go at Fanning. I'm just lamenting the way this is playing out.hugonaut wrote: ↑November 24th, 2021, 10:25 pmFanning has been the Indo's rugby correspondent for 25 years, has been in the newspaper game for longer than that, and has been in club rugby for longer again.blockhead wrote: ↑November 24th, 2021, 9:38 pm Fanning hits it on the head.
You can get rid of the toxic elements but its not like there are many if any alternative players, the talent pool is very small.
The other problem is that England are light years ahead of France who are light years ahead of the rest of us. Winning stuff, or getting even close is not on the agenda. Regular hammerings are to be expected.
He knows an awful lot of people in the game and knows that people talk to each other at rugby clubs and at rugby matches. He has sources at all sorts of levels – people he can ring up and talk to and get inside information which will inform his understanding of the situation, but which he will keep off the record if requested.
And he's also a proper journalist. This is a story, and I have little doubt that it's an accurate take on the situation. There's lots of blame to go around, in all directions. It's not his job to be either the union's PR man or the womens' team PR man.
Maybe it's even for the best in the long run.
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LeRouxIsPHat
- Jamie Heaslip
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Wow…
https://www.the42.ie/ireland-women-rug ... 7-Dec2021/
Not exactly a nice way for Philip Browne to go out. The women’s football team did something similar a few years ago but this is extraordinary.
https://www.the42.ie/ireland-women-rug ... 7-Dec2021/
Not exactly a nice way for Philip Browne to go out. The women’s football team did something similar a few years ago but this is extraordinary.
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Dave Cahill
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Extraordinary doesn't begin to describe it!LeRouxIsPHat wrote:Wow…
https://www.the42.ie/ireland-women-rug ... 7-Dec2021/
Not exactly a nice way for Philip Browne to go out. The women’s football team did something similar a few years ago but this is extraordinary.
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riocard911
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
Fair play to them!!!
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the spoofer
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Re: Women's Rugby World Cup
More winning, less whinging.