Ireland A vs New Zealand XV Friday 4th November

[enby]

This game will be the making of a load of these lads or it won’t. The choice is theirs. I’m talking guys like Frawley, Casey, Hume, Coombes, Prendergast and Osborne. Guys with growing reputations. These guys are our future and they got a good lesson tonight. I think Osborne is the only one who came out with his reputation enhanced. Time for the other lads to put the head down and get working.


I don’t think it’s the end of the world at all one team were a lot more experienced than the other and they showed it. Worthwhile experience.

Exactly what Farrell said to them

[blockhead]

Faz will have difficulty looking for positives from this game. If I was like some of the Irish media or indeed some of the posters on here, , I would write that entire 23 off as "Not International standard" but I wont.
They had a bad night.
The back row, very poor. Coombes looks like a beast in the URC he was awol tonight ditto Timoney. The half backs were all over the place, Casey had a night to forget as did Frawley (apart from the try).
Crowley had a right mare for his cameo.
The lineout inproved in the 2nd half but it cost us bigtime in the 1st.
Just an all around bad performance, it happens.

[blockhead]

I thought NZ were really good.
15 players indignant that they're not on the 1st team.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Tonight felt like playing U-13s against a George Hook coached Willow Park after only being introduced a rugby ball 2 weeks ago.

[Keith]

I thought NZ were really good.
15 players indignant that they're not on the 1st team.

I hope they continue with this side, they'll provide top quality opposition for whoever they play. I can see them playing and filling stadiums against the likes of Japan, the Americas, Georgia etc. Should be a good money spinner for them

[dropkick]

One of those nights the team just looked off. Give a NZ team an inch and they'll take a mile. 


NZ were well up it and wanted to get revenge for the summer. I think the Irish players were stunned and couldn't get going, then tried to force things which made things worse. 

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In hindsight a groundhog 7 like Penny or Hodnett would have given the backrow a better balance. The pack as a whole suffered from being too slow. Thornbury, Molony, Prendergast, Coombes are not the speediest of players while Timoney isn't a typical groundhog. McCarthy going off was a big blow as he is just what you'd need to compete. It could have been himself and Ahern, both very good athletes. 


The midfield was all over the place defensively but part of that comes back to the pack. There's only so much space players can cover. 

[LeRouxIsPHat]

It was a bit of a shitshow all round so I’m conscious of not being too harsh on anyone. I’m not worried about certain players like Hume. He’s just back from a long lay off and is usually a brilliant defender so just park it and move on.

Some players do keep disappointing though and I’d be more worried about them. Heffernan, Coombes and Timoney in particular for me and I think Ross showed why he hasn’t been rewarded for his Leinster form. Casey and Frawley (to a much lesser extent) were poor but the forwards gave them no help at the breakdown, with their carries, or by just going through with pulling passes out the back because that’s what had been called instead of it being the best option.

Osborne and Stockdale both made mistakes but were the pick of the bunch for me. Deegan quite good when he came on and so were Marty and Blade. I’d reward most of them against Fiji and I’d give Casey and Frawley (assuming he’s fit) another go in a stronger team.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Would it improve depth if we moved more players to Munster?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I’ll tell you one man who’s happy tonight is Jimmy O’Brien!

[JohnB]

We were too slow in thought and execution, our tackling was powderpuff, our ball protection was pitiful and we had no penetration in the backs but apart from that it was fine!

[hugonaut]

I didn't expect that to be close, but we were worse than I thought we'd be.

There's a phrase that American golf commentators sometimes use when a PGA player is struggling in front of their eyes: "He's playing golf swing, not golf." I thought the lads were doing their best to play the shapes they'd trained, but a good bit of rugby fell through the gaps ... like actually going to rucks and knocking down carriers.

They had some real class on the pitch as well, a much stronger side than the Maori teams we beat over in NZ. What a super player Damien McKenzie is. He had that game on a string. He was outstanding, and it was a treat to see him play in the RDS. TJ Perenara has also been a favourite of mine for a long, long time, so it was another treat to see him out there between the hedges.

[blockhead]

Nash looked lively I suppose, as did Deegan and Blade when they came on.

[RoboProp]

Frawley made a couple of mistakes, but the guy is a grafter always busy. I'd love to see him given a go with a better pack and scrummy.

[blockhead]

I wonder would Damien McKenzie like to play more often in the RDS?

[D4surfer]

I was at the match. The f@cking music during breaks in play killed any opportunity for an atmosphere.

No reputations were enhanced tonight.

[Dave Cahill]

I was at the match. The f@cking music during breaks in play killed any opportunity for an atmosphere.

No reputations were enhanced tonight.

Couldn't make the match tonight due to work so I watched it in my local. I actually thought they had put music on in the pub until I realised it was in the ground!

[JohnB]

I was at the match. The f@cking music during breaks in play killed any opportunity for an atmosphere.

No reputations were enhanced tonight.

The music was absolutely cack! As for the game, I thought the howls of “forward” for McKenzie’s try in the 73rd minute were laughable because it was howling about the barn door being open after the horse had bolted. Our ball protection leading up to it was dreadful and they took the ball from us as easily as taking sweets from kiddies and then scored a lovely try. I thought Frawley did reasonably well with a poor pack in front of him and I thought Crowley and Deegan played well when they came on and Stockdale was fine. That’s about it though. NZ’s execution at speed was great. Our execution was slow and lumbering. Not a good night for our lads at all.

[Oldschoolsocks]

I've had a long hard think about this and for me where the game was lost - apart from lack of midfield defence and coughing up on our own line out - was our lack of commitment at the ruck. This reminds me of when Faz had just taken over and we just didn't seem to know how or when to secure our ruck ball - maybe the lesson is just too big for the 'A' squad to absorb in the time they've had?

[hugonaut]

I thought Prendergast did quite well for us. I was a little iffy about him before the game, but he stuck at it for the full 80 minutes. Very fit, good competitive edge. Jerry Loughman was another forward who did himself more good than harm. Tom O'Toole did okay. There were only eight scrums in eighty minutes, so neither of them got a tough set piece examination.

Ross Molony obviously played most of the game and was busy. He got some gainline a couple of times, was stopped dead a couple of other times and was used an awful lot as the midfield distributor – would love to see some number from that game to see how many passes he threw. His pull-back is very, very slick: better even than Aly Muldowney's was in Connacht's league-winning season.

From the stands, Timoney just wasn't a feature in the game. He seemed nowhere action unless it came to him, which is the opposite of what you would expect from your openside. Will Connors will be eyeing him up to take that jersey off him. Coombes struggled after he got stuffed in midfield in the first half, he went into his shell a little bit. Thornbury is a very good lineout forward ... not enough else to his game at this level. Edogbo would have been a better call-up, in my opinion.

Heffernan will get passed out this season by Stewart, who is way more talented. Heffernan is a guy who has maxed himself out – that's really commendable. He has got as much out of himself as he can. He's always going to struggle at test level, but he has given it all that he has. He has played in the Six Nations, played against NZ ... it's been a good career.

[hugonaut]

I've had a long hard think about this and for me where the game was lost - apart from lack of midfield defence and coughing up on our own line out - was our lack of commitment at the ruck. This reminds me of when Faz had just taken over and we just didn't seem to know how or when to secure our ruck ball - maybe the lesson is just too big for the 'A' squad to absorb in the time they've had?

I think that is square on the target. It's not a side who have played that much rugby together, or have even trained together than much. They would have spent most of last week preparing the test side for the Springboks.