Ireland A vs New Zealand XV Friday 4th November

[betty swallocks]

Prendergast the best of a back row that was dominated. Along with Loughman and Deegan when he came on that was the best of the pack. Frawley and Hume poor, and although Casey tried hard, Blade looked sharper when he came on. Osborne and particularly Hume were very poor. Nash the best of the backs.

[blockhead]

Had a feelin we were fupped when Casey led the team on to the field holding hands with a lass that was taller then he was.

[FLIP]

Had a feelin we were fupped when Casey led the team on to the field holding hands with a lass that was taller then he was.

If he put as much heart into the game as he did swapping mascots for the anthems he won't have been miles better

[cormac]

When the team came out for the start of the match each player had a mascot with them. The mascot who accompanied Casey was actually taller than him. Things went downhill for him after that.

Quite a few reputations burst tonight at the RDS. As a team and as individuals that Ireland XV was barely second best.

We should probably try to kidnap a few of that NZ backline. That Stevenson kid is a rocket. Give him a ball and a yard of grass. Would love to see him in a Leinster jersey.

[ronk]

Well that was a lesson learned. NZXV were very good and we didn't really know how to play against them.

We made so many mistakes against a team built to punish mistakes. There was some good endeavour and we did adapt eventually.

[enby]

Really weird performance from the ref. Ignored offside and no arm tackles all night. Gave us at least 4 ridiculous penalties. Ignored a number of head hits and got about 5 forward pass calls wrong. He even called full time about 6 seconds too early. Otherwise he was grand

[Keith]

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.

As a 7 Timoney isn't even on the same planet as Connors. As soon as Connors is fit he slots straight back in as 2nd choice 7.

[Ruckedtobits]

NZ players learn from the earliest age that rugby starts with collisions, after that you add skills and finally, you do everything at pace.

Like the first game against the Maori in the summer, the Irish forwards never got to the intensity of the collisions, not just tackles but also the ferocity with which we carry balls into tackles and compete for broken ball. Their third try was a perfect example, when neither Frawley nor Hume showed enough hunger to claim the overthrown line-out and McKensie attacked the ball and accelerated between them from his own 22m line and ended up 5 secs later with a Black try at our end.

Great rugby looks cerebral but, without physicality, you rarely make intelligent rugby work, certainly not at international level.

IMO, this display was never as bad as some of the really bad old days, like 68 conceded points in Plymouth. But, lacking enough aggression in contact, on both sides of the ball, no part of the Irish team worked properly. Our clearouts weren't hard enough, and as a consequence our ball presentation wasn't quick enough and, as a consequence our mid-field passes weren't sharp enough and their blitz defence hit us hard and often.

At half-time, the match stats showed us as having 50% possession and 49% territory. It certainly didn't feel like that. NZ were always coming on to the ball at pace. Their defence was always hitting and knocking Irish players. Our tackles looked like soaks, our attempted breaks rarely seemed to be incisive enough.

Certainly, they played on the edge and often over the edge of offside with impunity and weren't picked up by referee Carley. But that was at least partially because of the aggression they brought to every aspect of their game.

This was NZ rugby as many of us remember it from the past. Hard, fast, skillful and ruthless. If their National side don't recover their ability to play like this during their encounters this Autumn (and the game against Japan didn't suggest they have), then many of these NZ players will be in France next Autumn wearing numbers between 1 and 23.

A big lesson for the majority of the Irish players on the pitch past night, if you can't get a bit of 'madness' in your eyes and heart, your opponents aren't going to hesitate at the next collision and, you're probably not going to survive at international level. Win the collisions, with and without the ball, and the entire experience changes. Preparation for the game at this level isn't just about video analysis and knowing the play-book, if you don't understand and want to knock back, and over, every guy in an opposition shirt, don't bother turning up, it won't be enough.

Knowing how to do it is only the second part of the game. Wanting to impose yourself in every collision is the essential ingredient

Let's hope our senior team demonstrates that this evening. Otherwise, we're going to see a lot of Rassie interviews before the 9 o'clock news arrives.

[jezzer]

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

This was also my big takeaway from the game!

Massive fan of his and he actually seems to have gotten better with age.

[riocard911]

NZ players learn from the earliest age that rugby starts with collisions, after that you add skills and finally, you do everything at pace.

Like the first game against the Maori in the summer, the Irish forwards never got to the intensity of the collisions, not just tackles but also the ferocity with which we carry balls into tackles and compete for broken ball. Their third try was a perfect example, when neither Frawley nor Hume showed enough hunger to claim the overthrown line-out and McKensie attacked the ball and accelerated between them from his own 22m line and ended up 5 secs later with a Black try at our end.

Great rugby looks cerebral but, without physicality, you rarely make intelligent rugby work, certainly not at international level.

IMO, this display was never as bad as some of the really bad old days, like 68 conceded points in Plymouth. But, lacking enough aggression in contact, on both sides of the ball, no part of the Irish team worked properly. Our clearouts weren't hard enough, and as a consequence our ball presentation wasn't quick enough and, as a consequence our mid-field passes weren't sharp enough and their blitz defence hit us hard and often.

At half-time, the match stats showed us as having 50% possession and 49% territory. It certainly didn't feel like that. NZ were always coming on to the ball at pace. Their defence was always hitting and knocking Irish players. Our tackles looked like soaks, our attempted breaks rarely seemed to be incisive enough.

Certainly, they played on the edge and often over the edge of offside with impunity and weren't picked up by referee Carley. But that was at least partially because of the aggression they brought to every aspect of their game.

This was NZ rugby as many of us remember it from the past. Hard, fast, skillful and ruthless. If their National side don't recover their ability to play like this during their encounters this Autumn (and the game against Japan didn't suggest they have), then many of these NZ players will be in France next Autumn wearing numbers between 1 and 23.

A big lesson for the majority of the Irish players on the pitch past night, if you can't get a bit of 'madness' in your eyes and heart, your opponents aren't going to hesitate at the next collision and, you're probably not going to survive at international level. Win the collisions, with and without the ball, and the entire experience changes. Preparation for the game at this level isn't just about video analysis and knowing the play-book, if you don't understand and want to knock back, and over, every guy in an opposition shirt, don't bother turning up, it won't be enough.

Knowing how to do it is only the second part of the game. Wanting to impose yourself in every collision is the essential ingredient

Let's hope our senior team demonstrates that this evening. Otherwise, we're going to see a lot of Rassie interviews before the 9 o'clock news arrives.

Nail - on - head!!!

[matt]

NZ had some outstanding players like McKenzie, Stevenson and Gardiner, however, the Irish team did not have the same edge or meanness as the NZ xv. A reminder for Ireland today against a hard boks pack.
Heffernan, Coombes, the second rows looked out of their depth but Timoney who has been good up to last night left gaps and looked slow in comparison. I think it was just a bad night for him but if Josh gets injured he is next best 7 and could be an important part of World Cup squad.

[Oldschoolsocks]

I missed McCarthy’s injury, what happened?

[dropkick]

What the match did highlight was the lack of leaders in the squad. Its understandable in a way because its a young squad but there was a massive difference how much more up for it NZ were. They took the summer series defeat very personally and any opportunity they got they but in big hits.


I've heard people say it's a wake up call for the side playing South Africa but I would be surprised if they're so laid back. Rassie has literally called them softies so there's that.

[Dave Cahill]

I've rarely seen so many good players play so poorly, or at least below their normal levels, at the same time. Nobody enhanced their reputations, very few maintained theirs. Of course, a significant amount of this was down to the excellence of the New Zealand team, but we really didn't help ourselves. We were destroyed at the breakdown. The absolute key to the Irish game plan is the speed of ruck and the Kiwis took this away from us. Instead of being able to clear the ball quickly from the base, Casey was forced to lift and step before he could get his pass away which allowed the NZ defence, which came up hard and fast, get into our passing lanes so instead of the high-speed multitouch passing movements we are used to, Irish players were forced to carry into the defence where, again, the breakdown was dominated by New Zealand starting the cycle again with Ireland going backwards. Very few Irish players were able to make any metres after contact which meant that the defence never had to shuffle backwards and was able to come onto the Irish line quickly.

[FLIP]

I missed McCarthy’s injury, what happened?

Looked like one of the many high/late shots they were let away with did some head/shoulder damage from memory

[Oldschoolsocks]

I missed McCarthy’s injury, what happened?

Looked like one of the many high/late shots they were let away with did some head/shoulder damage from memory

cheers, I thought that the referee team were a bit lax with penalising headshots properly. Surely that falls within their duty of care

[jezzer]

This narrative that a group of naïve up-and-comers got a lesson from the grizzled vets is a bit hard to swallow. There were plenty of caps in the Irish squad, just about all of them have been in Irish camps.

They just weren't physically at the races and that's the whole story there. I don't think there are any massive conclusions to be made about individual players. But collectively there was a preparation and attitude deficit that meant they got their ässes and their pride handed to them.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I missed McCarthy’s injury, what happened?

Looked like one of the many high/late shots they were let away with did some head/shoulder damage from memory

There was nothing wrong with it, seemed to just catch him awkwardly in the ribs.

[Morf]

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.

I always find it difficult to like Perenara when I notice the amount of dissent he gives refs (his voice travels well to refs/stadium mics) and rarely even gets warned for. Dane Coles would have an appropriate description for him.

[riocard911]

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.

I always find it difficult to like Perenara when I notice the amount of dissent he gives refs (his voice travels well to refs/stadium mics) and rarely even gets warned for. Dane Coles would have an appropriate description for him.

After him giving a shout out - post- or pre-match on Friday in his NZ XV kit in the RDS dressing room - of support for Belvo in this year's SC, he's top of my favourite ABs list!!!