20/09/2011 12:19:29
spyboy
County: Antrim
Posts: 116

1038675 What odds an Italian win on the 2nd of October?

A big (expected) win for them this morning against Russia will only do their confidence the world of good and Ireland hardly blew them away in the 6 nations opener. I can't see and would hate to see it happen but how often have we had our hopes dashed at the last, like the game against France in 2007.

We are still big favourites, our confidence boost from the australian win will outdo any boost anything the azzuri will get from a win against the russians
We will be bif favourites and i dont think they have a hope against us

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 20/09/2011 12:57:19    1038733

Not wishing to write off the Russian challenge, but surely going on what the Italians did to them we should be able to put that result to bed early and wrap up the bp victory.

The Italian game will be tough. Their pack will really test the credentials of our's to the hilt but outside of that Italy's lack of a decent goal kicker is their real problem. If lets say Dominguez was around now Italy would be a real force. If we gain parity in the scrum our backs should have too much for them. And has been mentioned before whilst Italy have improved a hell of a lot, we were terrible in February and still scraped a win. I'd say we will be in a whole better mindframe now, with a hell of a lot more support than the Italians. Just can't see us not winning the next two games.....

tribeinbrum (Galway) - Posts: 4155 - 21/09/2011 12:12:37    1039445

21/09/2011 12:12:37
tribeinbrum
County: Galway
Posts: 831

1039445 Not wishing to write off the Russian challenge, but surely going on what the Italians did to them we should be able to put that result to bed early and wrap up the bp victory.

The Italian game will be tough. Their pack will really test the credentials of our's to the hilt but outside of that Italy's lack of a decent goal kicker is their real problem. If lets say Dominguez was around now Italy would be a real force. If we gain parity in the scrum our backs should have too much for them. And has been mentioned before whilst Italy have improved a hell of a lot, we were terrible in February and still scraped a win. I'd say we will be in a whole better mindframe now, with a hell of a lot more support than the Italians. Just can't see us not winning the next two games.....

If we match them in intensity around the breakdown we should put up a few scores on the italians
The bonus point in the russian game should be wrapped up by half time even if we play our 2nd string team. Russia only have 5 players playing putside of russia, even though there is a russian professional league the standard is not that high.
The game will be interesting enough as playing againsy us will be visaly artemeiv(currently playing for northampton saints) who went to school in balckrock college with luke fitzgerald and had been a member of the leinster academy for a few years and adam byrnes who played 1 season for leinster about 5 years ago

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 21/09/2011 12:50:59    1039489

lads these are affectively a training run and a battle of strategy. o gara could kill the italians inside 20 mins so lets hope he plays we can no longer afford to let thing screw up for an hour and ask o gara to save the day- sexton aint gonna come good as he is not an internationa outhalf very must like toby flood in my opinion. the o gra interview on rte website is brilliant, possibly the most passionate sportsman in ireland we are truly blessed to have him. he is playing the best rugby of his life and is doing it with a smile on his face and its absolutely criminal that he is to be denied by an experiment that has gone so badly wrong that possible the irish management are in too deep with sexton.

empty the bench for the russians- give all the panel member a run and save all the big names- however i would play ferris- he needs as much game time as possible and the same with rory best (either that or weightwatchers for best, his pace is actually embarassing and is the embodiment of all a modern hooker should not be)

liathroidboy (Mayo) - Posts: 4921 - 21/09/2011 13:02:55    1039502

21/09/2011 13:02:55
liathroidboy
County: Mayo
Posts: 4633

1039502 lads these are affectively a training run and a battle of strategy. o gara could kill the italians inside 20 mins so lets hope he plays we can no longer afford to let thing screw up for an hour and ask o gara to save the day- sexton aint gonna come good as he is not an internationa outhalf very must like toby flood in my opinion. the o gra interview on rte website is brilliant, possibly the most passionate sportsman in ireland we are truly blessed to have him. he is playing the best rugby of his life and is doing it with a smile on his face and its absolutely criminal that he is to be denied by an experiment that has gone so badly wrong that possible the irish management are in too deep with sexton.

empty the bench for the russians- give all the panel member a run and save all the big names- however i would play ferris- he needs as much game time as possible and the same with rory best (either that or weightwatchers for best, his pace is actually embarassing and is the embodiment of all a modern hooker should not be)

Give the sexton bashing a rest, his performance v australia was very good so he clearly is an international standard outhalf
The O Gara interview was awful, yes you feel for him to be missing his family and he does have a very young family with 3 young kids but what he did was totally wrong. He whinged because he wasnt starting, and judging by the statement he gave this morning the Irish management have rightfully given him an earful.

Wrong time and wrong place for talk like that, do it before the tournament so everyone knows well before the games of the situation or do it after our involvement in the competition

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 21/09/2011 13:22:44    1039528

Team named for Russia then.

15 - Robert Kearney 14 - Fergus McFadden 13 - Keith Earls 12 - Paddy Wallace 11 - Andrew Trimble 10 - Ronan O'Gara 9 - Isaac Boss 1 - Cian Healy 2 - Sean Cronin 3 - Tony Buckley 4 - Donncha O'Callaghan 5 - Leo Cullen 6 - Donnacha Ryan 7 - Sean O'Brien 8 - Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16 - Rory Best 17 - Mike Ross 18 - Denis Leamy 19 - Shane Jennings 20 - Eoin Reddan 21 - Jonathan Sexton 22 - Geordan Murphy

Strong enough side. Should do enough to take care of the Russians. I'm suprised so many changes have been made but i'd be reasonably confident we can securea bonus point victory. Can't see us racking up 50/60 points though...

tribeinbrum (Galway) - Posts: 4155 - 23/09/2011 09:05:20    1040767

23/09/2011 09:05:20
tribeinbrum
County: Galway
Posts: 836

1040767 Team named for Russia then.

15 - Robert Kearney 14 - Fergus McFadden 13 - Keith Earls 12 - Paddy Wallace 11 - Andrew Trimble 10 - Ronan O'Gara 9 - Isaac Boss 1 - Cian Healy 2 - Sean Cronin 3 - Tony Buckley 4 - Donncha O'Callaghan 5 - Leo Cullen 6 - Donnacha Ryan 7 - Sean O'Brien 8 - Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16 - Rory Best 17 - Mike Ross 18 - Denis Leamy 19 - Shane Jennings 20 - Eoin Reddan 21 - Jonathan Sexton 22 - Geordan Murphy

Strong enough side. Should do enough to take care of the Russians. I'm suprised so many changes have been made but i'd be reasonably confident we can securea bonus point victory. Can't see us racking up 50/60 points though...

Any side we would have put out should beat the russians by 40/50, it will be their 3rd game in 8 days and they have had to defend like demons in their 2 games so far. They will be exhausted by now
Good to see a lot of changes as nearly every man in the 30 will now have started a game. Keeps everyone happy and ensures everyone knows they are not in new zealand solely as a dirttracker.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 23/09/2011 09:34:55    1040772

Lads forget about winning margins, traditionally we've never really been great at putting teams to the sword but the difference this time is that we don't need to hammer Russia anyway. A 1 point win would be as valuable as a 50 point win but for my money I'd say we'll beat them by about 20-30pts. Italy is the big game for us now, a slip up there would be bitterly disappointing considering our massive achievement of beating Australia.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 23/09/2011 11:02:08    1040825

23/09/2011 11:02:08
Htaem
County: Meath
Posts: 2988

1040825 Lads forget about winning margins, traditionally we've never really been great at putting teams to the sword but the difference this time is that we don't need to hammer Russia anyway. A 1 point win would be as valuable as a 50 point win but for my money I'd say we'll beat them by about 20-30pts. Italy is the big game for us now, a slip up there would be bitterly disappointing considering our massive achievement of beating Australia.

Yes, we dont normally beat teams by 50-60 points but we are playing a team that is playing a 3rd high intensity game in 8 days and that team has only 5 players playing outside of the professional league in russia which is not of a high standard.
Italy is the big game and everyone playing the russians will be trying their utmost to get into the plans for the 22 for the italian game. For some players this will be their only start in the world cup so they will be going all out to make the most of it
Italy beat the russians 53-17, with a fairly 2nd string team out and our 2nd string team would be much better than the italians

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 23/09/2011 11:18:40    1040848

Have to agree with Htaem. We're not really a team for dishing out a hiding, but with squad places up for grabs and some players looking to rediscover some form it should be a good day for us.

The Italy game is the be all and end all at this stage though.....

tribeinbrum (Galway) - Posts: 4155 - 23/09/2011 11:36:46    1040864

What happens if say Ireland do get 2 wins but no bonus points and Australia get a bonus point in their last game? It would be 16 points each...so is it Head to Head or Points difference that counts first?

RunOfThePigs (Donegal) - Posts: 131 - 23/09/2011 11:42:14    1040867

23/09/2011 11:36:46
tribeinbrum
County: Galway
Posts: 837

1040864 Have to agree with Htaem. We're not really a team for dishing out a hiding, but with squad places up for grabs and some players looking to rediscover some form it should be a good day for us.

The Italy game is the be all and end all at this stage though.....

The italy game is the be all and end all
The last time we really hammered the opposition was november 09 when we beat fiji 41-6, since then apart from last november when we beat samoa 20-10 and america 2 weeks ago we have only played tier 1 countries who we never really beat by 20-25 points, the odd game v italy/scotland aside.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 23/09/2011 11:43:51    1040869

whoops!!! Maths not my strong point!!!

Apologies

RunOfThePigs (Donegal) - Posts: 131 - 23/09/2011 11:45:18    1040872

link

You rugger fans might like this article...

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 23/09/2011 11:46:06    1040873

Good link Seamus.

Just about sums the Aussies up!!!!!

tribeinbrum (Galway) - Posts: 4155 - 23/09/2011 11:56:23    1040883

23/09/2011 11:46:06
Seamus89
County: Kilkenny
Posts: 2258

1040873 link

You rugger fans might like this article...

Its rugby by the way, not rugger, ruggah, just rugby
Bit of a nothing article, so the australians are very confident and arrogant, thats a reason why they are the best sporting nation in the world. Yes, they do whinge if they lose, but look at any forum of a team that loses and you will see plenty of rubbish posted.
Also while beating the ozzies is super as we are now def(if we beat italy) on the opposite side of the draw to the big southern hemisphere 3, it will all be for nothing if we dont at least reach a semi final

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 23/09/2011 12:21:58    1040904

I enjoyed this as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0gV-Wbg04s

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 23/09/2011 15:09:44    1041037

Best of luck to ireland tomorrow.
Hopefully some good performances are made and players show why they should be starting v italy next weekend and that there are no serious injuries

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 24/09/2011 19:29:27    1041544

Predictable easy win, some poor performances as well as some good ones
Leo Cullen was terrible, should be nowhere near a 22 for the rest of the tournament, donnacha ryan is a much better option and he also can play 6 so is a better fit on the bench
Cian Healy was super as was Sean O Brien who is easily Ireland's best loose-play ball-carrier.
ROG to start next week, very good performance
Trimble if not starting next week is the unluckiest man in ireland though kieth earls also played very well
Mcfadden played well and is unlucky that we have so many good options that he may not even be in the 22 for next week

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 25/09/2011 12:45:50    1041720

Hi Ormond, would tend to agree with your analysis there alright, O Brien had a stormer of a game and he is a great asset to the team. Thought Paddy Wallace had a good game too and broke the gain line a lot, would have been nice for him to pick up a try. Overall the result and number of tries scored was very good - some sloppy handling but it didnt really matter and the conditions didnt help. Will be a much different team for Italy which will be a cracker, cant wait! That was some try by the Argentinian in the Scotland game, think thy might play NZ in the quarters, though Id love to see the Scots beat England which would throw that group wide open!

stranmillis29 (Antrim) - Posts: 788 - 25/09/2011 13:34:09    1041742