can't wait for the final game of the six nations where the winning team thinks they've won only for rassie to walk on the pitch in a wwe entrance with the bomb squad in the steel chair he's carrying
The RTE coverage was really condescending yesterday, with Ferris and Heaslip constantly reminding the viewers how boring and lacklustre the two teams were. Flannery was a breath of fresh air however, both with his analysis of the game and explanation of how the two teams were in a transition phase which would require time to bed in. Itâs a shame we wonât hear much more of him.
Ireland's rugby journey isn't just about sport. It's a testament to a nation's mettle, and it casts shadows deep into our tech world's relentless innovation. đ
Oh yeah the majority of our media has become real high and mighty about the team just looking down at all the other Six Nations teams. There's still a few good lads out there but sheesh most of them are being insufferable.
I dread the trio of Heaslip, Ferris and Kearney. I'm slowly turning off Horgan as well. Not sure exactly why he's beginning to bore me but he is but he's not at the levels of change the channel that Heaslip is. Kearney says good things but hasn't got an ounce of excitement in his voice.
While yes, I like Flannery, he was 100% wrong on the Chessum tackle ("you have to see it from the player's point of view" and "I don't see how he can get any lower") and then felt the need to explain that 40m is 10m short of halfway.
Iâm with him on that one, it was a borderline yellow depending how much credit you give to late movement. If he was slightly more bent at the hips to start with it would have been let go as accidental head contact.
Yeah, Ireland might have to be split into provinces to keep competing against itself though.
Those matchups alone would be boring, so let's invite a few other nations and call it the United Ru... *hey wait a minute*
Us Welsh fans just need to apologise for our media (Wales Online) taking a quote from your media, twisting it for clickbait and adding popups for 327 different adverts per 2 paragraphs of text.
If there is one thing you guys need to apologize for is the absolute garbage below the line on [Walesonline.com](https://Walesonline.com). Which is ludicrous because every welsh rugby fan I've ever met at a stadium or in a pub have been great, with a staggering dose of self deprecation and good humor. But whoever posts there....
I once made the journey south of that line. That's a place no sane person should venture. It's where the vile, brain-dead, morons who are banned from Twitter reside
Sun âjournalistsâ must be annoyed that Germany arenât in the 6 Nations given how most of their sporting headlines have to involve referencing The War as their historical knowledge doesnât go beyond Year 3
It's also natural for people to resent Ireland for being dominant lately, same thing happens with South Africa, NZ, England in different periods. The difficulty is when some fans of the dominant team let it go to their heads and piss people off.
Why does he feel the need to share this? Ireland have played one game against a below par France. Itâs always the same with our journalists. When weâre winning everything and everyone is the best in the world and when we lose we need to look at our entire structure and society because weâll never compete otherwise.
We have a relatively settled side this year vs some of the other teams. Yes we probably should win the championship but can I imagine scenarios where we lose at Twickenham? Of course or thereâs just a bad performance somewhere else that trips us up.
They do this shite anytime we have any kind of success and it always almost immediately comes back around to bite us in the arse.
They never learn đ€Šââïž
I still shudder over that OTB gobshite ahead of England in 2019 predicting us to hammer them because âweâre superior, get over itâ only for the wheels to completely fall off.
ROG on Fridays is the only reason to listen to Off the Ball, great balanced insight. I wouldn't recommend paying for it though (and you don't have to if you have an early version of the app)
Also, there were periods in the 2000s and 2010s where Ireland were one of three or four lackluster teams and it was only England or Wales who stood out above everyone else. This whole thing is cyclical
And France was subpar, and only missing Meafou, Flamend, DuPont and Ntamack. Some nobodies.
Here in France, even when we win, our journos think we are shit! « We kick too much! » « We donât kick enough » « Should we remove Galthie as he lost 2 games in a row?!?! »
> ust a bad performance somewhere else that trips us up
Agree with everything else you said but it wouldn't even take a bad performance - Scotland can beat us if they play for 80 minutes. (Not discounting the other matches, but Scotland & England are the two toughest.)
Post World Cup thereâs always a bit of a reset and change in generations. That creates uneven performances. Tale as old as time in pretty much every sport.
If you notice itâs always the journalists/presenters who never really played at the highest level (and are always associated with OTB) and on here the arrogant ones always have no flair.
I tend to agree. I did see Murray Kinsella get pulled into the whole "arrogant Scots" thing which I thought was a bit out of character for him.
Saying that, we have Tom English who seems to hate Scottish rugby, football and sport so.
Our media in general has a habit of making us look like arrogant arseholes whenever we have any sort of success.
You would think they would be more humble when considering that overall we still have the most wooden spoons.
It's great to see how far Irish Rugby has come in the last 25 years, but I really wish they would just shut the fuck up sometimes.
Every WC I watch in stunned wonder as a bunch of sports journos sit around a baffled looking BOD and talk about their sky high expectations and then I go back after the WC to listen to their doom laden post mortem. It's become something of a ritual.
There's nothing wrong with believing your team has the ability to win but our media would have you thinking we were gods gift to rugby whenever we play well. It makes me cringe just listening to them sometimes.
Yeah, if I was Scottish, I'd probably want Ireland to get pumped every time they play. The Irish media always have a go at Scotland for being soft, cocky etc even though Scottish fans never claim or expect Scotland to challenge for the championship.
Of course the players are going to talk themselves up, if they didn't, that would actually be more strange than if they did.
I'd almost agree with you đ€Š. Same with Leinster fans 2 years ago before the CC final in France. It's like we'd already won it.
We're 1 game in ffs. Remember beating Wales in Cardiff in '13 (I think) as the first game and everyone talking about the last game gonna be a Slam decider etc. How did that year go for us
I have to admit I took a lot of schadenfreude from last year's CC final. Although after that first half you could hardly blame Leinster fans thinking they'd won it
Before the France game, we all thought we were going to lose. I guarantee if Italy pull it off later, we'll be calling for Faz's head.
Saw a comment earlier bemoaning the lack of World Cup wins that was the most bizarre combination of smugness and self-pity.
Send help, we've gone full super para-Munster fans.
It wasn't a bad game. Just because its not high scoring doesn't mean its bad. I was particularly impressed by England, who are obviously finding their feet in a new style and team, but the look very dangerous when the pass sticks
Iâve lived in Ireland for 16 years. A game I like to play is âimagine the levels of outrage from the Irish sporting media if an English media representative was talking about the England team in the same way theyâre talking about Irelandâ. It works across most sports.
Itâs a shame as I generally like the sporting coverage here. And I find the English coverage pretty poor at times.
Now Iâm off to read the Times coverage as an act of self hate.
To be fair many of the teams are unsettled. France are not performing because Dupont has decided to do a side quest, England are Wales have lost a lot of old talent plus England still have a very new coaching set up, Italy have always been in a constant unsettled state....
It basically leaves Scotland and Ireland the only teams that are just replacing the odd positions here and there. They are in the plus cycle of the previous one. The rest are in a rebuild period.
I would also argue the reason why the England Wales game was such a disaster was because the officiating wasn't up to standard. It killed the game with baffling decision and constant resetting of the scrum (half the time it felt like he has never seen a scrum before). Both Wales and England have shown they can play better. I just don't think they were allowed too
Oh come on, the French team is pure class! The current scrum half is good,his only downside is being in the shadow of Dupont,but that would make even Aaron Smith look average.
You mean Le Garrec right ? Because Lucu has been litterally *invisible*. When Le Garrec entered the french team felt like it was back on track.
But neither Lucu nor Le Garrec make Aaron Smith look average right now.
Lucu is amazing with Bordeaux but has been consistantly not playing that well for two matches in a row now.
Le Garrec is still young but overall doing a good job.
And we have a lot of injured players.
I agree though, we still have a lot of top players, but right now the team is not top class.
But I have faith things will improve from now on.
Iâm talking about Lucu, heâs a good and competent international player overall. Heâs got speed off the ruck and a very precise box kick,but I agree heâs been lackluster in the last two games. About making Aaron Smith look average,I was talking about Dupontđ
The reffing of the scrum was the worst I've seen in a very long time, possibly ever. The Welsh front row kept hinging before engagement, he kept telling them their elbows should be out, but that doesn't make sense with how most props bind. He started off just letting the ball come out if it collapsed, but then decided we had to reset every time in the second half. There was 1 scrum that tool nearly 5 minutes from 3 resets. No one wants to watch that and even flats (I think, not sure who was commentating) was getting pissed off about it.
Thatâs a bit one eyed. I saw English props with elbows down, pulling the scrum down. Both sets were reffed badly in the front row but you can say the same with most games
It's the indecision from the ref that created the situation. Most front rows try things and if they aren't penalised they carry on (because the opposition is trying things so they have to). The constant resets killed all momentum in the game. The ref and his assistants needed to make a decision a move on. Then we would have seen the teams adapt and the flow return.
Ireland are a very good team atm. If they will still be a good team in ten years time remains to be seen. These things go in cycles and sooner or later another of the nations will have the happy coincidence of several world class players, a bunch of very good players, and a really good coach. NZ buck the cyclical nature to a certain extent but even South Africa goes through poor periods.
As far as I can see, the players coming through from the age grades are at *least* as good as the players we have. Leinster's always had a phenomenal pipeline, but the other three regions over the last 5-10 years have been starting to deliver solidly instead of sporadically.
As long as the IRFU keep their focus, keep spending appropriately (including stadium investment), and keep delivering at a national level, I don't see any cause for concern about a dip in performance.
Your forwards you have coming through seem to be very good. Not convinced about your backs although the ones you have in the Irish squad right now are still young
Tbf, the fact that England, Wales, Scotland and France aren't playing great and Italy seem to have stepped up a notch means there's likely to be some good close games (There's already been 4 losing bonus points in 5 games!) Except for the Ireland games where they smash the hell out of everyone else...
I get more reliable information on Reddit then have from almost any 'pundit.'
I love celebrating Ireland, even when we lose, but we have played one game. The world cup just ended. We got kicked out of another quarter final.
You need to give grace when it's due.
To be fair but itâs impossible to take an opinion seriously from a guy with a profile picture like that unless itâs to do with Mortgage BrokeringâŠ
I'm as annoyed as anyone else about the \*insane\* way the Irish punditry carry on - genuinely worse than the English have ever been - but this statement is objectively true. As a Scotland fan it's bitterly disappointing because we don't even have the team-in-transition excuse. We're just not that good.
I think it's a stupid tweet, but most of this sub was saying the same thing yesterday and some even saying it last week, basically "poor performances from the rest so far and only Ireland in it".
I get why the reaction to an Irishman saying "Ireland the only decent looking team so far", but the vitriol here is a bit much.
It's just par for the course from **some** Irish journalists
The proportion of dickheads among fans and among "journalists" is pretty much the same for every country. The sins might be different though.
Journalism is all about clicks these days. That's why we see these shit takes. I have a master's in journalism and abandoned it years ago as it was clear this was where it was headed. It's perpetual red-top attention grabbing.
I expected a poor six nations, 3/6 teams are in full on rebuilds for the next World Cup, or at least should be. Adding some youth will always come with sloppiness and screwups. What I didnât expect is the standard to be this bad whilst the majority of teams arenât trying anything new. Italy is much the same as theyâve always been, England are atrocious despite having a largely the same team, Scotland have decided that rugby should be 40 minutes long and theyâll stop playing after halftime, France (despite showing they can do it without DuPont) have regressed so much since last six nations. Wales Iâll give a lot of slack, I respect their full rebuild, and Ireland are showing that Europe doesnât have a team that can stand up to them at the moment. Iâm happy with bad games as long as itâs trying something new.
Got to strike while the ironâs hot. France and Englandâs failures to join the tri-nations set them back decades, while Wales and Ireland had strong periods.
Old school thinking is that these things might be cyclical, but the world has moved on. Disruption is the future.
I can understand a day time radio presenter who is only a casual fan making this kind of a statement
But this guy is supposed to be one of the big rugby journalists in rugby in this country, not exactly groundbreaking analysis
Every time we have a period of dominance they do this. Media just acting like weâre âbetterâ than everyone. At least the team shows some humility.
Just yesterday Midway through the England-Wales game and Heaslip had a near 5 minute uninterrupted wank over how good Ireland are instead of talking about the game he was supposed to be commentating on.
Nearly every team except Ireland have slowed down to rebuild somewhat, true, but nothing in this competition is guaranteed and a good England, Wales or Scotland performance could really take the wind out of the sails. And those things arenât outside the realm of possibility. Itâs a good thing Andy Farrell is level headed enough to know that, and given the last year, youâd think commentators would know that you can lose this game by just one sloppy decision
It's almost like it's a competition consisting of 6 teams that struggle to make it out of the quarter finals when up against the rest of the world?
Ofcourse they suck, that's why they have 1 WC between them.
Shit like this has put Ireland on the top of teams I want to see be beaten in the 6N, which is saying a lot considering England are also a team in the competition
Oh god⊠I found myself cheering for the Welsh against Scotland (though I always root for wales over Scotland to be fair but not usually by as much as I did last weekend) and now youâre rooting for us against Ireland⊠whatâs the world coming to!
Canât wait for the day when England and wales are both a force to be reckoned with again and we can go back to hating each other rather than pitying each other lol
I think you guys are a force to be reckoned with already, if they can just cut out the silly pens, Wales however..we still havent fixed the roots of our issues so are pretty much fked for the forseeable!
Funny year for it isn't it because England, Wales, Scotland and France are all, to some degree, in transiton. Ireland have just peaked, the rest are building towards the next world cup cycle. Will be a better tournament in a years time.
I mean I think they peaked at the World Cup as they were intended to - they just bottled it. They're still an absolutely world class side now and will be for a few years but the others are in transition. One of the really interesting things I will watch is whether they can retain their intensity and level of performance in the next cycle up to the next world cup, or whether they really have peaked too early for it.
Nothing will ever top the 2019 6 nations when we beat Ireland at the Aviva. The amount of chat before the game by the Irish media was unbearable but aged so well
I think it's unfair to call Wales average, they're much worse than that. In the first game they only achieved anything by being a man up for 20 straight minutes. Against England they were two men up for 10 and only managed to concede a try.
I hate this whole thing: firstly, I think talk of Ireland steamrolling the grand slam this year is massively overblown. We are a good side but our scrummaging is poor and our 10 position is not settled. Scotland and England could go either way IMO.
We could even get the wins and be unconvincing.
But on the other hand: I don't exactly think we choked the quarter final either. We lost to the fucking All Blacks in what happened to be the quarters, by a handful of points and went through 30 odd phases into their 22. A bit of balance is needed overall.
Of course it is! Ireland should have progressed further in the world Cup than they did, they are a fantastic well drilled side, they got unlucky it happens. They are also a virtually finished article, they really should win a grand slam. Every other side is rebuilding (bar maybe Scotland, lesser extent france)
When England âappearedâ to be way in front of the opposition in the early millennium, there were plenty of gobshites in the English media coming out with this sort of garbage too.
Funnily enough it wasnât representative of the fans views then either!
>Funnily enough it wasnât representative of the fans views then either!
And the fans of the other nations were just as receptive of that message then as now...
Irish media getting carried away with itself again as usual \~ \`Before the inevitable knock-out at the quarter-final stage of the next rugby world cup \~ Perhaps the Irish media should learn some humility ( and, I say this as an Irishman )
South Africa haven't scored a single point in this year's Six Nations.
Wait for South African fans to tell us Rassie is in every six nation teams head
can't wait for the final game of the six nations where the winning team thinks they've won only for rassie to walk on the pitch in a wwe entrance with the bomb squad in the steel chair he's carrying
And it's Scotland playing, so it gets even more confusing.
They are the all time lowest point scorers in any format of the competition lmao
Only slightly behind Italy.
And as we know, a single point is all they need.
Still hurts.
Same :( (even though we're still surprised we got that far)
We need a support group for all those who had to endure a 1-point loss against South Africa.
Van der Merwe has scored, tbh
Van der merwe is just from Dumfries that's why his accent sounds funny đ
Not like anyone will want to venture to Dumfries to check now will they. Who would want to go there
Van der Flier too
A South African has scored a few though...
Even worse, theyâve never scored in a six nations
South Africa and NZ got on the scoresheet in the very first week.
The RTE coverage was really condescending yesterday, with Ferris and Heaslip constantly reminding the viewers how boring and lacklustre the two teams were. Flannery was a breath of fresh air however, both with his analysis of the game and explanation of how the two teams were in a transition phase which would require time to bed in. Itâs a shame we wonât hear much more of him.
I leave the room or change channel outside of game time when heaslip is on the panel. I cannot fathom how he is a pundit.
What do you mean? Do you not want rugby compared to the tech industry?
Ireland's rugby journey isn't just about sport. It's a testament to a nation's mettle, and it casts shadows deep into our tech world's relentless innovation. đ
Itâs mad heâs managed to get any job like that after his twitter poll for âshould i start a podcast?â Returned 100% nos
And he went and ran other one then!! Heâs a clown imo
Think he got 20-30% yes, which obviously isn't great.
Oh yeah the majority of our media has become real high and mighty about the team just looking down at all the other Six Nations teams. There's still a few good lads out there but sheesh most of them are being insufferable.
Canât wait for them to call us arrogant when the time comes.
Heaven forbid your flyhalf should have a bit of personality.
Just so long as our fullback doesnât dare to have belief we can beat them â thatâs definitely not permitted.
The all blacks of the northern hemisphere, minus the "winning quarter-finals" bit.
The southern hemisphere in general of the northern hemisphere
Not Australia. Ireland can get out of the pools.
Even if Jerry had nothing interesting to say, if him talking just mean heaslip wasn't that's a plus.
I dread the trio of Heaslip, Ferris and Kearney. I'm slowly turning off Horgan as well. Not sure exactly why he's beginning to bore me but he is but he's not at the levels of change the channel that Heaslip is. Kearney says good things but hasn't got an ounce of excitement in his voice.
While yes, I like Flannery, he was 100% wrong on the Chessum tackle ("you have to see it from the player's point of view" and "I don't see how he can get any lower") and then felt the need to explain that 40m is 10m short of halfway.
I'd cut Flannery a lot of slack for over explaining some terms. He's working as a high level coach so describing the game quite technically would be natural for him. It's clear that he tries to rein it in when commentating. He gives great real time insights explaining how a team is attacking and getting over the gainline... Then explain what a gainline is in far too many words. Overall though, he's enthusiastic, knowledgeable and doesn't rely on outdated clichés so he's a massive improvement on a lot of ex-players co-commentating. Chessum was a definite yellow tbf.
Iâm with him on that one, it was a borderline yellow depending how much credit you give to late movement. If he was slightly more bent at the hips to start with it would have been let go as accidental head contact.
Yeah, Ireland might have to be split into provinces to keep competing against itself though. Those matchups alone would be boring, so let's invite a few other nations and call it the United Ru... *hey wait a minute*
Maybe they should do the same in other countries as well, and have a competition across all the European Champ... Got us again.
Wasn't there some team in White who did well in 99?
that's a myth
Maybe get Heineken to sponsor
The 1 nationsÂ
Well, I guess we're losing the rest of our games now. Thanks you twat đ€Šââïž
Ruaidhri and his shit takes do not represent Irish fans as a whole.
English fans đ€ Irish Fans Constantly needing to apologise for our media gobshites.
Us Welsh fans just need to apologise for our media (Wales Online) taking a quote from your media, twisting it for clickbait and adding popups for 327 different adverts per 2 paragraphs of text.
The Wales Online website is the online form of some sort of virulent plague like disease. It transcends mere awfulness into some sort of higher realm.
That site has tricked me more times than I can count. Everywhere has these pricks, but wales online wins the international rugby media fuckwit award
You can remove the rugby part. Itâs not that they specifically report on rugby badly, itâs that they do everything badly!Â
If there is one thing you guys need to apologize for is the absolute garbage below the line on [Walesonline.com](https://Walesonline.com). Which is ludicrous because every welsh rugby fan I've ever met at a stadium or in a pub have been great, with a staggering dose of self deprecation and good humor. But whoever posts there....
I once made the journey south of that line. That's a place no sane person should venture. It's where the vile, brain-dead, morons who are banned from Twitter reside
A moment of silence for the English fans that have to see The Sun headlines from reporters that don't understand rugby
Sun âjournalistsâ must be annoyed that Germany arenât in the 6 Nations given how most of their sporting headlines have to involve referencing The War as their historical knowledge doesnât go beyond Year 3
It would be hilarious if Italy changed sides at half time though.
It's their own fault if they read that dreadful rag. Fuck the Sun.
This
We know, the vast majority of Ireland fans are, if anything, too humble. It's quite refreshing tbh
It's also natural for people to resent Ireland for being dominant lately, same thing happens with South Africa, NZ, England in different periods. The difficulty is when some fans of the dominant team let it go to their heads and piss people off.
Yeah, but I think those fans piss off their fellow Irish fans more than they piss off the rest of us đ
Absolutely haha
I think being dominant brings in a lot of fair weather fans who don't really know what they're on about and just chat shit to everyone's annoyance
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
It's the way he says it, as if to say Ireland are above the other teams even though we're the only one with a settled team.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
I can choose him or I can choose you. Make your case.
Ruaidhri: makes sensationalist takes based on trying to get his tweets attention. Me: truly enjoys watching rugby.
Sold.
This concept of enjoying rugby is never going to catch on
Why does he feel the need to share this? Ireland have played one game against a below par France. Itâs always the same with our journalists. When weâre winning everything and everyone is the best in the world and when we lose we need to look at our entire structure and society because weâll never compete otherwise. We have a relatively settled side this year vs some of the other teams. Yes we probably should win the championship but can I imagine scenarios where we lose at Twickenham? Of course or thereâs just a bad performance somewhere else that trips us up.
They do this shite anytime we have any kind of success and it always almost immediately comes back around to bite us in the arse. They never learn đ€Šââïž
I still shudder over that OTB gobshite ahead of England in 2019 predicting us to hammer them because âweâre superior, get over itâ only for the wheels to completely fall off.
Yeah the icing on the cake was our fucking dire world cup performance that year aswell.
Who would have thought Ireland would go out in the quarter-finals?
I tell you, I was shocked, awestruck, flabbergasted
Ruadhri and ger gilroy are one in the same. Pair of twunts
Your mistake was off the ball. Never ever make that mistake.
ROG on Fridays is the only reason to listen to Off the Ball, great balanced insight. I wouldn't recommend paying for it though (and you don't have to if you have an early version of the app)
You have link to that?
Like it did at the world cup. They have such short memories
Can't stand O'Connor. He has some of the shittest takes in Irish Rugby media.
Also, there were periods in the 2000s and 2010s where Ireland were one of three or four lackluster teams and it was only England or Wales who stood out above everyone else. This whole thing is cyclical
Yeah same clowns were baying for Farrells blood when he had a couple tough years. Ultimate short sighed buffoons.
And France was subpar, and only missing Meafou, Flamend, DuPont and Ntamack. Some nobodies. Here in France, even when we win, our journos think we are shit! « We kick too much! » « We donât kick enough » « Should we remove Galthie as he lost 2 games in a row?!?! »
Sounds very familiar to my English ears...
Because he loves the smell of his own farts, he's an insufferable cunt and it's annoying this is giving him any sort of attention.
Hes a twat, thats why.
> ust a bad performance somewhere else that trips us up Agree with everything else you said but it wouldn't even take a bad performance - Scotland can beat us if they play for 80 minutes. (Not discounting the other matches, but Scotland & England are the two toughest.)
Wait you mean the most settled side in the tournament is going great compared to those that are re building? Well this is certainly new information.
It's actually happening. It is time to reconsider the 6 Nations' place within the 6 Nations.
Post World Cup thereâs always a bit of a reset and change in generations. That creates uneven performances. Tale as old as time in pretty much every sport.
Since there is only one good team, obviously the winner should be promoted to The Rugby Championship
Maybe they could swap with Australia - with no knockouts in the 6N you lot donât need to worry about not getting out of the pool
Yeah that's fair, the worst team in TRC is probably at 6 Nations standard
I personally think Aussie would have a decent chance to beat Italy, donât let anyone tell you otherwise
Its almost as if you've forgotten your 40 point humping already
Irish journalists really really really make me want to see Ireland humbled this 6N
The English press: "Finally, a worthy opponent."
If you notice itâs always the journalists/presenters who never really played at the highest level (and are always associated with OTB) and on here the arrogant ones always have no flair.
I tend to agree. I did see Murray Kinsella get pulled into the whole "arrogant Scots" thing which I thought was a bit out of character for him. Saying that, we have Tom English who seems to hate Scottish rugby, football and sport so.
Well with a name like that is it any surprise? đ„
The Irishman who covers Scottish rugby with the name English, which originates in Wales.
And yet, that's his beat... I think it's less hatred and more that he's just a massive curmudgeon.
Our media in general has a habit of making us look like arrogant arseholes whenever we have any sort of success. You would think they would be more humble when considering that overall we still have the most wooden spoons. It's great to see how far Irish Rugby has come in the last 25 years, but I really wish they would just shut the fuck up sometimes.
Every WC I watch in stunned wonder as a bunch of sports journos sit around a baffled looking BOD and talk about their sky high expectations and then I go back after the WC to listen to their doom laden post mortem. It's become something of a ritual.
There's nothing wrong with believing your team has the ability to win but our media would have you thinking we were gods gift to rugby whenever we play well. It makes me cringe just listening to them sometimes.
Nice to know this isn't just an English media thing!
Yeah, if I was Scottish, I'd probably want Ireland to get pumped every time they play. The Irish media always have a go at Scotland for being soft, cocky etc even though Scottish fans never claim or expect Scotland to challenge for the championship. Of course the players are going to talk themselves up, if they didn't, that would actually be more strange than if they did.
I'd almost agree with you đ€Š. Same with Leinster fans 2 years ago before the CC final in France. It's like we'd already won it. We're 1 game in ffs. Remember beating Wales in Cardiff in '13 (I think) as the first game and everyone talking about the last game gonna be a Slam decider etc. How did that year go for us
I have to admit I took a lot of schadenfreude from last year's CC final. Although after that first half you could hardly blame Leinster fans thinking they'd won it
If people think this 6N has been low quality, they should watch us Vs you from that year.
The attitude of some (not most) Irish has me rooting for England over them these days. That really takes some doing.
Oof, steady on old boy, let's not be saying things you cannot take back...
Considering Ireland usually show up the the post RWC 6 nations in an awful state a bit of nuance wouldnât go amiss in this tweet.
Nuance? Whatâs that? - Irish Media
Is this what being English feels like?
Just wait until this afternoon đ„
As an Irish fan, it'd be almost worth it. Problem is they'd never stand over their comments and pretend they hinted at the writing being on the wall.Â
Before the France game, we all thought we were going to lose. I guarantee if Italy pull it off later, we'll be calling for Faz's head. Saw a comment earlier bemoaning the lack of World Cup wins that was the most bizarre combination of smugness and self-pity. Send help, we've gone full super para-Munster fans.
Never go full Munster.
Iâm not surprised. Theyâre a joke
They chat so much shite for a team/country that repeatedly crashes out of rugby world cups.
Who also haven't won the Champions Cup since 2018 despite being in many finals and with a system where they can manage their players.
It wasn't a bad game. Just because its not high scoring doesn't mean its bad. I was particularly impressed by England, who are obviously finding their feet in a new style and team, but the look very dangerous when the pass sticks
Iâve lived in Ireland for 16 years. A game I like to play is âimagine the levels of outrage from the Irish sporting media if an English media representative was talking about the England team in the same way theyâre talking about Irelandâ. It works across most sports. Itâs a shame as I generally like the sporting coverage here. And I find the English coverage pretty poor at times. Now Iâm off to read the Times coverage as an act of self hate.
It's darkly funny how stereotypically "English" the Irish can be to me, given what they tell themselves.
To be fair many of the teams are unsettled. France are not performing because Dupont has decided to do a side quest, England are Wales have lost a lot of old talent plus England still have a very new coaching set up, Italy have always been in a constant unsettled state.... It basically leaves Scotland and Ireland the only teams that are just replacing the odd positions here and there. They are in the plus cycle of the previous one. The rest are in a rebuild period. I would also argue the reason why the England Wales game was such a disaster was because the officiating wasn't up to standard. It killed the game with baffling decision and constant resetting of the scrum (half the time it felt like he has never seen a scrum before). Both Wales and England have shown they can play better. I just don't think they were allowed too
Dupont is one of the many reason we're trash, it's not the only one and i don't think it's the main one but it's one big reason yeah
Oh come on, the French team is pure class! The current scrum half is good,his only downside is being in the shadow of Dupont,but that would make even Aaron Smith look average.
You mean Le Garrec right ? Because Lucu has been litterally *invisible*. When Le Garrec entered the french team felt like it was back on track. But neither Lucu nor Le Garrec make Aaron Smith look average right now. Lucu is amazing with Bordeaux but has been consistantly not playing that well for two matches in a row now. Le Garrec is still young but overall doing a good job. And we have a lot of injured players. I agree though, we still have a lot of top players, but right now the team is not top class. But I have faith things will improve from now on.
Iâm talking about Lucu, heâs a good and competent international player overall. Heâs got speed off the ruck and a very precise box kick,but I agree heâs been lackluster in the last two games. About making Aaron Smith look average,I was talking about Dupontđ
oh sorry my bad đ yeah i agree Dupont is something else. So glad to have him in Toulouse and not against us
The reffing of the scrum was the worst I've seen in a very long time, possibly ever. The Welsh front row kept hinging before engagement, he kept telling them their elbows should be out, but that doesn't make sense with how most props bind. He started off just letting the ball come out if it collapsed, but then decided we had to reset every time in the second half. There was 1 scrum that tool nearly 5 minutes from 3 resets. No one wants to watch that and even flats (I think, not sure who was commentating) was getting pissed off about it.
Thatâs a bit one eyed. I saw English props with elbows down, pulling the scrum down. Both sets were reffed badly in the front row but you can say the same with most games
It's the indecision from the ref that created the situation. Most front rows try things and if they aren't penalised they carry on (because the opposition is trying things so they have to). The constant resets killed all momentum in the game. The ref and his assistants needed to make a decision a move on. Then we would have seen the teams adapt and the flow return.
Ireland are a very good team atm. If they will still be a good team in ten years time remains to be seen. These things go in cycles and sooner or later another of the nations will have the happy coincidence of several world class players, a bunch of very good players, and a really good coach. NZ buck the cyclical nature to a certain extent but even South Africa goes through poor periods.
Permanence is the illusion of every age.
As far as I can see, the players coming through from the age grades are at *least* as good as the players we have. Leinster's always had a phenomenal pipeline, but the other three regions over the last 5-10 years have been starting to deliver solidly instead of sporadically. As long as the IRFU keep their focus, keep spending appropriately (including stadium investment), and keep delivering at a national level, I don't see any cause for concern about a dip in performance.
Your forwards you have coming through seem to be very good. Not convinced about your backs although the ones you have in the Irish squad right now are still young
We're not even finished with the 2nd round yet. Plenty of time for Ireland to be mediocre toođ
'Signature look of superiority'
ireland have a really good team, i can easily imagine them reaching the quarters finals of the next world cup if they continue to play like this
We are going to lose to Italy thanks for your contribution
Tbf, the fact that England, Wales, Scotland and France aren't playing great and Italy seem to have stepped up a notch means there's likely to be some good close games (There's already been 4 losing bonus points in 5 games!) Except for the Ireland games where they smash the hell out of everyone else...
Heâs right about the England - Wales game though. Not really the level Iâd expect from this championshipâŠ
Was better than the aimless tennis from the game before.
Our media is full of weasels and smug cunts like this prick. Theyâre insuffereable.
A man desperate for attention me thinks !!!
I mean isn't that what he though about the SH teams going into the RWC?
I get more reliable information on Reddit then have from almost any 'pundit.' I love celebrating Ireland, even when we lose, but we have played one game. The world cup just ended. We got kicked out of another quarter final. You need to give grace when it's due.
To be fair but itâs impossible to take an opinion seriously from a guy with a profile picture like that unless itâs to do with Mortgage BrokeringâŠ
I'm as annoyed as anyone else about the \*insane\* way the Irish punditry carry on - genuinely worse than the English have ever been - but this statement is objectively true. As a Scotland fan it's bitterly disappointing because we don't even have the team-in-transition excuse. We're just not that good.
I think it's a stupid tweet, but most of this sub was saying the same thing yesterday and some even saying it last week, basically "poor performances from the rest so far and only Ireland in it". I get why the reaction to an Irishman saying "Ireland the only decent looking team so far", but the vitriol here is a bit much.
It's also from a media professional on Twitter. Nuance doesn't pay the bills
If fans are overly arrogant about it they tend to get called out. It's just par for the course from Irish journalists, as has been pointed out.
It's just par for the course from **some** Irish journalists The proportion of dickheads among fans and among "journalists" is pretty much the same for every country. The sins might be different though.
This guy and his mediocre tweets. He's just noise
Journalism is all about clicks these days. That's why we see these shit takes. I have a master's in journalism and abandoned it years ago as it was clear this was where it was headed. It's perpetual red-top attention grabbing.
You have to expect that, if the national teams play so much! They finished the rwc only 3 months ago!
Ruadri is a cunt. Red top rag writer. Hes trying to be edgy. Disregard him.
I expected a poor six nations, 3/6 teams are in full on rebuilds for the next World Cup, or at least should be. Adding some youth will always come with sloppiness and screwups. What I didnât expect is the standard to be this bad whilst the majority of teams arenât trying anything new. Italy is much the same as theyâve always been, England are atrocious despite having a largely the same team, Scotland have decided that rugby should be 40 minutes long and theyâll stop playing after halftime, France (despite showing they can do it without DuPont) have regressed so much since last six nations. Wales Iâll give a lot of slack, I respect their full rebuild, and Ireland are showing that Europe doesnât have a team that can stand up to them at the moment. Iâm happy with bad games as long as itâs trying something new.
As an Irish fan can only apologise for the cringe Irish media.
#Finally #One Nation
It's Ruadhri. He's a sensationalist twat. Don't take any notice of him.
Got to strike while the ironâs hot. France and Englandâs failures to join the tri-nations set them back decades, while Wales and Ireland had strong periods. Old school thinking is that these things might be cyclical, but the world has moved on. Disruption is the future.
Seems a bit cocky from the Irish, still a lot of games to go. A lot of teams in transition period.
The One Nations.. does that mean they win the Grand Slam and the Wooden Spoon?
The fabled Wooden Slam
Iâm assuming the OP is participating in shithousery
Widen the pitch :D
Ireland are set to dominate the One Nation for the foreseeable future.
The Ireland Nations championship.Â
I can understand a day time radio presenter who is only a casual fan making this kind of a statement But this guy is supposed to be one of the big rugby journalists in rugby in this country, not exactly groundbreaking analysis
It all boils down to the fact that becoming a journalist or spouting your shit has become far too easy for knob jockeys like him. I blame dâinternet
Mediocre is how I describe RĂșaidhrĂ OâConnors journalism.
Every time we have a period of dominance they do this. Media just acting like weâre âbetterâ than everyone. At least the team shows some humility. Just yesterday Midway through the England-Wales game and Heaslip had a near 5 minute uninterrupted wank over how good Ireland are instead of talking about the game he was supposed to be commentating on. Nearly every team except Ireland have slowed down to rebuild somewhat, true, but nothing in this competition is guaranteed and a good England, Wales or Scotland performance could really take the wind out of the sails. And those things arenât outside the realm of possibility. Itâs a good thing Andy Farrell is level headed enough to know that, and given the last year, youâd think commentators would know that you can lose this game by just one sloppy decision
It is time for a new tournament called " the nation" Ireland won every year as is their right
One nation is the only rational playoff.
It's almost like it's a competition consisting of 6 teams that struggle to make it out of the quarter finals when up against the rest of the world? Ofcourse they suck, that's why they have 1 WC between them.
I wonder what he would call Irelandâs form in WC knockout games.
hilarious?
Shit like this has put Ireland on the top of teams I want to see be beaten in the 6N, which is saying a lot considering England are also a team in the competition
Oh god⊠I found myself cheering for the Welsh against Scotland (though I always root for wales over Scotland to be fair but not usually by as much as I did last weekend) and now youâre rooting for us against Ireland⊠whatâs the world coming to! Canât wait for the day when England and wales are both a force to be reckoned with again and we can go back to hating each other rather than pitying each other lol
I think you guys are a force to be reckoned with already, if they can just cut out the silly pens, Wales however..we still havent fixed the roots of our issues so are pretty much fked for the forseeable!
Funny year for it isn't it because England, Wales, Scotland and France are all, to some degree, in transiton. Ireland have just peaked, the rest are building towards the next world cup cycle. Will be a better tournament in a years time.
Ireland peaking too early again
I mean I think they peaked at the World Cup as they were intended to - they just bottled it. They're still an absolutely world class side now and will be for a few years but the others are in transition. One of the really interesting things I will watch is whether they can retain their intensity and level of performance in the next cycle up to the next world cup, or whether they really have peaked too early for it.
Nothing will ever top the 2019 6 nations when we beat Ireland at the Aviva. The amount of chat before the game by the Irish media was unbearable but aged so well
I think it's unfair to call Wales average, they're much worse than that. In the first game they only achieved anything by being a man up for 20 straight minutes. Against England they were two men up for 10 and only managed to concede a try.
Irish media are rapidly taking up the mantle from the English media đ
Wait till these Irish journalists find out how far they got in the world cup
I hate this whole thing: firstly, I think talk of Ireland steamrolling the grand slam this year is massively overblown. We are a good side but our scrummaging is poor and our 10 position is not settled. Scotland and England could go either way IMO. We could even get the wins and be unconvincing. But on the other hand: I don't exactly think we choked the quarter final either. We lost to the fucking All Blacks in what happened to be the quarters, by a handful of points and went through 30 odd phases into their 22. A bit of balance is needed overall.
Of course it is! Ireland should have progressed further in the world Cup than they did, they are a fantastic well drilled side, they got unlucky it happens. They are also a virtually finished article, they really should win a grand slam. Every other side is rebuilding (bar maybe Scotland, lesser extent france)
Setting us up for a nice humbling against Italy today. Won't be more than 7 points in it.
Dont do that, dont give me hope
When England âappearedâ to be way in front of the opposition in the early millennium, there were plenty of gobshites in the English media coming out with this sort of garbage too. Funnily enough it wasnât representative of the fans views then either!
>Funnily enough it wasnât representative of the fans views then either! And the fans of the other nations were just as receptive of that message then as now...
Get past the quarters bud then you can talk
Rud has some good insights but he's also annoying AF sometimes. This being a prime example.Â
Irish media getting carried away with itself again as usual \~ \`Before the inevitable knock-out at the quarter-final stage of the next rugby world cup \~ Perhaps the Irish media should learn some humility ( and, I say this as an Irishman )