The Rugby Thread

Couple of reasons they were great amateurs but haven’t been good professionals and secondly their league is given

More importance than national team a bit like England team on footbal.  Ireland is the exact opposite the national team is everything and the irfu control the players centrally.  

The irony of you talking about unattractive headwear with your cap which is worse looking than Aido or Malachy after a double header. 

In rugby terms the Irish national team are essentially Spurs. A sniff orf a world cup year and they crumble. 

To an untrained eye like mine, you would nearly swear that maybe we aren't all we're cracked up to be, but luckily enough, we have a myriad of experts to tell us non-experts such as meself that the fundamentals are sound (heard that phrase somewhere before in the last few years in relation to something else, ah, never mind........) so no need to worry whatsoever, all be grand. 

Project reset   The fact that so many of the rugby crowd think that you can just have a month or 2 off, a few good sleeps, and all of the sudden horrendous team form can turn into a magical team is comical (Shane Horgan and Shane Jennings at exactly this in the analysis yesterday) Wasn't the project reset nonsense in half of the sports headlines only 7 days ago after beating the French. A French team who the Irish players and fans still hold up as some sort of marker in the sport, when in reality the French are generally just fulfilling these mid season 6 nations fixtures in the middle of an important club schedule. Come the World Cup funnily the French could easily outdo the Irish though, as with a decent coach and a month or 2 together, they have lots of quality to pose the best sides problems.

The reality is that the Irish have had the air of a totally broken team over the past month or 2. The timing couldn't be worse and it will be a serious job for Schmidt to get the team back on an even keel let alone becoming a team with a real chance of winning a World Cup. Some of their more senior players put in what would be generously labelled as a pathetic performance yesterday. You'd have to pity Schmidt, it's going to take a whole new box of tricks to bring this team back to life.

It will take an unbelievable turnaround for Ireland to get beyond the QF of the World Cup, if Scotland can get their best fifteen out they will fancy their chances of beating Ireland and then giving South Africa a run for their money. 

It seems to be the imperfect storm for Ireland to create this. There seems to have been an overconfidence following the Autumn that was taken into the England game. Murray hasn't looked right and that has disrupted the whole team and that frustration has lead to ill-discipline. The number of silly penalties given away yesterday, not to mention poor decision making from players who were trying to force the game, all seemed to stem from this frustration. It is hard to tell how much of an impact Schmidt leaving is having, but it can't be dismissed either.

As for what Brexit has to do with anything here ...