Ireland Win 6 Nations 2009

Wonderful! Really really wonderful

Glory Munster

One of the best games of any sport was played out last night in Munster's Thomond Park as Munster narrowly lost to the All Blacks by 16 - 18.

Munster were missing 10 of their first line players due to international duty but they played with a passion and intensity that was a wonder to behold. Munster did everything right, they played the game, the tackled well, they where not intimidated, they never stopped. Compare and contrast yesterdays performance with Ireland's attempt on Saturday. In every way it was the inverse, in every way Munster where better, more honest, more fearless, more prideful - if only it could be bottled.

To me it seemed every player became twice as fit, twice as hard for yesterdays game but for me the man of the match was Peter Stringer, the man played out of his skin and was back to his ferocious best. His performance must surely put him back in contention for the Ireland position. I certainly hope so.

So if you love sport, love rugby or are even just rugby-curious, beg, borrow or steal a video of this game to see the heights sport can attain. To get you started here is the video of the rare "Munster Haka", when watching keep in mind the stadium holds only 25,000 people.

O'Sullivan Resign's (is paid off)

Well 6 months too late (or 12 months with the benefit of hindsight) and EOS has finally been removed. Already the eulogies have proclaimed Eddie "The most successful Irish coach Ever"(TM) which considering the very low base we are working from here is not saying much. In fact seeing as Eddie didn't win the 6 Nations (let alone the Grand Slam) it would be far more accurate to say "Eddie was the least unsuccessful Irish coach ever". The man deserves nothing but scorn, he squandered the best Irish rugby team ever, he sidelined excellent players, he promoted his favorite players to the detriment of the team, his substitution policy was an insult, he never had a plan B, he was stubborn, controlling and ultimately a failure. Good riddance!

For the love of God, EOS must go!

Eddie O’Sullivan should have been fired immediately after the world cup but instead he was allowed to inflict his dreary personality on Irish rugby for another 6 months and a disastrous 6 Nations. Yet again we can say that the tournament was there for the taking as all the teams are mediocre and under new management last Saturday’s game against Wales could have been a tournament decider. Instead Ireland, bizarrely, played 10 man rugby. I could hardly believe my eyes, Leinster and Munster consistently beat Welsh opposition in both the Celtic league and European Cup and yet O’Sullivan’s knees rattled at the sight of Gatland’s men. How depressing and emasculating for the Irish team for their manager to have so little faith in them. Contrast Italy’s brave performance against France yesterday which becomes even more glaring when you consider their drubbing at the hands of Wales two weeks ago. Italy did not hide from the game or play cynically, instead they went and played with passion, grit and a dash of hope, it was great to watch and it’s a pity that their endeavours have been so poorly rewarded. “You Reap What You Sow” is the old saying, well the IRFU sowed arrogant authoritarian gombeenism last October and now they are reaping it by the bushel load.

Ireland Vs Italy

The G-man and myself went along on Saturday to watch another uninspired performance by Ireland, this time against a very poor Italy. O'Sullivan showed once again just how stubborn he his by picking the same group of players who performed so poorly in the recent World Cup only this time he added insult to injury by stating he picked the players "on form". This total, utter and abject dishonesty really is beyond the pale ( I should know I live here). He did not on pick on form. Instead he picked the same clique of players he always does and sent them out to face Italy with a threadbare Plan A and no Plan B. I don't know how those guys can stand it? They all look miserable and listless. We know they can play, Munster is doing brilliantly in Europe while many of the players from Leinster and a few from Ulster have had excellent seasons. After watching the first three games I honestly think Ireland could actually win the competition, they have the players, but not the manager. The IRFU made a huge mistake not replacing O'Sullivan last October, this is yet another 6 Nations gone abegging.

Leinster V Munster

'The Brain' texted me early Saturday morning inviting me to watch the European Cup games involving Leinster and Munster in the beating heart of Leinster rugby- Kiely's bar. After watching Leinsters fairly dismal performance in an almost empty pub the place quickly fill just in time for the Munster game. Granted the result of the Leinster game didn't matter but I was more than a bit surprised that the Leinster pub filled up for a Munster game. Any other pub in the country - fine! But Keily's?

In any case it was a cracking game. Munster once again showed what they where made off, I just wish they would share the secret with Leinster and Irish rugby. Roll on Munster!

No Surprises there then

The Genesis report on the Irish Rugby World Cup fiasco has concluded that 'everyone' was to blame. Phew, what a relief ... thats ok then, everyone back to work. So what if the so-called 'Golden Generate' achieved nothing? The important thing is we had a report and everyone got their knuckles wrapped and now the IRFU and Eddie can go back to pissing on the fans like nothing ever happened. Good times.

Heinikan Cup : Week Two

Well Leinster returned to form over the weekend as Toulouse trashed them 33 - 6. I only watched the highlights but it was pretty clear Leinster completely collapsed in terms of leadership, skill and tactics, they even managed to give away the fourth try in the dying seconds of the game to hand Toulouse the bonus point. They are playing Ospreys on Friday in the Celtic League, I assume they'll play brilliantly.

The good news from the weekend was Munster's excellent win against Clermont Auverne, I just wish someone would take Donnaha O'Callaghan and Denis Leamy aside and bang their heads together until they finally stopped giving away stupid penalties - they are two of the most maddening players in Irish rugby the way the continue to do that!

Heinikan Cup : Week One

I went to see Leinster V Leicester on Saturday and was really happy with the performance. I had serious concerns that the rot from the Rugby World Cup had infected the provinces but instead Leinster put in a sterling performance. Of course they have a habit of blowing hot and cold but I'm actually optimistic...

When to the pub afterwards to watch Munster and despite the result felt maybe Irish Rugby is not about to collapse. Roll on next weekend.

Ireland, where failure is rewarded.

So the IRFU have opted for mediocrity. What a disappointment!

I honestly thought the IRFU where better than this. The best prepared Irish team has returned the worst result but the IRFU (Parton'esk) stands by their man while Eddie O'Sullivan trots out excuse after excuse and denies the extent of his/this failure.

At least the Welsh did something. It might have been harsh but it shows they are serious about winning. Not Ireland however, it seems, we are content to be 'also rans', a small country of cozy clubs and jobs for the boys where failure is rewarded and there are never any consequences.

Denis Leamey's body was the only thing separating Ireland from defeat in the match against Georgia. Even now I can hardly believe it! What exactly does it take to get them to admit its all gone wrong? Are they captains of the Titanic? Or maybe King Canutu's vainly ordering back the tides of reality. But perhaps the most apt is Don Quixote except they expected to fight windmills but instead met with dragons.

Ireland out of the Rugby World Cup

Well Ireland lost on Sunday. I wasn't surprised. All the hifalutin talk before the game of restoring pride, playing with passion, "doing it for Simon", rising to the occasion, etc, etc predictably turned out to be yet another blast of hot air. No doubt theres a formula out there to calculate just how much the Eddie O'Sullivan and the boys contributed to global warming over the past three weeks but I'm prepared to guess several polar bears have perished as a direct result of the fumes spewing forth from EOS, BOD et al.

Irish rugby has imploded and the question is "What now?". It could also be "Who Now?". The buck has got to stop with Eddie O'Sullivan. He failed. Spectacularly! He simply must go. But will he? O'Sullivan seemed genuinely surprised to be asked would he be resigning in the wake of Ireland's pitiful performance so we can hardly expect him to fall on his own sword. He'll have to be pushed, but have the IRFU got the stomach for it? Many of the pundits on radio and television seem to think he'll survive (by blaming everyone else) with only George Hook saying he won't. I hope Hookie is right. I would hate to see the IRFU fall to the standards of the FAI where expectations are low and mediocrity accepted.

The Irish Tribune has a article detailing with The Trouble with Eddie, its an interesting read. How on earth did this man get a contract extension before the world cup?

Can a Burst Bubble Pop?

I wrote earlier of my disappointment at Irelands opening performance at the Rugby World Cup, but that feeling was nothing compared to how I felt after watching the travesty that is Irish rugby on Saturday night. The golden edifice I had built in my minds eye of world cup glory and joy came crashing down as Ireland squeaked past Georgia in a 14-10 "victory". As the rest of the rugby world surely willed Georgia on every Irish person could only watch in dread as the supposedly "best team we've ever had" turned our dreams to ashes. I actually caught myself gnawing my knuckles towards the end.

I suppose with the benefit of hindsight I was wrong to have such high hopes. Looking back at Irelands performances this year the writing was on the wall. I can see that Ireland have put in only two performances of note - England & Italy.

The France game can be deemed average as 'A' we lost and 'B' we didn't start playing until the game was 20 minutes old.

Against Wales, Scotland, Argentina, Argentina, Scotland, Italy we where poor and very lucky in those games that we managed to win.

Where Irish Rugby goes from here I don't know?
My bubble burst against Namibia, it evaporated after Georgia.