Hi all As i'm sure you're all aware, we face the all blacks this saturday in wellintgton (i think). Kick off at 8am irish time. Are these rugby trips a piss up for our national players or have we a real chance of beating them??
It should be a good game. It's the end of a long season for Ireland who seem to have an almost full strength side. Hopefully fatigue won't affect them too much. The all blacks have 6 new caps in the 26 man squad with a load of retirements after the world cup. They've had shaky starts to these campaigns in the past, so hopefully Ireland will catch them cold. Verdict: A nearly win for Ireland. Moral victory.... How about yourself Liverbird?
I was reading something in one of the papers the other day saying every one of the Irish squid bar one has won silverware this season.Thats something else. I think its our best chance in years to beat them,its a one of game and the all blacks are starting a sequence of games and they like to experiment in this situation.So lets hope we can catch them not in 5th gear.
I love watching these games, but i must say its the fear factor that gets us all the time! We have an excellent squad and i feel if we were to play the All Blacks and not go into a game against them all nervous and thinking were going to lose the game before it starts, i give us a chance but only a small one!
I'd agree with that. Should be a great game. Will you be watching it on sky or online? The majority of Ireland's squad will be made up of Munster who won the Heineken cup and Leinster who sealed the Magner's league this season. So hopefully the World cup hiccup will be put completely out of the system and they should have an outside chance. They pushed it right down to the wire over two tests (I'm not sure if it was last summer or the year before) but lower fitness than NZ cost them in the final ten minutes. The thing that worries me is the hunger the new lads in NZ will have to seal down their places by putting a potentially jaded Ireland team to the sword. But I'll stay optimistic.
Bit shaky in the middle. Fitzgerald is injured and Paddy Wallce is a bit suspect in defense. That said - the kiwi pak is largely changed from the world cup and Ireland's is very good. I think we can win it - we nearly had them 2 years ago over there and it was only a couple of individual errors that cost us! By the way KO is 0835 - still early but an extra half hour in bed!
If i can stay off the wine friday night! i'll be watching on sky!! They have had a hard season, but these games should be the ultimate aim. These are the teams we need to beat to prove we can mix it with the big guns!! and they are the BIG!
Could be well worth it mate. If Ireland win the wine will make a good celebratory drink. If they lose it will be good for drowning the sorrows. Have a good night at any rate. I'll try and watch it online on justin tv myself. So, hopefully they'll put in a good performance.
Wouldn't dream of missing it...these games always tend to be competitive as the all blacks don't like losing on their home soil, neither do their fans...
As most of you know, Roy Keane is working on his coaching badges at the moment. A badge requirement is to spend time with a coach from another sport. He's working with the all blacks.
New Zealand could be very dangerous in this. I would be worried about a record defeat here. Cant see Paddy Wallace stemming the tide to be honest
Why do you think that? Most of the starting forwards are the same as the Heineken cup winning Munster pack that bossed Toulose. The backs include an on form O'Gara, O'Driscoll, Reddan and some Magner's league winning Leinster backs. Wallace lacks much physical presence but he's still a very solid kicker of the ball. I don't think I can see them beating a young, hungry New Zealand side, but I still reckon it'll be a fairly close match.
Good call on it, Stupid foul by Horan but team put in a great effort. Looking forward to RSA v Wales now!!!
Yeah, all momentum was lost after the 60th minute after that stupid foul...it was a good perfromance by Carney, but O' Driscoll had a poor game in my opinion...he missed a vital tackle which led to a try and the only decent thing i saw him do was that catch...
I actually ended up missing it with an interview this morning . So was it actually a fairly competitive match like other tours, just lost in the final quarter? I might check around to see have any of the websites have a recording of it linked.
Good call martin 88. I thought we were going to be hockied, Conditions contributed but a good display. Lets hopr they can build on this
Fully agree. From what I saw of the highlights the conditions looked very bleak. Fair play to the lads anyway. They competed for a good 60/70 minutes. But like 2 years ago tired bodies conceded a few too many mistakes in the end. The end of a long season is never a great time for a tour to the other side of the world. Still, it'll be worth it if they get one over on the Aussies next week