The Silver Fern

@Bovidae said in Preseason - Munster v Crusaders (Feb 4th):

Is Coombes a regular starter for Munster? He was part of the Irish squad that toured NZ. They have both Synman and Kleyn in their squad but both were unavailable due to injury.

Sky NZ is obviously doing in-studio commentary for these pre-season games.

Coombes usually starts at 8. He's a try scoring machine but not in Andy Farrells plans for whatever reason.

This is Snymans 3rd season with Munster and he's played about 11 games. Been injured all the time. Just happened to be injury free for the world cup. Lucky Rassie! Then got injured again.

@taniwharugby said in RWC Week 5: Ireland v Scotland:

@Billy-Tell French presently are the biggest chokers...0/3 finals.

Ireland, ranked #1 prior to 2019, ranked #1 this year...one or both of them will wear that tag.

Ireland hit their peak in 2018. It was all downhill after that. They got to #1 ranking just before the world cup started but that was from a bizarre set of circumstances. Wales also got to #1 around that time.

Ireland were #1 for a few days in 2019 vs a year in 2023.

@Derm-McCrum said in RWC Week 3: Springboks v Ireland:

@Billy-Tell said in RWC Week 3: Springboks v Ireland:

@Derm-McCrum said in RWC Week 3: Springboks v Ireland:

The 3 residency players in the squad is probably the last of the bunch as IRFU have shifted to their IQ Rugby programme since 2017. In short, they want already Irish qualified players picked for the provinces.

Let’s be honest. The move from 3 to 5 years forced their hand.

In part yes. They announced IQ Rugby a couple of weeks after WR made their announcement but had been planning it for a number of months. The writing was on the wall anyway - there were too many duds and too many NIQ players filling up the squads within the provincial quotas. They're now at 94% Irish qualified, with only 10-11 players who are ineligible to play due to being capped elsewhere.

Indeed. Only 4 non Irish qualified players have been signed by the provinces for the coming season.

Alex Nankivell
Steven Kitschoff
Dave Ewers
Santiago Cordero

Only Nankivell can technically qualify on residency but he will be 31 or 32 by that time so he isn't a project player as some might think.

Ireland has the 3rd oldest squad at the world cup but have generally been strong at u20 level since 2019. Hardly any of those players have broken into Farrells squad yet so the need for project players isn't there. But yes the IRFU have been very cynical in the past.

Scotland have just poached Ben Healy (Scottish grandparent) offering him a contract Munster/IRFU couldn't match. That's just the way things are.

@voodoo said in RWC Week 3: Springboks v Ireland:

@Bovidae said in RWC Week 3: Springboks v Ireland:

The 7:1 split will backfire at some stage if there are early injuries or cards to midfield backs, for example, forcing a major reshuffle. 6:2 allows a halfback and utility back to cover all contingencies.

remember the olden days when a 6:2 bench was considered risky...

Rassie is losing the run of himself. I think all the praise about the 6:2 split has gone to his head and he wants more of that. The supreme innovator.

@nostrildamus said in RWC Week 3: Argentina v Samoa:

It is on Friday at Stadium Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne? Weather forecast is cool and dry but isolated showers, I assume that favors Argentina but I've got no knowledge of what they are used to, weather wise?

If its wet it could favour Samoa. They kicked well against Ireland which allowed their heavyweight pack use its weight. Argentina were dreadful against England in the wet.

Don't think Argentina will be that bad again though. This could be one of the games of the tournament so far.

You'd think Wales will win this one but who knows. Wales beat Fiji, Aussies lost to Fiji but Wales had a much harder time trying to contain the Fiji attack.

Wales look better coached so I think they'll win even though the Aussies have better players.

@African-Monkey said in RWC warmup - Ireland v Samoa:

Ireland lucky. If Samoa had a line out, they win that game. Having said that, McFarland was clearly played at in the air in that last line out. Should have been a penalty.

Samoa defence was immense and they exposed the Irish in a few areas tonight, defended against them in general play better than the ABs last year.

Ireland not as good as they and the public in general think they are.

How were Ireland lucky? It was pissing rain which suited Samoa who were happy to play kick chase. They're a bigger, heavier side and played the conditions well. Ireland are a light side who like to move the ball.

Samoa got a lucky try.

For the lineout the same thing was happening the irish lineout throughout.

Spain beat Uruguay to win the competition.

They will be in group one next year with France, Wales and NZ.

The Latinos celebrate as Spain beat Samoa and Uruguay beat the Scots.

Zimbabwe beat the USA

@Stargazer said in 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship:

Not mentioned yet, I think, but Japan finished last and drops down to next year's WR U20 Trophy.

The 2023 WR U20 Trophy is currently being played for, with the winner earning promotion to next year's WR U20 Championship.

First round U20 Trophy results:
Scotland 64 - 33 Zimbabwe
Samoa 34 - 25 Kenya
Uruguay 33 - 31 USA
Spain 53 - 0 Hong Kong

Scotland - relegated from the previous U20 Championship - should be the favourites to win the Trophy. That would be a reverse swap from the previous promotion/relegation.

Spain is interesting. They've been competitive at youth level for a number of years now?

France steamrolled England and Ireland in the second half of both matches. Their fitness is on another level to every other team at that level. They've a different setup where players are ready for top 14 rugby at a young age.

Only England could potentially close that gap imo but they've fallen behind the French for now. France could, should, dominate this tournament for the foreseeable future.

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in NZ U20 v France U20 (World Rugby U20 Championship):

How ironic is this? Was very recently that we were hearing that the big money imports were killing the domestic game in France. Now they appear to be at the leading edge. Why is that? All the money being pumped in? Whatever the case, it does appear concerning that we may be behind the times. It won't be the first time but it's not a great position to be in.

France have won the 6 nations once in 10 years.
Their u20s Have not won the 6 nations for a few years.

I wouldn't get carried away by u20 results especially in a mud bath. It's nice to win but underage teams develop differently in different countries. France have a lot of teams which means their players will get opportunities. Their squad have over 250 top 14 games. About 5 times higher than the next highest.

Tuilagi has gotten a lot of press but he will need to lose plenty of those kgs if he wants to play for France senior team.

A law change limiting the number of subs would swing the balance towards lighter players again but that's another topic.

@Bones said in Ireland v France 6N:

@profitius yeah he didn't make any mention about the extra padding in the shoulder/sleeve of the green jersey that allows WR to ignore head contact either.

You've had a tough week. Take a break, bud.

Did the video highlight Penauds no arms tackle on Lowe?

It's a pathetic video. There were other instances that France got away with. The head contacts he highlighted were soak tackles. They don't cause damage like shoulder charges.

@Bones said in Six Nations 2023:

Mark Orders  /  Feb 12, 2023  /  Rugby News

The players outside the Wales squad who could solve a worrying issue for Warren Gatland | Wales Online

They are each talented performers in the prime of their careers

Mostly average to good URC players. Half the Welsh team against ireland were Ospreys players. Ospreys are 13th in the URC.

@Victor-Meldrew said in Six Nations 2023:

Am I the only one who thinks the Reffing has been pretty good in the first 2 rounds?

The TMO has been used sparingly, the emphasis has been on letting the game flow, and any card issues have been sensibly handled.

Attacking rugby has been rewarded. Refs are hot on players supporting their own body weight in rucks if they're trying to steal the ball. Actually applying the laws. It's had a great effect on the quality of rugby but Wales and France have suffered as a result.

@Crucial said in Ireland v France 6N:

That excellent long range France try showed why playing “wild” can make Ireland look lost. Ireland are so well structured on attack, defence and transition that sometimes a bounce pass or piece of unexpected throws their shape into disarray.
It’s a scary tactic to play though and carries no guarantees.

The main talking point of the last 2 weeks is how to beat France. The match had a 46 minute ball in play time which is incredibly high. Ireland and Italy both kept the ball in play and kept the massive French pack moving. France had few lineouts in both games, mainly from penalties. They were physically spent by the 60 minute mark allowing ireland to keep possession easily and pin them back.

Ridiculous having Andrew Brace ref Wales again. He's from Cardiff ffs. He will be accused of bias or going out of his way to not look biased. He shouldn't be put in that situation.

Interesting tactical battle later. Ireland will look to speed up the game, France will look to stop them. Refs cracking down on players not holding their weight in rucks now which means France will have to be careful as they like to blitz through rucks.

Scotland, England, Australia.