It’s an apples and oranges comparison
They didn’t play SA in the semi final . They played the all blacks and beat them . That’s a team that put 45 points on an Irish team that slammed in 2018
I’m always sceptical of revisionism about the quality beaten by teams . Should Irelands grand slam last weekend be talked down because we beat the worst Welsh and English teams in history to do it and Italy …
You could argue Ireland only beat two good teams to win it …
Yes it should. Though that can be set against the bar being the same for everyone, and the quality of Ireland’s performances, and the consistency of success in the past few years WC notwithstanding but in particular since Farrell took over.
That’s a serious French team we beat albeit they weren’t really in gear at that stage. WC year always a bit odd in that regard.
Ireland’s series win in NZ is a huge achievement whatever which way you look at it. It usurped and defied all known wisdom, including having lost the first test, and fallen apart badly in the process.
But anyway that’s all irrelevant to the England discussion. Except they too beat NZ but it was one game, in Japan, just after the ABs had played two massive games already, Vs SA in the group & Ireland, who many expected to really put it up to them. Even though it was a hammering it was still a huge game for them, they actually peaked for it & so had peaked twice already before facing England.
I think also complacency got to them after that massive win Vs Ireland.
I don’t agree with you but I’ll leave it at that
You could equally talk down Dublins 5 in a row on that basis given the Leinster championship is a walkover
U could argue most year in 6 N its 2/3 teams competing , no one argued with Frances win last year and common factor with last 2 years is home side wins between the 2
To be fair Scotland brought a lot to the tournament this year and Italy gave us a bellyful
I do feel Farrell has built a real deal of a team here and they are v unfortunate with the draw and losing to France at home or NZ does not undo what they have achieved.
On the other hand get thru that QF and things get v real for us …
My fancy to win it overall is the AB
Wait till the cancel culture club get a hauld of that. A forced apology may be en route methinks. Not quite Tallaght Stadium (Edit: Google tells me it was Hampden Park) dressing room hijinks but shtill.
Either that or England will get their house in order and make the future goys suffer for eternity.
Only see headline and first paragraph of Sweeneys article but it’s enough , why oh why does the irish rugby media continue to write such abnoxious arrogant drivel
In a pub caught the game ,that word pretty much summed up my take on a lot of the occasion, found it weird watching the game and wanting Ireland to win , delighted when they did , only to have it ruined by a certain cohort of fans who if you put a white jersey with a rose on them , you wouldn’t know the difference listening to them .
English rugby fans start singing Sweet Chariots , a ‘negro spiritual’ song ( to coin an outdated phrase) because Jerry Guscott happened to be black, and Irish rugby players need to apologise for taking the piss out of the English team ??!
Serves you right for drinking on the south side.
[Why is Swing Low, Sweet Chariot the England rugby song? - BBC News]
Martin Offiah according to this , theres a joke/stereotype in there somewhere ,but probably best left alone
Calm down pet (Cranberry juice is helpful, or so I’m told), twas only a bit of a Monday afternoon josh. I’d be hopeful no one has to apologise for anything. But jaysus in the modern world you’d never know would you.
To be fair I find Farrell and the players have coped on under Farrell and there is a joy but also a humility in them … interested to see their first comments were acknowledging not a great performance and more needed for WC
Well apart from Hanson saying last week that ‘everyone hates the English’! Surprised there wasn’t a bigger fuss over that.
Think Farrell and the Ireland team are a very humble, focused team, and a hugely talented one at that! Dublinesque in many ways and quite similar to our 6-in-a-row group!
Eamonn Sweeney wouldn’t exactly be a rugby journalist.
Agreed.
You can drop the term “rugby” out of that sentence
I had a somewhat surreal experience myself. I watched the game in a well known GAA haunt in town. I wanted to be sure the Dubs would be on rather than the France-Wales match which decided my destination. The pub was busy given the day but the Dubs match passed by without much notice with maybe 5 or 6 customers tuned in. In contrast, Twickenham was a full on affair with all fully engaged and passionately so. I was surprised not only by the depth of knowledge about rugby but how nuanced it was. I was even shushed for speaking as Johnny lined up a conversion. Truly we are a rugby nation.
Ah here, you’re comparing the greatest and most successful team/era ever in a sport with the patchy, unconvincing achievements of a team that imploded mentally on multiple occasions when big games got very tight?
And relatively very few were saying Dublin footballers were going to dominate the sport prior to them winning anything, like many were saying England would, which I remind you is/was the point of all this.
In fact not many were saying Dublin would dominate after 11, and only a certain number (remember the reaction to David Hickey’s prediction which was broadcast after the 2013 win?) did after that 2nd All Ire.
England rugger post- 2016 were world champions in waiting and would dominate the 6N for years they said… They were lucky to win one more championship.
And the provincials are as meaningless to the All Ireland as the AI rugger league is to the Magners & the Heino. You still have to beat the best opposition to win. It’s why I wouldn’t talk down Kerry’s win last year, regardless of Con or how Mayo were in transition, they still had to be bet, the mental side of it was big. Galway in the final was nice for them though, admittedly.