Ireland break losing streak with hard fought win over Samoa

The big Islanders ran them close. Once again, if only the Pacific Island teams had more time to train together.

Irish aren't looking that good at the moment.

absolutely brilliant try for samoa !!! could watch it all day, and tuilagi, look at how he bounces luke fitzgerald, massive !!
hopefully all the pacific islands can put up good performences throughout the coming year and in the RWC

ireland really need to pull their act together if they want to have any impact in 2011's 6nations, with englands victory over australia ireland will really need to do something special and soon to look like contentions for front runners

quite a few first choicers out though so I wouldn't read too much into this.

No Darcy, Kearny, Reddin and Sexton, and that's just in the backs.

We sucked. I'm getting very worried about the AB game, on current form they are going to fillet us. Samoa certainly could have edged this one - the scoreline did not flatter them at all.

I don't think that's much of an argument. Every team has injuries at the moment and this is Samoa, ranked 11th in the world and playing away from home. Of course much can be read into it. Things aren't looking good with the world cup next year.

Lovely try by Tuilagi. Mapusua did brilliantly there

Two more points - O'Gara did well to get in for that try, it was a good finish and we were in big trouble at the time.

Also, the referee was a disaster at the scrums - he didn't let either team settle or compete and it ended up a totally broken up game, loads of penalties and frees coming from scrums. It's a real problem area in the game in general, and this game was really spoiled by it.

"I don't think that's much of an argument. Every team has injuries at the moment and this is Samoa,"

@Laz

It's not down to injuries, it's down to rotating men to give them a game, and you don't change 7 or so first choice players and put in the same performance.

As I said, I wouldn't read too much into it, after all didn't the second team of connacht's the poor boys of Irish rugby turn over Samoa during the week?

It'll be a different Irish team come the All Blacks - they wont' beat them but they'll play a lot better then this.

NZ can afford to rest McCaw and Carter and still destroy Ire.

Scotland passed and went through more phases in the first 2 minutes than Ire have in 2 games.

Good Samoa try, and as Mike said, good try by O'Gara. Who knew he could side step. Is a 10 point win over a PI side or a drubbing from the ABs a bigger wake up call?


Something I noticed watching Sco/ NZ game. When an AB goes into contact, his support runner (no matter what no. on his back) is always ready for the offload similar to a running back in NFL waiting for the quarter back to put the ball 'in the basket'.Then if the pass isn't coming, clearing out the ruck is next in mind. Ire just don't have the skills or intelligence to do this. I'm starting to lose interest in rugby with the refs attitudes to scrums. Plain and simple, its killing the game. If a scrum needs resetting, which they always do, its usinp 90 seconds everytime. Like I said recently Wayne Barnes stopped the clock when it collapsed, then called time on at the crouch instruction. IRB SORT IT OUT. All refs need to do this.

lol @ Ireland

Getting pretty pissed at Ireland now. OK Kidney got us a grand slam, but the Ireland's style of play just isn't working any more. It's pretty obvious. England have changed their style of play and they just beat Australia. Why can't Ireland do something similar? We have quality players.

Ireland only ever score tries from a single backline move which unlocks a defense (but this doesn't happen that often) or with a crossfield kick. We can't seem to make continuous yards, recycle quickly (despite having a high quality back row) or pressure opponents without kicking to the corner.

useless from Ireland again. How did we get so bad so quickly.
The NZ game isn't going to be any fun at this rate and I wouldn't bank on beating argentina either.
O'Driscoll has been awful aswell, hasn't run a yard with ball in hand in the last 2 games

lol @ Ireland
Is that the same 'Anonymous' who predicted a Southern Hemisphere clean sweep? If you've nothing intelligent to say, please leave the discussion to adults.

A win is a win! Who will care about this win come the 6ns and then the world cup? O'Driscoll, O'Gara, Stringer and Hayes are all great servants to Irish Rugby, but hardly in need of experience. Would rather see a young team lose while learning and improving, than these guys scrape a victory. Give Kidney space to experiment like he did in Munster...PLEASE!

Kidney is the guy picking the team. I agree, we should take a leaf out of Australia's book and throw in loads of young guys. We know what O'Gara, O'Driscoll, Bowe, D'Arcy and company can do - we should be trying a whole new generation. They won't all make it - but it needs to be done. After the WC there will be a need for epic rebuilding.

Ireland are SHIT. These PIs teams have players coming in from different parts of the world and have little time to prepare before each game. Samoa still managed to push Ireland on their home ground to the 80th min.

If the PIs had the resources top tier nations like Ireland have, they probably be giving the Sanzar teams tougher games.

Jeez 'Anonymous' - you don't like Ireland for some reason. We get it. We also get that the team is not playing well now - I think you'll find EVERY comment above says so.

You'll also find that I made the exact same point re. Fiji and Samoa on another thread.

Thanks for your contribution though.

Rugbydump - im offering real cash in bribes if you take this post off of Rugbydump.

Complete and utter lack of cohesion shown by Ireland, and too much of an emphasis on kicking.

Awful awful stuff. Even if a few players weren't first choice you'd think the likes of trimble, wallace, o'brien etc would be busting a gut to try and make the first team for the AB's game.

The lack of intensity in the lasst two games is very worrying.

Hard luck to Samoa they deserved more out of the game.

goodNumber0 said:

"As I said, I wouldn't read too much into it, after all didn't the second team of connacht's the poor boys of Irish rugby turn over Samoa during the week?"

against Samoa second team also, mainly young lads and 7s players :)

"against Samoa second team also, mainly young lads and 7s players :)"

exactly my point, this was far from a full strength Irish side.

anyway what do i care the English spanked the aussies. :D

the Irish forwards (particularly the back row) need to man up they were over powered by Samoa and South africa last week. Where was Heaslip ! a shoe in as the next Ireland captain my ass .
The ref did not help he needs to read up on the rules he had no idea what was going on in scrum.

@ BigBucks... paypal@rugbydump.com. Dont be shy

haha great one RD

goodNumber10 if reddan really is a '1st choice player' then we are truely screwed for the 6N and WC. 1-o'leary 2-stringer 3-boss surely?next should be cillian willis before reddan id almost go as far to say. reddan is terrible

Good game, but this just won't do against NZ. Watching the Scotland match....well, Ireland need to...I really don't know.

If they plan on making sustained attacks, then the support needs to be there, which it isn't. If they can break the line on set running plays, which Scotland showed is very possible (almost easy) to do against NZ, then they'll need players running with them to scoop up offloads - that is something they can do, if they're in the right mode and the right players are on the pitch.

What's worrying is the defense Ireland are going to need to stop Gear and Toeava. Ireland really need to develop a better alternative at number 12...neither Wallace nor D'Arcy are going to cut it against Nonu or Williams, depending on who gets played.

Is Buckley going to be available?

@ Worried - I kind of hope Buckley is out. We could do with a solid scrum against the ABs - Court and Ross to start as an experiment? I wish.

Unfortunately I think they're going to muller us again - we're playing pretty poorly right now. Watching the Ashton try against Aus, I was thinking - do we have a single player who could have scored that try? Bowe is great player - I'd say better than Ashton - but I don't think he would have the speed that Ashton showed there. Would Fitz have that sort of pace? Maybe - maybe - Trimble would have (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8qbtSnPUyg). Worrying times right now.

Funny how(most of)the NH fans love to criticize the SH teams(like SA are thugs, NZ are cheats and will lose the WC), but put the shoe on the other foot, or just call a bad performance a bad performance by a NH team, and there is a call for the SH fans to grow up or leave the discussion. Funny.

You cant have it both ways.

Yeah, but Court seemed to be struggling at the scrum, though. Could've been the poor timing via the ref, though...

The main advantage with Buckley is simply his size...he helps crash the line and finish off efforts from 5m out. That and counter-rucking...but either way...it doesn't look like Ireland will win...especially when no one seems to be able to hold onto the ball in either contact or open field...

My only hope is that the entire crowd just gets plastered and comes in and sings folk songs for 80 minutes. That would at least make the game even if it's a major defeat.

Borgia, who in particular are you talking about? I know a few bad apples tend to spoil the bunch when it comes to sports fans and trash-talking, but no one here seemed to fly off the handle from anyone criticizing Ireland's performance. They haven't been impressive at all this year...from the 6N to this past weekend, something seems to be missing. It's obvious. You can say it, too.

Did you mean to post that in a different thread or something?

On the scrum half issue. Watch the Munster Australia game Tue and you'll see the most promising young SH in Ireland, ok he's 24 (bloody senior citizen to the Aussies). Duncan Williams is like the bastard child of O'Leary and Stringer combined, as abrasive, and better more consistant passer than O'Leary. How he didn't get huge props for his defending in 1st game of the season v Aironi. Last minute, Aironi prop barges through a maul and as he dives on the line Williams gets his hands under him and scoops the ball off him, pure class, back rower wouldn't have done it. Probably not going to get a proper chance til after the WC.

In my previous post I failed to mention how gutted I was for Samoa. They played all the rugby (oh, its wet, IN IRELAND, no way, we can't pass, or hold onto the ball), made the breaks, the phases and so on.

If we could borrow Mapasua, your loose head prop, your scrum half and Tuilagi, you can have D'arcy, Reddan, Hayes and even the ''BEST CENTRE IN THE WORLD (5 YEARS AGO)'' Brian O'Driscoll. Jim Glennon in the Sunday Indo gave him 6/10. Said he was industrious. I'd call it something else. If running nowhere twice and kicking the ball away every other time you get it is industrious, god help us what it would take for him to get a 4/10. BOD defenders, its time to realise he's not the player he was 5 years ago, or the GS winning captain, a moment here and there doesn't mask the fact that theres no penetration coming from the guy wearing 13.

For NZ

9 Strings
10 Sexton
11 Trimble
12 Fitzgearld
13 Bowe (now thers your penetration)
14 Earls
15 Murphy

Light on defence (we're gonna get whooped anyways), but so are Aussie backs. Will score trys.

You know, while I don't think that lineup is the best, Huh, I don't really see a reason not to try it. I mean, why not give it a go? It probably couldn't be worse than how Ireland have been looking lately.

Personally, I'd say switch Bowe and Earls in your lineup, but it doesn't really matter...and I'd rather see Carr in at 11 than Trimble, but that seems like it'll never happen.

It wasn't a pretty game at most of the time. Some good plays from Samoa but lack the ability to finish it. Ireland on the other hand struggles in scrum time accept 2 or 3 better ones. I'm Samoan...and still have faith that Ireland will do much much better against the All Blacks. O'Gara played a smart game all throughout. And I argued he won the game for Ireland. My man BOD did not play to his max. He is saving the best for the All Blacks. Let give both Ireland and Samoa a boost for the up coming games. Both England and the All Blacks are massive teams.

Faamalosi boyz... BOD vs Conrad- Darcy vs SBW Awesome!!! GO IRELAND!!! GO SAMOA!!!!!

Lol @ Ireland, I smell a group stage exit at the world cup again (Georgia 10 Ireland 14)

^Cool story, bro.

http://www.sc.tri-bit.com/wfc

What the hell is kidney playing at releasing Earls to play against Australia, this country rarely produces backs with such quality, ie Bod, fitzgerald, and young andrew Conway. Its not like we dont need Earls against new Zealand. Whats going on?

I think people need to be patient with the Ireland team, if we are playing like this in 8 months time we should be concerned but it's not too worrying right now. Consider Irelands 2008 6 nations compared to their 2009, big difference. Not saying they'll turn up and win the WC or anything but that they have a lot of time to get passed this period of flat performance.

Although it may only be evident when we have hindsight, it seems to me that Ireland is going through a transition in terms of both players and playing style. The grand slam team and style of playing is, by and large, finished. Kidney is thinking of the RWC next year, who will be his frontliners and how they will play. The transition seems to be knocking the confidence as the players get to grips with the new approach.

Firstly, goodNumber10 when you say
"quite a few first choicers out though so I wouldn't read too much into this.

No Darcy, Kearny, Reddin and Sexton, and that's just in the backs."
I disagree. Fair enough they are all leinster players but that doesn't warrent them a starting place (well it shouldn't anyway). The way stringer and o gara have been playing together lately with both munster and the south african game means they should be starting. But still a toss up between o gara and sexton.

On another note, the samoan match was almost a complete reverse of the one against south africa. Line out worked well but the scrums were awful. I dunno is it devon toner or sean o brien or both who helped fix the lineouts. Tom Court had an awful time in the scrum and Ireland will be badly bullied against the all blacks if they cant improve their scrum any bit.

Chances are ireland will give new zeland most of the possestion like they've done in their last few games. And when ireland do have the ball then they'll mess it up and new zeland will get a few break away tries. Maybe heaslip should get red carded early in the game again so we'll have an excuse again.

I reckon ireland will find their form again but the question is when. Just look at wales. They have an awful season one year and can go on and win the grand slam the next. Hopefully ireland will sort themselves out before the 6N and WC.

Hard luck Samoa. Played well and could very easily have won the game. Score didn't do ye justice

'Maybe heaslip should get red carded early in the game again so we'll have an excuse again.'

Brilliant. Hell, we'll need more than 1 red card though the mauling we're in for

How many guys do we need to be sent off to get the match abandoned?

team for new zealand
ross,best,healy,tonner,leo,ferris,wallace,heaslip,redan, sexton,fitz,darcy,bod,bowe and murphy

would love to see huh the thirds centre partner ship of fitz and bowe!!! bowe was great in 3rd lions test in the centrebut kidney would never do it doubt he will pick leo either even with o callahans poor form!!

To the last anonymous, what your saying is you think leinster bar 3 or 4 players should play the all blacks? Typical

This is absolute bullshit! @goodNumber10 "No Darcy, Kearny, Redden and Sexton, and that's just in the backs." Kearney is shite, all he can do is catch and kick. Redden is possibly the worst scrum half in international rugby, ok granted sexton will run the ball more than O'Gara but you can't take these islanders head on cause they'll punish you! Absolutely dreadful game at times I was nearly shouting for Samoa! I fucking hate the fact that Kidney and everyone seem to fall back to the "on his day" style of choosing players. Granted on his day D'Arcy can run rings around the Scotland centres but this is shit! Paddy Wallace is too light to be a centre. Against the All Blacks and against SBW we need to choose a centre that will bring the heat. Ireland need to stop choosing players because of past honours, The Ireland 22 should read (if we have any chance against NZ)
1 Healy
2 Cronin
3 Court
4 DOC
5 Ryan/Toner
6 Ferris
7 O'Brien/Wallace
8 Healsip
9 Boss/Stringer
10 Sexton
11 Earls
12 BOD
13 Bowe
14 Trimble
15 Fitzgerald

Replacements:
16 Varley
17 Ross
18 Ryan/Toner
19 O'Brien/Wallace
20 Boss/Stringer
21 O'Gara
22 J. Murphy/Duffy

I agree with anonymous about it being incredulous Earls was released, although i cannot wait for the Munster match tonight! But I wouldnt go as far as predicting a win, but it has almost the feeling of when we first played in croke park and were robbed against France, the lads were well up for the England game, now im not comparing the England 2007 with the current all blacks, all im saying is Ireland will be better this weekend. New Zealand were distinctly average against England, all the public and crowd are looking for is a good performance, if we run new zealand close, wel be in a much better state than we were post south africa match, there is hope there albeit a glimmer, Ireland will beat new zealand sometime.

Paul Gormley, I agree with you on the fact that Ireland will beat New Zealand sometime. The only thing is they'd want to do it sooner rather than later. I myself am sick now of hearing what a great chance we have against new zealand only to either throw the game away by simple mistakes or just never even show up on the day.

I see alot of people giving out about Earls being released. I reckon Kidney just wants him to get game time under his belt since he's just back from injury. Would love to see him start at the weekend. But i reckon he's at least guaranteed a place on the bench for sat.

As much as I want Ireland to start playing well again and to beat the all blacks, I dont see it happening this weekend. Let's just hope that come the 6N all the cobwebs will be gone and they'll be playing good rugby again

Do you not feel Ireland have a better chance of beating new zealand when the chips are down, rather than having played well and boasting to the world with how we have such a good chance, check the New Zealand herald, they rate Scotland higher than us. I think Ireland will buy into the passion showed by Munster tonight, Limerick is rocking at the moment. I dont believe we will show the same lack of passion as we have done in past few weeks, if we can give a passionate performance, give new zealand a good game, it will be a step in the right direction.

That Penalty that was awarded to Ireland when Ogara Scored...was so wrong look at the ruck again...
How could he call the Samoa player was holding on when not one Ireland player was on his feet and Samoa had more players back to retrieve that ball anyway...

The refereeing was so biased, well I felt so anyway