Ireland

tha_mai says...

blametheref ...brush up on your history .... Australia are the ancestors of the Irish.

ahem . . . many Australians may be descendants of Irish, but there are few Irish with Australian ancestry.

Does it matter?

Ireland a hugely popular touring team in NZ and will have lots of support; looking forward to the tour, only pity is no mid-weeks they could then have brought a bigger squad for the experience. They've been there 2006, 08, 10, 11 (2011 didn't play NZ RWC) - but i read Kidney say next trip not for 12 years.

Posted 01:19 24th May 2012

Carpelone says...

@ blametheref

Aaahhh. This explains why OZ is the worst of the three SH rugby nations.

And Rihanna is a b@%&h.

Posted 14:53 23rd May 2012

BokAvenger says...

@Blametheref: Keep it up mate, you're making me look good!

Posted 12:48 23rd May 2012

blametheref says...

You should brush up on your history Kennyisgay, it's an astounding fact, traced by geneology, that almost a quarter of the current population of Australia are the ancestors of the Irish who were shipped, as an act of ethnic cleansing and forced labour, from Wicklow jail in Ireland by the British...An incredible statistic when you think of it from just one place, so when it comes to knocking our depleted numbers to make up the Ireland rugby team, you know who to blame...and for Australia winning 2 rugby World Cups, you know who thank!

I could crow on about the Irish diaspora around the world, in the USA etc, and how we punch well above our weight in the arts, business and sport but I don't want to boast...so here's a tip, put your money on Ireland beating highly rated Croatia in Euro 2012 which is coming up soon, after qualifying, we're the worst ranked team in the competition, but I bet we defy that ranking...

Leinster in another final next Sunday, looks like more medals for Brad, Henk and the Irish boys...but it's not about the medals this time, it's about beating those pesky Welsh who are getting one over on us too much of late, they're a real "Thorn" in our side!

Posted 10:03 23rd May 2012

kennyisgay says...

You're desperately sad wo/man blametheref. I'd say all those so called Irish you mentioned left cos they didn't wanna be associated with a muppet such as yourself... you know yourself like.

Posted 22:55 22nd May 2012

blametheref says...

Yea Kennyisgay, you might be right but some of the best SH players past and present, especially from NZ and Australia have Irish blood in their extraordinary genes, to name a few: Christian Cullen, John Kirwan, John Gallagher, Sean Fitzpatrick for NZ and Michael Lynagh, James O' Connor, Matt Burke, Eoin Finnegan and Tim Horan among numerous for Australia...So we're intitled to take back something that was wrongfully taken from our poor old country by selecting SH players who if they are not heros already we turn into legends!

Posted 15:26 22nd May 2012

kennyisgay says...

@ blametheref, you're a bit harsh calling Ferris, Trimble, Best and Bowe foreigners aren't ya... suppose they are brits technically

Posted 14:09 22nd May 2012

BokAvenger says...

@blametheref: You're right, the Boks have underperformed against Ireland of late but at least one of those wins was due to NZ referee Paul Honiss telling John Smit to talk to his players and then while they were in a huddle telling Ireland to play on, resulting in a try that won the game. So in fairness it's 2/4

In addition, all of those games have been played in Ireland at the very end of the Boks' season. Why don't you boys come down here for a series and then we see how many games you win then.

Posted 11:03 22nd May 2012

blametheref says...

Bokavenger, the last 4 games between Ireland and the Boks, Ireland have won 3, the Boks 1...that 1 win by the Boks was by just 2 points. In the last 2 games against Australia Ireland won 1 and one of our provinces, Munster, won the other...No team in world rugby goes to New Zealand and wins in the majority of cases, and I don't expect with the way our current coach uses the players he has that we'll see an Irish win in NZ in the coming months, but with a better coach we have the ability to take one test...There's no question in my mind that the SH produces better players overall in the world game, but in the NH we embrace that and our players are fast catching up, hence the game is more global when it comes to a competition like the Heineken Cup where it's about the team and not nationalities. Making the rugby cosmopoliton, exciting, diverse and interesting. Your countries are trying to stop this by not picking foreign based players...With regard to the Irish team, no one can accuse us of playing "boring" rugby as we go out to score tries against any opposition, just ask the All Blacks, where we were beaten but ran in 4 tries against them in fortress NZ when we had only 13 men on the pitch for most of the match. What most non-Irish don't realize is that in the past players of our most popular national game, Gaelic Football, were banned by that association from playing any "foreign" sports such as, rugby, soccer or cricket. When the ban was lifted there were few players who took up rugby, until recent times, due mostly to the success Munster started having, where some of these hard talented Gaelic Footballers switched codes to rugby, which now is becoming more popular than Gaelic. It may explain why current players such as backrow Sean O' Brien has "edge" and great handling and running "footballing" skills...12 years ago he'd never have even played rugby...

Posted 09:57 22nd May 2012

melkdave says...

Well isnt that the mystery of Irish rugby atm .That there teams do so well in the HC,but have been woeful at national leval.I along with others think its the gameplan at fault ,The backline plays to deep at national leval and the team kicks way to much.The front row problem is also a worry its a good solid front row but not world class .In fact its a bit like the wallabies one imo ,any injury to a starter and they are in big trouble.So have my doughts if the HC will really bolster Irish confidance ,but can hope

Posted 01:27 22nd May 2012