Stark Reality Check for Shocked Irish As Scots Expose Key Weaknesses
Linked as:
Summary
YOU didn't have to search too hard to find the reaction of the Irish to what happened to them at Croke Park. It was there written large across the front of the national press, big and bold headlines documenting the disaster. 'Ireland's worst nightmare comes true' was the message from the country's best-selling broadsheet. Slightly hysterical for sure, but that has been the way of things here for a long time now. They're not used to losing. Certainly not to the likes of Scotland, who were dismissed in nearly every quarter in the preamble.
It's hard to imagine one as cute as Declan Kidney constructing a gameplan that involved Ireland chasing the 50 points they needed to give themselves a chance of toppling the French at the top of the championship, but that is how they started. They began like they never begin: pacily and expansively. Devil-may-care rugby was the order of the day for the opening ten minutes. There was no sizing Scotland up, no attempt to establish a platform for victory by winning the forward battle. No, Ireland wanted to blast Scotland to kingdom come from the get-go and they wanted to do it through the craft of their backs rather than the brute force of their pack.See the full content of this document
Extract
Stark Reality Check for Shocked Irish As Scots Expose Key Weaknesses
Big error, that. Ireland never had control. They tried to make 50- 50 passes and they went to ground. Kidney said his boys were trying too hard, a euphemism for them forcing things out there. Maybe they believe...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
