@stodders said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@canefan first half vs France was good. Stay in touch and if the opportunity to play with penalty advantage or their mistake comes, execute.
Yup. Problems started when they wanted to run them about by going wide. Just got too cute
@BerniesCorner said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Shelve the 50:50 passes unless they come off.
In the right part of the field, okay maybe. But not in our own half
@canefan learnings 
. Uruguay wasn’t a bad test for the ABs as they were super competitive at the breakdown (like Ireland) and disrupted ball. ABs had to work through and around it to be able to play.
Their overall play isn’t the same standard as Ireland, but they are similar in many facets.
ABs will need to dismantle the Irish line out or force them to have poor ball. Line out is a weakness of Irish in this World Cup. SA had lots of possession and territory as a result, but SA showed in Twickenham test and in Ireland test that they lack the ruthless edge to convert their many opportunities.
@stodders said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Foster says Lomax is improving. Not ruled out of QF
Hopefully he makes it and shows he’s Himax.
@stodders said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@Bones Aaron Smith put Dupont in his pocket for the majority of the French test in game 1 of World Cup. He can do the same to Gibson-Park. Roigard will hopefully be the bench option to come in and bring the intensity and harass.
Swap Havili for Kirifi and send him out on a mission.
@stodders said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@Chris pretty much what most fans opposing the ABs over the years have said
Not now though is it,they say we would prefer to play the ABs in the QF why because they think we are easy to beat.
Times have changed under Fozzie.
@stodders said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@canefan learnings
Their overall play isn’t the same standard as Ireland, but they are similar in many facets.
ABs will need to dismantle the Irish line out or force them to have poor ball. Line out is a weakness of Irish in this World Cup. SA had lots of possession and territory as a result, but SA showed in Twickenham test and in Ireland test that they lack the ruthless edge to convert their many opportunities.
Grasping at straws. No weakness in the lineout against Scotland. Plus Uruguay similar to Ireland? Wow.
@The-Irishman read what I wrote. I think I said Uruguay aren’t Ireland’s level but in certain facets of the game, they are similar, e.g. how they contest the breakdown and create messy, scrappy ball.
Ireland’s line out was much better last night, but they threw to the front a lot (safer ball) and trusted their phase play rather than attempting more risky line out calls.
@The-Irishman you’re right.
Let’s not discuss it. Ireland are the bestest at everything ever.
We shouldn’t bother even turning up.
@The-Irishman you will admit that against a premier line out team, the Boks, your line out had a shocker. Right?
ABs aren’t bad at lineouts and will look to put pressure on Irish ball and neutralise their maul. Not that dissimilar to what they did to Boks in NZ earlier this year.
@The-Irishman as for grasping at straws, will Irish fans not point out where they will look to gain an edge in ABs. Or are you that confident that no analysis or thought is required? 
@MajorRage the QF is Ireland’s final. New territory after that and all whole different set of challenges to maintain performance levels.
You can sense Irish confidence. And why shouldn’t they given they have won 17 straight games. Just a reminder to Irish fans that this is what you termed “Kiwi arrogance” when the ABs dominated and AB fans were confident of winning - against any foe, anywhere.
The team aren’t arrogant. No more than AB teams have been. Irish fans have the swagger right now.
Hope the crown feels good, you arrogant, cheating fluffy bunnies
@stodders said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Going to be a looooong week
It is going to be a longer 4 years if we fucking lose the QF.
Painful too if we read the NH media.
@stodders said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@MajorRage the QF is Ireland’s final. New territory after that and all whole different set of challenges to maintain performance levels.
You can sense Irish confidence. And why shouldn’t they given they have won 17 straight games. Just a reminder to Irish fans that this is what you termed “Kiwi arrogance” when the ABs dominated and AB fans were confident of winning - against any foe, anywhere.
The team aren’t arrogant. No more than AB teams have been. Irish fans have the swagger right now.
Hope the crown feels good, you arrogant, cheating fluffy bunnies
If fully fit and no injuries I think Ireland can do it. Why? Because of the pool games. Pool A was effectively over after the first game which was basically to decide who topped the group. Everything else after that was just filler.
You guys haven't been tested since that 1st game and I think that will be monumental.
@The-Irishman ABs weren’t tested in 2015 after the first Argentina pool game. Worked out ok
Yes, 2015 team were much better than 2023 vintage, but just pointing out that a lack of tough pool matches doesn’t always mean you aren’t prepared for the knockout stages.
Ireland will be playing their third big game in 4 weeks. It takes a fair amount of energy to maintain peak performance and mental edge. Just to counter the strong pool argument.
At the end of the day, we don’t know who has been best served by their respective pools. The battle hardened, potentially less fresh Irish or the battle light, potentially more fresh ABs? Roll on Saturday.
@The-Irishman where do you think Ireland have a weakness? Objectively if you can
@Bones said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Swap Havili for Kirifi and send him out on a mission.
Yep, call him up before this weekend's NPC semifinal. :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:
Just to let him hold the tackle pads though.
That’s so bad it made me
NZ win coming up. Ireland look tired and the players don’t have the belief in the biggest arena yet wheels to come off in a spectacular way..
I've been giving Foster shit the last 4 years. He's useless. Nothing has persuaded me any different and I expect to lose bad in the QF but phuck it. Less goooo. I believe we have better players. Ireland are the better team. They do their job perfectly. We know how to beat them. It's now time to put the plan into play. Ireland are very metronomic and robotic in how they play. We've not seen a rush D from us yet. Maybe by design. I think it's the penalties that will undo us. We need to be massively agressive but if they give away penalties doing do the it's going to be a loooooong night. Big exits. No miracle balls in the red zone and just hammer 9/10 all day.
@taniwharugby said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
When's the team named?
This thread is gonna go all over shop this week.
Fucking bullshit . Fozzie apologist.
@Bones said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@taniwharugby said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
When's the team named?
This thread is gonna go all over shop this week.
Fucking bullshit . Fozzie apologist.
You've got FDS, you need to take your negativity (and any semblance of reality) out of this thread!
@Machpants I know Taukeiaho and Roigard were blooded into the team and the system like the best ever, you won't see better. Plus Taylor rediscovered his form as a result of Taukeiaho being given extremely limited game time, plus we got to see Christie really isn't up to it because he got so much game time
But 🤮
@taniwharugby said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
When's the team named?
This thread is gonna go all over shop this week.
I’m just looking forward to the images of Sexton on the bench in the 72nd minute, with his eyes glazed over, channeling 2007 DC with a thousand-yard stare.
@game_film said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
I’m just looking forward to the images of Sexton on the bench in the 72nd minute, with his eyes glazed over, channeling 2007 DC with a thousand-yard stare.
would this be the biggest choke ever if Ireland continued to never win a knockout game with this team, and this level of international dominance?
Let's go Black - hoping for the best, but fearful of what a properly disciplined team will do against us.
- the ruck. this is where they are the best in the world. We need to disrupt without being penalised, and stop them from doing the same to us. Ireland have realised that rucks are more frequent than any other contest for possession, and the biggest source of turnovers and penalties in almost every single game, and this is where their focus is. i find it really disturbing that so many comments above on 'how we can win it' talk about every bloody other thing and don't mention this: everything else is secondary.
- they obstruct terribly and get away with it, and chase well when the ball is in the air. this is the other area where they are clearly better than us, and it ought to be brought up with the referees in advance and worked on heavily by us, as it isn't that hard - just needs people to know what their roles are.
- discipline. it's hard enough to beat them without going down to 14 men.
Hope they realised how thier lack of physicality was a major issue then, as it has been on and mostly off for the past 4 years.
There is a special line from Retallick in this for you @mariner4life
Retallick says he has enjoyed the atmosphere the Irish fans have brought to the tournament, particularly the renditions of the 1990s pop song 'Zombie'.
"I think that's one of the awesome parts about a World Cup, the enthusiasm the crowd bring," he added. "I've seen them singing the Cranberries, it's a great song, but hopefully they're not singing it on Saturday."
