3 yellow cards to date though.

Australian-born Frawley??
Bit of a red herring.
His family returned to Ireland when he was 3.

I haven’t got it wrong. Mbonambi was still on the ground with Curry when the ball went dead. Watch the video of the incident.

Correct. A complete red herring about team calls, kant wyd, etc. nothing to do with it.

What misinterpretation? The words were exchanged after Mbonambi tackled Curry and both were on the ground and ball was kicked out of play. Nothing to do with team calls to other SA players.

Read my post again

I’d have a little wager that the final will not be between teams from Pools A and B.

World Rugby made the right call in the draw for this RWC – all four quarter-finals have evenly matched teams.
The whole NH/SH schtick means nothing – SA play most of their rugby in Europe these days anyway, as do most of the Argentina team.

Looking forward to a great weekend of matches decided by the players and their actions on the pitch – refs are irrelevant.

I was responding to your wrong-headed assertion that Nucifora planned this out beautifully via residency and heritage players – despite these recruitment options being available to every rugby union.

Nucifora wasn’t in place when the Player Succession Strategy revised quotas were launched in 2012 for limiting the number to 4 ineligible players and one special project player being contracted by each of the 3 main provinces – Leinster, Munster and Ulster. Connacht with a smaller budget was not subject to the quota limits in recruitment, which is why they were allowed recruit Aki and a couple of other NIQ players at the time.

The policy change within IRFU was decided in 2015/16 following the huge salary escalation within European comps in England and France, with the IRFU deciding to cut funding of foreign player salaries, and investing in their domestic academies instead. World Rugby announced in April 2017 the residency requirement extension from 3 years to 5 years and IRFU announced IQ Rugby focusing on already qualified talent a couple of weeks later, having been in the pipeline for a number of months. Hansen is one example of the IQ policy.

Does Ireland have a backline without Lowe, Gibson Park and Aki? Well yes is the short answer – Earls/O’Brien, Henshaw/McCloskey and Murray/Casey. However, the coach sees them as the better starting options currently – possibly with too many game minutes at this stage – driven by injury/recovery time of other players.

The bench in that match was – academy players and 1st/2nd year graduates along with vd Flier/Healy:
McKee, Healy, Clarkson, J McCarthy, vd Flier, N McCarthy, Frawley, Turner.

Saying that Ireland is based primarily on the Leinster system is different to what you originally asserted.

You said there was a mental vulnerability because of the presence of so many Leinster players in the 33 squad. You gave the Munster win over Leinster in URC SF as evidence to support your assertion.

I’m simply pointing out that most of the Leinster squad who played that match aren’t in the Ireland squad. And that there is a strong cohort of other provincial players in the overall 33 squad.

You’re allowed think what you want. But it doesn’t prove your point about mental vulnerability given that Ireland is made up of more players than just from Leinster.
Nor does your example stand up in the case of the Leinster line-up v Munster:

J.O’ Brien, T.O’Brien, Henshaw, Ngatai, D Kearney, H Byrne, McGrath
Milne, Kelleher, Alaalatoa, Baird, Jenkins, Deegan, Connors, Conan

Does this starting squad look like Ireland to you?
How many of these are in the RWC squad and started?
Answer – Five and Zero

“Nufora has really planned out this so beatifully – where there is a weakness in the team – recuit via Project Player/Residency & Irish Grandparent/Parent rule etc”
You’re giving Nucifora too much credit.
The IRFU Player Succession Strategy to restrict foreign player quotas for the provinces to 4 Ineligible Players and allow 1 Project Player per province started in 2011/12 – Nucifora arrived in 2014. Nothing to do with him. In fact, it didn’t work – too may duds being recruited by the provinces.
IRFU effectively finished it in May 2017 when Nucifora launched IQ Rugby for IRFU and invested in building academies with domestic players and encouraged provinces to identify already-qualified players abroad if they needed any. Hansen (parent qualified) is the only example that’s made it to consistent test level so far.
The provinces recruit according to their day to day needs, not based on Ireland needs.

They did. Ringrose has been an alternative in previous games.

The point is that Ireland is not Leinster. There may well be 18/33 however there were 10 players from other teams in the playing squad, and they make the difference – Beirne, Henderson, O’Mahony, Murray, Crowley, Hansen, Aki, McCloskey, Bealham, Kilcoyne.

Oh – and it was Munster who beat Leinster in the URC semifinal.

It is quite deliberate and done for strengthening the bond between the team and the travelling fans and saying thank you. They’ve said this in a number of media conferences.

Good game from Ireland but it only gets them to the dreaded quarterfinal stage once again.

A bit like 2015, Ireland now have a number of injuries to some key players that may affect their selection next weekend against New Zealand:

3. Tadgh Furlong – it was noticeable in the first half that Furlong seemed to be suffering from not just a sting on his arm/shoulder but he had lost power even though he continued to play on into the second half. Bealham is a good replacement as evident in the NZ tour last year and in the 6N, but his back-up Tom O’Toole is fairly raw in number of caps at this level.
4. James Ryan did damage to his hand, and not the hand on which he’d already damaged his wrist. He could be out for next week with Beirne and Henderson likely to start again, and either Ryan Baird or the young but hefty Joe McCarthy on the bench.
11. Mack Hansen’s injury was not HIA-related but to his lower leg – and that may not heal sufficiently, meaning either Keith Earls or Jimmy O’Brien may have to come in, reducing options for the bench.
12. Robbie Henshaw is nursing a hamstring injury, and Farrell said he’d like be out for a couple of weeks but not long after those comments, Henshaw was out training on his own looking to improve.
14. James Lowe had to go off after getting an eye injury. More clarity needed on this and he may recover – otherwise both Earls and O’Brien will have to deputise.

We’ll know soon enough.

You’re wrong. The first 3 rules rules to separate three teams on same points are:
1. Head to Head – if that doesn’t work, then move to
2. Points Difference between the three teams. If that doesn’t separate then
3. Tries Scored vs Tries Conceded.

Head to Head wouldn’t work because each team would have lost to one of the other 2 teams.

In a three way draw with all teams have 15 points each, the rules are decided by criteria starting with H2H, Points Difference, and then Tries Scored v Tries Conceded Difference.

All three criteria could come into play depending on result in the match. There are 20 different possible outcomes.

Conspiracy? South Africa are in the Northern Hemisphere at this point. The only games they play down south are a few matches in the SH rugby championship.

Steve Anderson? IRFU announced his appointment in Jul 2005, and then his departure – for family reasons – in September 2006.

Not sure how much foundations he was able to put in place in that short time, and Nucifora didn’t come on board with IRFU until mid-2014 – 8 years later.

Phew – that’s settled things down for every Irish fan. Wise words from a Kiwi – whatever next? 🙂

You’re not alone in your thinking – seems to be a general view across the board, even amongst Irish pundits. However, there are some pointers for Ireland as well – they chose to kick for the corner on the very first penalty, even though it was within Sexton’s range. And same for a couple more. The line-out misfired until they switched to a 5-man and then they won more of their own ball. There’s a few more twists and turns to come from the squad – the game against Scotland will be fascinating with both sides liking to run with the ball.

Great interview, Christy, thank you.
Andy Friend got a lot of respect as Connacht coach in his time in Ireland – and developed a great squad with a mix of home-grown and foreign players – unlike New Zealand.
He had to contend with having the lowest number of rugby players within his historical province both at schools and club-level – unlike New Zealand.
Irish rugby was transformed from being also-rans – particularly in the 90’s – when they moved to professionalise structures with the creation of the four provincial branch teams (assets owned by the local clubs unlike New Zealand) and competing in the Six Nations in 2000 and then the Celtic League in 2001 (forerunner to URC). The introduction of centralised contracts for a number of players was brought in to draw test players home from clubs in England, and player/game management was developed and created by Eddie O’Sullivan and Eddie Wigglesworth in 2003.
The reality is the IRFU have to fund the branches because there is no one else who would do so – hence they contract all the players and coaches to the IRFU, and provide the same amount to each province and then allow the branches to decide their squad budget according to their own income from gates and sponsors – because they have to cough up 50% of the salary bill and repay the IRFU.
Hence Leinster have the biggest and Connacht have the smallest. That’s reflected in the make up of the national squad where Leinster have only 4 foreign-born players in their ranks, compared to Connacht who have 12.
The IRFU decision in 2017 to only pursue already Irish-qualified players (by parentage) has seen total Irish-qualified numbers rise to 95% of the total numbers in the professional Irish game.

I’d agree with that. Farrell may look at when to bring replacements on – possibly later than usual. Something tells me that Sexton/Murray may kick for points whenever possible – maybe even a drop or two.

It’s going to be furious – can’t tell if it’ll be fast or slow.

Lots of speculation on what Ireland would do when South Africa announced their squad.
Response today was – same as usual – according to Simon Easterby, forwards coach, with Farrell set to announce his 23 tomorrow – as usual.
Presumptions that Farrell might go 6-2 were quickly dispensed with Easterby saying they’d be looking at a traditional 5-3 split – as usual.
Easterby also said that only Jack Conan would not be available this weekend for selection, so the thinking is that the following will roll out on Saturday with a question-mark as to whether Sheehan will come back into the starting selection, and who takes the 9 shirt:
Keenan, Lowe, Ringrose, Aki, Hansen, Murray/JGP, Sexton
Porter, Kelleher/Sheehan, Furlong, Ryan, Beirne, O’Mahony, van der Flier, Doris
Reps: Sheehan/Kelleher, Kilcoyne, Bealham, Henderson, Baird/McCarthy, Murray/JGP, Byrne/Crowley, Henshaw.
If SA are being promoted as the cudgel and bludgeon, then Ireland need to decide if they become the rapier and the sword, striking where they can, running SA around the park, whilst seeking to overcome their superb defensive set. I suspect kicking for territory and the posts will be at a premium with Sexton, Keenan, Lowe probing for weak spots in particular. Murray’s box-kicking is still in top order, and that may come into play too with pressure on the SA wings.
It’ll be interesting to see the battle between the two sets of hookers if Farrell decides to go with Sheehan and Kelleher – who I’d rate ahead of their SA counterparts. Lineouts are going to be fascinating to see if O’Connell has managed to steady the ship and get their attacking plays firing against a fantastic SA defensive/spoiling set-up.