Susan Hated Literature

And I think Ireland bottled it. They never played as well as they could, imo, and stuck far too much to the kick for position and set-piece game. Now I know it has worked well for us, but for a team to win they have to be able to adjust in order to face different teams. To be able to raise their game. And Ireland didn’t.

Hook made the comment on RTE that Sullivan has done the same thing to the Irish rugby team that Jack Charlton did to the Irish soccer team - impose a style of play that lacks any style at all. And in a way he may have a point, but unlike Charlton who stopped Brady and Whelan from playing, Sullivan does let the likes of O’Driscoll and D’Arcy cut loose every now and then. Maybe it is a question of combining the two methods together.

All in all though, there was only one really good game of the competition, and that was the Wales v France game. So well done to those Welsh wankers (I called the french fuckers last time, so it just wouldn’t be fair to leave the Welsh fellas without some insult now would it?) for winning everything that could’ve been won: Grand Slam, Triple Crown, Six Nations etc.

And there is some good news, the Sligo U18 team are all-Ireland champions. First time a Sligo team has ever gotten as far as a semi-final was this year, so congrats to them.

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We had such high hopes. Grand slam, winning the championship. Not to be. French fuckers (fuckers meant in the nicest possible way) ruined it for us.

But to be fair, they performed superbly in the first half. We just didn’t get any possession, and it as only thanks to Ronan O’Gara’s great kicking that we were anyway in touch.

The second half was a brighter one for us. That wonderful try by O’Driscoll. And all of a sudden we were within two points. We were so close.

but it wasn’t to be.

I suppose I could react like the English after our win over them and complain that Baby(?) should have been sent off for his headbutting of O’Driscoll. That Betson (i think) was offside just before the final French try. But I won’t, because all in all France deserved the win.

And there is still the triple crown to play for. It is just so disappointing though. So close.

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While the match itself may have been more similar to Sat.’s Scotland/Italy match than the free-flowing France/Wales match, it was still full of tension and drama.

Obviously I am not impartial, wanting Ireland to win, and because of that vested interest I may have found the match more enthralling than others.

It was not the prettiest of rugby matches, but O’Driscoll’s try was a wonderful move. Even better than that however, was Denis Hickie’s two tackles. He hit one English player, stopping him crossing the line, straight away got to his feet and put in another try-stopping tackle. Fabtastic, from an Irish pov.

Obviously then there was the issue of the English non-try, and whether or not the ref was correct. Well maybe he should’ve sent it up to the video ref, but then again, maybe he spotted something the camera’s didn’t. If I were English I think I would be upset, but then again there was an issue over the first try and whether O’Gara was held in the tackle for longer than he should have been, and so leaving a gap that the English made the most of.

I also felt that the English were infringing a lot in the Irish line-out, tackling jumpers while they were still in the air. None of the commentators mentioned it though, so maybe its just me.

All in all, a great, entertaining, tension filled match. And more importantly, a win for Ireland. Now we gotta up our game for France and then Wales.

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Well that Scotland vs Italy match was pretty bad wasn’t it? Neither seemed to know what they wanted to do, far too scrappy and far too many mistakes made by both teams. Maybe if Italy had taken those few chances at the start it would have made a difference, but once the ball was moved to the backs everything just fell apart.

Still, gave me a chance to hear Flower of Scotland. I do like that anthem The final score was 18-10 to Scotland

France certainly got off to a bright start though didn’t they?

What a contrast between the two matches on Sat. Maybe it was because the first match was so bad, but the second match was just great. The first half flew by, with some wonderful moves by the French.

I wasn’t sure who to support. Part of me really wanted Wales to win, they’ve had some poor seasons lately and have been doing so well this year. But another part of me wanted France to win. We still have to play both, but if Wales are still winning I think they might be more dangerous to us. Obviously France, when playing that breath-taking style, are not easy to play, but for some reason I’m more apprehensive about us vs Wales.

After all that start to the second half was pretty fantastic. Two tries in five minutes. Impressive or what?

“Well if you did your penance watching Scotland and Italy, you’ve got your reward now”
-George Hamilton

And that second half shows that I am right to worry; Wales were fantastic. Two great tries, and some great defending. They never stopped, and in the end were well deserved winners.

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Both O’Driscoll and D’Arcy are out of tomorrow’s game against Scotland.

“The Leinster centres both picked up hamstring injuries in
Ireland’s 28-17 win in Italy last weekend and captain
O’Driscoll was ruled out on Thursday night while D’Arcy
failed a fitness test on Friday morning”

Still, Maggs and Horgan’ll be grand. We’ll still beat Scotland… I hope.

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No moaning from those not interested:
From the Irish Times, I hear that it is looking more and more promising for O’Driscoll and D’Arcy in next Sat.s match

Despite his current ill-health, the powers of the Pontiff
clearly remain undimmed. How else can one explain the 
Irish squad's unscheduled two-hour delay in Rome and the 
ensuing news that both Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy
have been pencilled in for Ireland's RBS Six Nations game
against Scotland?

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So the rugby, meant to post this yesterday, but what with one thing and another I didn’t.

Didn’t actually catch any of the France vs Scotland match, but hear there is controversy surrounding a try and a yellow-carding. Scotland almost won, and what an upset that would’ve been. Almost as big as the win Wales had over England. I saw most of the second half of this, and was sure that in the end England would make a come-back. I was delighted when they didn’t. Wales have had such a tough time lately, I was so happy to see them winning.

But, obviously, the main match of the weekend for me was the Ireland vs Italy match
Wasn’t a very good one from an Irish pov, but at least we won. And there were some sweet runs by O’Driscoll. Poor O’Gara had a very rough time of it though, how many misjudged kicks were there? Then again, a lot of that can be blamed on the change of ball. Honestly! You’d think that the governing organisation could get a matter like that sorted and have one standard for all balls. This g-spin (or whatever) ball took them a bit of getting used to.

Despite some of the mistakes made, and the actions of the Italy team, I never actually thought we would lose yesterday, and in the end we pulled away with a few tries. Still, a lot of dodgy moments, but in the end the win is what was most important.

Now the main issue is the injury worry. Both D’Arcy and O’Driscoll have possible hamstring injuries. It looks like they’ll both miss the game against Scotland, which could be very dangerous, although I did read that it is possible O’Driscoll will be back. Here’s hoping neither of them are out for much longer than that. D’Arcy especially, considering how much he has missed already through injury. And O’Driscoll would be a huge loss.

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