What are we missing?? The Irish seem to have this physicality, this go-forward we just can't produce. What is it? It's not like they're actually bigger than us. Do they just not feel pain?
Aside from about 20 first choice players?
Ireland have got the monkey off their back. They had numerous close chances before and somehow ended up losing until they finally win that game in Chicago. Now the All Blacks are just another team, albeit a very good one.
For us to win we need a full strength 23 and for us to play composed and accurate rugby for the whole game. We can do it but it feels like every time we don’t, it becomes a harder task to achieve at all.
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True, but we're not always missing those players, and we always lose to NZ. The Irish have this relentless attack which we are happy to take on (Ireland don't worry us) but rarely produce ourselves. Gatball is part of the problem.
I agree there's some psychology to it (both in our heads and in theirs), but that's not everything. Still hoping that Pivac can help with this (although I'm not complaining about the most recent loss, the circumstances made it nearly impossible).
What are we missing?? The Irish seem to have this physicality, this go-forward we just can't produce. What is it? It's not like they're actually bigger than us. Do they just not feel pain?
Aside from about 20 first choice players?
Ireland have got the monkey off their back. They had numerous close chances before and somehow ended up losing until they finally win that game in Chicago. Now the All Blacks are just another team, albeit a very good one.
For us to win we need a full strength 23 and for us to play composed and accurate rugby for the whole game. We can do it but it feels like every time we don’t, it becomes a harder task to achieve at all.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
True, but we're not always missing those players, and we always lose to NZ. The Irish have this relentless attack which we are happy to take on (Ireland don't worry us) but rarely produce ourselves. Gatball is part of the problem.
I agree there's some psychology to it (both in our heads and in theirs), but that's not everything. Still hoping that Pivac can help with this (although I'm not complaining about the most recent loss, the circumstances made it nearly impossible).
Yeah, I don’t include the recent result as a serious indicator of how well we stack up. Missing a couple of key players based on England and a further swath due to injury it was always a tall order.
The Fail has an article on this highlighting the funding differences between Irish provinces and Welsh regions. I think that does play a part although it doesn’t stop us beating Ireland in the six nations.
We always seem to up our game in the six nations and yet perennially struggle in the autumn. It’s hard to put a finger exactly on why that is.
