Ireland Autumn International Review

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‘Irish Rugby is home.’ The catchphrase used throughout Ireland’s Autumn Internationals to mark the historic return to old Lansdowne Road. Yet, ask anyone and they’ll say it wasn’t a homecoming to remember. If anything, it’ll probably be one which will be forgotten by many in a short space of time – for a number of reasons.

Ireland faced South Africa, Samoa, New Zealand and Argentina in this years’ Guinness Series at the new Aviva Stadium. It was the first time an International match was held at the grounds, since November 2006, when Ireland defeated the Pacific Islands in the old stadium.

The run up to the Series saw the IRFU come under intense criticism for their ticket allocation strategy whenever it was first released, yet they remained confident that the 50,000-seated stadium would be full once the day of the match came. Days before the Series was due to begin, the IRFU issued a statement and admitted they had made a mistake – with clubs all across Ireland returning numerous unsold tickets, the magical welcome home for Irish rugby looked further away than ever.

And this was the case, when, at Ireland’s first match . . .

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One response to “Ireland Autumn International Review”

  1. Doubry Ferkin

    Couldn’t agree more re a very disappointing Autumn Series. It didn’t bode well from the start with the suits at the IRFU thinking that they could fleece the supporters with sky high prices and pay for the new ground in record time, but that’s a debate for another time. On the playing side it was the same old faces in the same old positions. We all know what BOD & Darcy, Stringer & O’Gara can do, but what can their understudies do and who are their understudies?? This was an ideal time to blood these ‘new’ players with one eye on the World Cup and the future of Irish rugby, but that was obviously a step too far. Though it pains me to say it, you only have to look at England to see how they are, in my opinion, getting it right for the World Cup. When are we going to blood our next generation of rugby players? Do we have to wait until possibly 8 of our current team retire after the World Cup? Or should we do it now?

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