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The road to glory: France 19 Ireland 12

by

John McMurtry

–

I’d forgotten how bad it was to listen to the studio analysis on RTE and having watched Australian coverage of the Tri Nations match a few hours earlier the contrast in the studio chat couldn’t have been more extreme.

On Fox’s coverage of the Tri Nations game the panel seemed determined to talk about the game they were actually watching, making valid and considered points about the team and individual performances without too much fuss.

On RTE it was hysterical overreaction and me, me, me. So determined was Hook to get in the spotlight that I kept expecting to see him push his face into the shots of the other panellists. They may very well have said something sensible about the match and the performance but it was all lost to me in the sanctimonious over reaction as they tried to be more and more controversial.

Anyway, to the match, though it was treated as a side-show by RTE, it is, after all, what we were all tuning in to see.

It was an enjoyable enough match, not of a particularly high standard, and both sides looked more to individual performances than team play.

France comprehensively dominated . . .

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5 responses to “The road to glory: France 19 Ireland 12”

  1. Raging Raven

    Hockey Boy, that was a very hurtful comment to BMW drivers everywhere.

    Reply
    1. Parky

      Oh, oh, Mr. King, youse in trouble now. Stay off pedestrian crossings for the next 3 weeks. :mrgreen:

      Reply
  2. johnny king

    George Hook is a cock. Bet he drives a BMW.

    Reply
    1. John

      😆 😆 😀

      Reply
  3. the mote

    John the viewer has to realise on RTE the panel is there to entertain not to analyis the game ,
    Rugby in Ireland is a minority sport where many of the those watching have only a superficial understanding of the game and laws and have a provincial bias when watching. The panel caters to this brainset.

    From an Ireland point of view the match served its purpose and a few answers were provided for Kidney Cullen is no substitute for PoC . Leamy is half the player he was 4-5 years ago and no substitute for Heaslip. Earls is not a centre and for all his skill Fitzgerald is not really an International player when the chips are down he panics and has brainless moments. Mc fadden I fear has been introduced to International rugby at least a year too soon .

    Wallace had a much better game than against Scotland but to some extent the French approach to game suits him . The French are less inclined to run at their opposite number but attempt to keep the ball alive by passing and looking for the player in space.
    Similiarly the backline benefited from a much faster service from the base of ruck and maul and this enabled RoG to control the game.

    The game last week and this only succeed to remind us the viewer that the Sexton O’Leary partnership is a non starter which nearly resulted in Ireland losing to Italy in the first match of the 6Ns.

    There are still a few combinations to be tested in the match against Connaught and I expect that DKs prefered XV will only become evident in the last two matches.

    Reply

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