Iain Henderson’s charge-down of Mathieu Jalibert’s clearance kick bouncing straight into the hands of Gabin Villière in the first minute of Ireland’s clash with France today was a microcosm of how the game went for the home team: incredible effort on their part, but fortune not favouring them. In hindsight, it was an achievement that … Continue reading Dog Day Afternoon
Category: Andy Farrell
Acid Test
“When Antoine, Virimi and Gaël had the ball, we could feel the panic in the Irish defence,” Ntamack told Midi Olympique. “It’s nice to see the fear on the Irish faces against French players.” -Romain Ntamack, October 31st, 2020. While I can understand the elation that Romain Ntamack and his teammates felt in the aftermath … Continue reading Acid Test
Crushing Blow
Late in the second half of Virgin Media One’s coverage of the Wales v Ireland fixture today, Alan Quinlan stated that the game was a case of everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Ireland. I wouldn’t fully agree with that, because the match wasn’t a total catsatrophe; they were down to 14 … Continue reading Crushing Blow
First Hit-Out
2020 was something of an annus horribilis for Wales; 3 wins out of 10 Tests (with two of those victories coming against Italy and the other against Georgia) is a poor return for a team that won a Grand Slam and reached a World Cup semi-final two years ago. It would be wide of the … Continue reading First Hit-Out
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