Ireland and Wolfhounds

Third one this year for him !!

A bit surprised they're risking Sexton for the Italians. Jackson would more than be up to the job and starting him would be in line with squad building for the RWC. I have to assume Schmidt is looking for a big win in order to build on Ireland's points differential advantage.

The super Sergio is out so they will be going for the throat !! Could be a bad day in Dublin for the Azzuri !!!

I have to assume Schmidt is looking for a big win in order to build on Ireland's points differential advantage.

Agreed but I'll be bummed out if Jackson doesn't get at least 20 mins.

If there were bonus points in 6N we would have 8 points, one ahead of England and two ahead of France.

Does anyone know if there are plans to go this route in the future?

You'd have 4 points for a win in that case so the table would be 14/13/12 but same gaps. In any case I think the answer on whether this will be brought in is no: you could theoretically have a case where team got the grand slam with no try bonus points (20 pts.) and doesn't win the championship, as one of teams they beat had 4 bonus point wins and 1 lbp (21).

This was discussed last season. The solution suggested then was a 5pt bonus for winning all 5 games which would work IMO.
It will probably come in the next time the rules are up for review as the TV companies won't allow final round kickoffs at same time.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/38-r...hem-mildly-1.1724156

For da craic.

Thats a ridiculous article, and I thought the Irish Times were better than that. They're only a notch above the Independent at this stage. Another rag in the making

ConnachtCows wrote: Thats a ridiculous article, and I thought the Irish Times were better than that. They're only a notch above the Independent at this stage. Another rag in the making

Cheer up CC.

An Irishman's Diary is often like that, and as he says himself, it's just off the top of his head.

Saw Pinky on da telly in the Stade de France.

Hope you have one hell of night after one hell of a match!

That's it lads, that's fucking it. Some win.

What a f*cking win!! I'd write more but my heart medicine is in low supply.

Delighted with this win. As usual with Ireland nothing is ever done the easy way (some of the aimless kicking was driving me bananas) but this is a sweet victory. We won a Grand Slam with Kidney in year 1 but never consistently performed for the rest of his tenure. The key for Ireland (as with Connacht) will be to get to a certain level of performance every day and try and evolved from there. I'd love to see a situation where we know every day Ireland will show up at least. That hasn't been there for the last few years. Its a great reward for the older players and hopefully can give the younger generation the chance to push on.

Trying to stay reasonable here, after all Ireland had only won in Paris once before in past 40 years and arguably France played their best game of this 6N, but they did make it a lot harder than it had to be. Still a very special win.

Agree with Borders the kicking was overdone and it lasted up til the end with Kearney kicking away possession right after France had failed to find touch off a penalty. Ireland were so effective with ball in hand which made it even more curious that they would risk handing France possession especially when they went up 12-6 and then again 22-13. It was as if they were hoping France would crumble which they didn't and it made for a very tense final 15 minutes. Relief would best describe the emotion at the final whistle.