What today showed us if anyone didn't already know it is that we have a top quality coach who we should do everything in our power to hold onto for as long as possible.

Going through the Irish team man for man today it was a middle of the road side, hardly one to strike fear into the opposition but defensively I thought we were superb. Our work at the breakdown for the majority of the game was textbook and when we got the chance to go for the kill in two attacking positions we finished them.

South Africa were a bit one dimensional, made some mistakes and were breathtakingly arrogant at times but everyone in the Irish setup knew their job. When South Africa got it back to 13-10 we would have crumbled a couple of years ago but we regathered ourself, got 3 points, got the break of the sin bin and killed the game so we could all relax for the last few minutes.

There are still issues for Ireland to address but look at how many of these players have been seamlessly brought into the Irish team and made look like they were there forever. Lets not forget SA should have been finely tuned for this one while Ireland looked to get up to speed but it looked like Ireland were the team who had a series of matches behind them.

We mightn't have the quality to beat opponents like that on a regular basis but while Eddie O'Sullivan and Declan Kidney made their contributions, Schmidt is by a country mile the best thing to happen rugby in Ireland in a long time.

What also encourages me long term is that Schmidt is looking at the wider picture of linking the provinces and the Irish team. Others will come sniffing around for him before long. More than any single player, holding on to Schmidt would be seismic for rugby in this country.

The players have full confidence in Schmidt and the undercurrent of provincial bull is being put to one side. Everyone is just determined to play for the team.

Its great so see today's performance. I still think this is a far from vintage Irish side (even with the absentees back) but under Schmidt more good days are possible.

i was surprised how well the 2 of them did today, but they still have to come up against better backlines. I don't think Payne missed a tackle. just a sprained ankle so hopefully if it's not too bad and he will be back for the Australia game

Payne was excellent too.. it's a sacrilege but I think we he have our new D'arcy/BOD pairing

Delighted for Henshaw

The cynic in me wants to say that Joe knows we can't win this, and an untried center partnership offers another convenient excuse (on top of injuries) for the post match press conference. However, his other options really aren't great in fairness. As I see it he can either bring Madigan in at 12, or put him at 10 and pull Sexton back into center. It'll be interesting to see how they go, but two natural fullbacks do not a midfield make. Anyhow, if we are to lose this, I think it'll be down to the difference between the packs and not so much the backline.

So Joe taking a gamble! Very excited by this back line. Just not too sure how it will go!

What do people think of the Payne & Henshaw combo??

I'd just ask "don't break our big baby AhYou, pleaaaase"

Henshaw & Payne! What do people think?

croket wrote:

sea_point wrote: Same old problem, as with Romania and a lesser degree Russia.
First class forwards, but third class backs at best...

If rugby could be played without centres and back three these teams would be pushing for World Championships..

Interesting cliché, but largely true
However, it seems that some backs arrive at a good level these nations.

No offence, but how is it in any way untrue?
You're struggling to list barely a half dozen players from across all three nations playing at Tier 1/2 Club Rugby...?

As it currently stands none of the sides would come anywhere close to beating any of the top ten sides in 99/100 games, because they could not score enough points to be competitive for eighty minutes. It's all very well being competitive up front against a Tier 1 nation, but it's very rare nowadays with (the five second ruck rule etc) that a game can be kept tight enough for eighty minutes to keep the scoreline down. It's basically the reverse of the Fijian problem, who don't want to play in heavily structured games. So Tier 1 sides draw them into up front battles to suck the energy out of them...

The sooner these nations encourage exposure of their school age backs to rugby in Tier 1 countries then they can make progress, it;'ll require serious investment but it is critical for progress ...

When we see any of those nations competing in the IRB Junior World Championship on a regular basis, and not the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy competition then we'll know they are making real progress....

Everyone was saying Payne vs Henshaw, we have Payne AND Henshaw. Very weird to associate two brand new international players though...
Very happy for AhYou he has a chance to make up for Argentina, and has a future with Ireland (more than White)

robbie is starting at 12, rodney is on the bench.

Ireland XV (V South Africa): R Kearney; T Bowe, J Payne, R Henshaw, S Zebo; J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, S Cronin, M Ross; D Toner, P O’Connell (captain), P O’Mahony, C Henry, J Heaslip.
Replacements: R Strauss, D Kilcoyne, R Ah You, M McCarthy, R Ruddock, E Reddan, I Madigan, F Jones.

tier2rugby is a great blog Croket. Thanks for that.

sea_point wrote: Same old problem, as with Romania and a lesser degree Russia.
First class forwards, but third class backs at best...

If rugby could be played without centres and back three these teams would be pushing for World Championships..

Interesting cliché, but largely true
However, it seems that some backs arrive at a good level these nations.

For example, romanian full back or winger Catalin Fercu signed for Saracens last month and maked his debut last week against Harlequins in LV Cup.
an article about him from the excellent blog Tier2 Rugby : tier2rugby.blogspot.fr/2014/03/catalin-f...-of-world-rugby.html

As for Georgia, the new coach Milton Haig don't hesitate to pick young players. 2 backs are born in 1994 and 3 in 1993.
From these young backs, 2 of them are very promising :
centre Merab Sharikadze, 21 years old
capped at 18, he played for Gloucester U19 and Hartpury College between 2011 and 2013 then he signed in ProD2 for Bourg en Bresse and for Aurillac this season. He is one of the most talented georgian back ever
an great article about him from Tier2 Rugby : tier2rugby.blogspot.fr/2014/03/the-georg...line-hope-merab.html

The other is the strong winger Tamaz Mchedlidze, also 21 years old. 1m95, 110kg, who can also plays centre or backrow. He joined Top14 side Stade Montois at 18, has his first Top14 apparence at 19 and also started 5 Amlin Cup games. During the same season he made his debut for Georgia. Today he plays for the ProD2 side Agen.

Both can expects to join a Top14 since in 1 or 2 years.

Concerning Russia, I don't agree, IMO best players are backs.

Another country with good forwards and poor backs is Moldova.
They had some class front rower, like Dmitri Arhip from Ospreys and Vadim Cobilas from Sale Sharks. A large number of professional forwards like prop Gheorge Gajion from Rovigo, and players in Romanian Super Liga and Russian Professional League, including the powerfull eightman Oleg Prepelita, a real try machine (6 tries in 4 games for Moldova last season, 20 tries in 31 russian league games last 2 season), who was named best player of the russian championship in 2013.
But their backs are sooo poor. Fortunately, they found a young english-born fly half with a moldovan granpa, Craig Felston, 21 years old, who played for Esher Academy and London Irish Amateur. He currently plays for Domont in french Federale2

I love Rugby but not to go as far as doing genetic selection... :lol:

connachta wrote: That's Why I'd like to see a test with a mix XV of Namibia/Georgia vs Kenya/Romania

Actually they should just get Fijian's/Tongan's and Samoan's into their domestic leagues and married off to the lovely local ladies.....

Although there might be an issue with the extreme cold winters... :whistle:

That's Why I'd like to see a test with a mix XV of Namibia/Georgia vs Kenya/Romania