A selection of the “keyboard warrior” reactions after the full-time whistle of our featured matches of the weekend.
If you’d like to contribute stay tuned to our Facebook page for our “Feel free to leave your thoughts…” posts which show up around full time after Leinster & Ireland matches.
Conor Cronin Poor. Some good spots in the first half, some positive moments, but they weren't enough. France were better in almost every position on the field and made far fewer mistakes. The unforced errors were very frustrating and France capitalised on them. I don't know that we had enough going forward though. Our replaced front row were way off the pace... I should stop now before I gets any more annoyed
I said in February that I was going for 3 home wins and we got them.
That's positive... Right?
Tom Clarke Never win big games when you can’t win a line out and you have Stockdale at full back.
Michelle Tobin 4 minutes 25 seconds in the France 22. I cannot get my head around that statistic. We are not a Tier 3 country playing a Tier 1 country, we were ranked #1 in the world just last year!! But to only spend 4 minutes 25 seconds in the opposition 22, the scoreline flatters us beyond belief!
We need a captain in the pack, someone with the balls to stand up to Sexton and tell him to take the damn points. We need a full back who is actually a full back with all the requisite skills (like catching balls, being in position etc) and we need a replacement front row who offer something more than just fresh legs.
James Griffin Hard to win when your line out, scrummaging, passing, catching, tackling, kicking, decision making all have so many malfunctions in a single game. They’re better than that and needed to show it tonight but unfortunately didn’t.
Neil Keegan Let’s remain calm, the overreaction is rotten
If you’ve ever played sport you know days like this happen. Let’s be grown ups, let’s move on to the next game
There is not a skill issue, a beef issue or ability issue. Silly mistakes and when they build up its hard to comeback when France are playing so well
Let’s be adults, this isn’t football
Eamon Phelan Could have won with bonus point , I’m happy to let Farrell try his combinations, remember these are all just kids trying their best . Overall I’m happy I think France are good
Paul Smith Really poor performance by Ireland. The amount of unforced errors was beyond belief. Keenan, Stander, Ryan and maybe Henshaw can say they put in a shift, but the test were average at best, and although its unfair to single one player out, Stockdale was absolutely awful and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a number 15 Irish Jersey again. Credit to France who took their chances well and played some great rugby but we did ourselves no favours tonight.
Noel Hewson It’s a very good France side and we need to play mistake free rugby to beats the better teams. We did not do it tonight. Interested to see what direction Farrell goes now to bring this team forward.
Cian Ó Muilleoir France are terrifying when they're at full flow, but they're inconsistent.
We played the better rugby for most of the first half but failed to capitalise, and made far too many errors in the second half.
But still, there are nuggets of positive play to be taken from the last 2 games. I think that bedding in the new way, and rewarding current form more could see some good results coming our way.
Cian Ormond Let's keep one eye on the World Cup. I'll take the poor decisions and the sloppy mistakes now, rather than in 3 years.
Andrew Potts Jesus, back to the future, Ireland looked like a muddled, frantic, bumbling, rudderless version of the 90s.
Hard to believe so many of these players look really sharp at Leinster and confused out there.
But it was a special TV moment when, Owen Farrell, interviewed in Rome, gave the thumbs up and a "Thanks Dad."
Mairead Gillane It’s 2020 🤷🏾♀️
Steven Young Honestly its nothing new its the same. People say dont over react. The national team is in decline. The set peace is a disaster and has been for quite some time. Fundamental basics are a problem. We cant change anything and are so predictable. Players playing on reputation and never get dropped.
Cracks appear they are papered over and we limp on...
Kevin Kelehan Knew going into this game we'd lose, way too many retirements and injuries to compete against whats a vastly improved France side. Welcome back the France of old, hopefully Ireland get their rhythm back in short order
Eric Parfrey Was a disappointing performance but alot of it was due the uncharacteristic errors / sloppy mistakes, one has to wonder if we cut them how well we'd do. For a team in transition and missing alot of key players to score 27 points away from home against probably the team of the tournament is a positive.
Stockdale had a poor performance defensively but going forward was one of our best players when he was able to run at the defense. Alot to work on at set piece but plenty of opportunity now over the next few weeks to regroup and move forward
Noel Cuddy 15 was a position that it isn’t acceptable that one game at international level can allow you become the default 15 especially against Italy . Rob Kearney had a lot more to offer in defence than Stockdale for such an important game
Bernard Cashman Some hasty decisions, poor scrum, imploding lineouts, knock ons and failing to find touch, made an improving French side look better than what they are. We were generally poor across the board with some work to be done to iron out the bumps.
Cathal Mone Ireland are too predictable and play it too safe !! More creativity needed !! Some good displays from the new players !!
Russ Rafter It was a very substandard performance with the possible exceptions of Stander, Ryan, Henshaw. The rest were terrible. Furthermore, you can't blame the Ref for all our unforced errors, knock ons, missed tackles etc. But, true to the Age old Tradition, we blame the Man with the Whistle.
Gavin Delves Stockdale needs about 10 games on the bench and get the butter off his hands dreadful from him
Many thanks to all who offered opinions.
Look out Monday for our match writeup JLP
