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.
Neil Keegan Strong and solid, we got slightly worried when patchel got involved. A move in the right direction.
We need to really move on from this. We need to up the execution again. That’s what we used to do, we used to do what was expected, better than expected.
More of the same next week
But most importantly, maybe Irish fans will be more positive this week
Mark Gunning Good day's business.some positives and work-ons for next week.trucking along nicely
Conor Cronin Jack Carty just played himself on to the plane. So had Andrew porter, winning those scrum penalties.
Delighted to see the win and a lot of last week's mistakes clearly being worked on. More to do, but a solid positive performance.
Sean MacDonnchadha Stockdale looked recharged. Porter put in a serious shift. Defence still looks weak if the ball gets out wide. Beirne anonymous. But overall a good performance for 40mins and good control of the scrum to stop the Welsh resurgence.
Michelle Tobin Better but much work to do. Carty had a stormer. O'Mahony at 7 worked much better than expected. Scannell ahead of Best at 2. If Joe only brings two 9s it's a very tight call. McGrath was awesome when he came on but Marmion was solid.
Aidan Finn (reply to Michelle Tobin) Luke looks our best option at 9 at the moment in my opinion...
Iain O'Connor For me that was a really worrying performance. The result is fine (it's preseason so who cares) but the performance was lacking all over. We were poor first half, it was masked by Wales being totally disjointed and pretty terrible but we were poor. As soon as Wales brought on Patchell and turned it up a gear we struggled (I don't take the fitness argument, we brought on fresh legs and didn't actually look tired). We clung on for a result in a preseason game and basically got that due to a bit of bonkers reffing of the scrum that got us a pen try.
Performance has me worried for Scotland in a few weeks. Results, again, paper over cracks that are getting bigger.
Darren Austin Improved without a doubt , Wales in the first 50 mins were shocking
Noel Hewson Mixed bag. Some interesting choices for the management team for the final squad . Conway v Larmour for example. I think Carthy goes as third 10. Aki probably ahead of Ringrose for the start on current form.
Brian Stack Jack carty Dave kilcoyne surely have there places. Wales not at full strength but that’s the beauty of a World Cup 31 players.
Ronan McManus Front rows all looked good.
Marmion was getting stuck in and won us a turnover in one ruck.
Carty, Aki, Stockdale, Addison, Conway all did themselves credit.
Would need to watch it again, but other than some productive choke tackles the back-row didn't seem to impose themselves.
Gavin Macarthur Much improved until certain key players were substituted and, all of a sudden, it all started to look very familiar. One thing is certain -Ireland require James Ryan on the pitch. Without him our defence becomes offhand and the pack starts to get ragged. For example, again and again I saw Henderson disengage from defensive rucks and then stand around until someone told him where he should be, to the point where his own team-mates were getting annoyed with him. Seeing him getting told where he should be while defending under the goalposts is not a good sign.
That said, there were many positives, including a much better set-piece game. Scannell is a good operator and the line-outs were 5/6 under his watch, if I recall. The lost line-out was a genuine steal toward the rear, where Ireland have looked weaker anyway. He's not calling the throws so the blame is not so much his as the system's. Conan had a really solid game at 8 and I think he and Beirne would go even better with a true 7 on the outside of the scrum. The front rows were great at scrum time and Kilcoyne was a real force in the loose too. He is so much improved as an all-round player. However, the Welsh front row were not up to standard today so there's no sense in getting too excited. For their part, Wales looked much more organised and effective when Patchell came on, so the gloss was due to come off Ireland's performance, one way or another.
Aki had a much better game today, no doubt because Addison was a key organiser whenever he came forward to defend. Addison looked really great running from deep and connected so well with Conway and Stockdale. I like Conway a lot and he works best when he knows there is an attacking 15 coming with him. It has been too long since we have seen a 15 who runs into gaps with an eye for keeping the attack alive. Kearney is many things but even his most ardent supporters must recognise that he is not an attacking 15.
Marmion was outstanding - fast passing, ferocious tackling, good defensive reads with the centres and even turning over ball at rucks. The guy is underrated but, hopefully, not for much longer. When Carty and Marmion are together, the ball comes out of the ruck with enough pace to give Carty the time to use all of his attacking options and Ireland look far more dangerous.
Jim Kelly Mentally, Ireland needed this and if we win the return match next weekend that’ll help a lot. Killer had a great game and I thought Conan did well. Not sure if Beirne played well (have to watch again) but I can’t remember his name being mentioned even once in the game.
Dónal Foley A lot of things were improved, missed tackles were down, looked a lot more dangerous with the ball. On the other hand, if we knock the ball on every 5 phases we won't be doing much.
Karen Mooney The young players are really good.... But every one played really good today thanks for a really good game..
Paul Higgins Jack Carty was superb, plus Conway, Addison, Aki, Stockdale, Porter, Kilcoyne, let's be honest, whole team stepped up. Good to see.
Roibeárd O Fuaráin I think we can all agree Chris Farrell isn't going anywhere
Pieter Smit Ireland getting back to what we expect even if it was not perfect
Craig Grehan Marmion on the plane. Miles better than McGrath. Kilcoyne is a starter. Carty plane bound
Alan Ryan Kilcoyne had a stormer! His stats are unreal
Many thanks to all who offered opinions.
Look out Monday for our match writeup JLP
