Bashed the Boks!

So the Tri-Nations and World Champions turned up to face the Six Nations Champions in a cold and foggy Croke Park. What an occasion – not the most beautiful and flowing rugby match I’ve seen, but what a contest- physical, close, thumping tackles. Amazing speed at the breakdown, where Ireland’s centre’s and back row were up to the challenge laid down by Burger and Roussow. Roussow was practically neutered early on and this contest I think was won by O’Drisscoll, Wallace and Ferris (who was unfortunate to have to leave the match too early on).

Rob Kearney must now lay a claim to being the best full-back in the game – he was amazing, leading from the back with pace and flawless collecting under the high ball – of which there were plenty. I didn’t get Ireland’s tactic of box kicking, seemingly everytime O’Leary got the ball – meaning Earls and Bowe were never going to get the amount of ball to able to make an impact – but then on reflection, what would I know- Kidney called this to perfection. It was always going to be physical and winners at the breakdown would secure points – so this tactic worked nicely, sending the Boks back again and again. Funny old game, Ireland dominated the line out, stealing a few – but were pretty much pushed around the pitch in the scrum – especially early on.

Ireland held their nerve, helped by a couple of poor kicks missed by Steyn, but I’d balance this up with a few poor refereeing decisions, including a bad high tackle on Bowe in full flight. So it was down to defending the line to the last – Earls and Kearney with cramp, O’Connell marshalling the troops to close out wave after wave of Springbok’s attack. What a match. What a win.

The IRFU had a go at innvoating with their Match App on iphone. I tried this out for the couple of euro charged. I thought the concept was great, but disappointing that after leaving it for more than an hour to download on Friday, I was left with a “downloading content” message – still going two days later. So well done for effort, but try and make sure it works next time – I had to fork out my fiver for a paper copy in the end.