Updated at 15.25
IT WAS A difficult afternoon for promising young England international John Stones, as Swansea beat Everton 2-1 at Goodison Park today.
An under-hit back-pass from 21-year-old centre-back Stones enabled Andre Ayew to intercept and prompted goalkeeper Tim Howard to trip the Swansea attacker, as Gylfi Sigurdsson made no mistake with the ensuing penalty.
A Jack Cork own goal saw Everton equalise, as Gareth Barry’s flick-on from Leighton Baines’s cross was diverted into the net.
However, Swansea restored their advantage on 34 minutes, as Ayew’s shot deflected in off the hapless Stones.
Meanwhile, in good news for Irish fans, Seamus Coleman made a second-half appearance off the bench, having been out injured for three games, though fellow Ireland international James McCarthy remains sidelined.
The Donegal native had a moment to forget, however, as he missed a gilt-edged chance from close range, which would have earned Everton a last-minute point.
…a gradual changing of the guard is certainly needed, but we also need to add natural ball carriers in the backrow. Watching Savea, Sititi, and Lakai when he came on carrying, stepping offloading like backs makes Caelan Doris look a lone figure for Ireland. It’s all very fine stressing defences, but getting forwards through the holes that can see and deliver a pass needs work. Importantly, I think we have both the players(in the wider squad) and coaches to do the job. We have too many prophets of doom on here calling for heads and wholesale changes.
@Michael Murray: Doris used to do that so hopefully he’ll get it back.
@James Murphy: Good lord it was 2 games and we’re talking like it’s a distant memory before that. This place would exhaust you
@Michael Murray: the Beirne at 6 move, hasn’t been a success as it has left Doris alone as a ball carrier in the BR. We’ve also missed Conan’s impact off the bench. Beirne back to the 2nd row, Izuchukwu type athlete to come in at 6 and add more destructive ball carrying. Is the rest of his game up to required level? Could also really do with blooding a LH prop (and giving Porter a rest) but Boyle has hardly played for Leinster. AF has been known to ignore provincial hierarchy if he thinks a player is ready
@Michael Corkery: 100%!!….. and tbh, I was an advocate of Beirne at 6. With ‘superhuman’ JVDF playing more like a 6 than a 7 you can afford a more open take on the no6 role. Cormac is the perfect fit. LH needs development for sure, but I’d also be saying JGP is a done deal at 9 and developing competition for Casey as back up/ heir apparent…..and think it’s gone under the radar how good Furlong’s footballing skills are and he is missed for that , never mind pinning the scrum.
@PJ Smith: 100 percent
@Michael Murray: Ah didnt new zealand lose
@Michael Murray: That’s a pretty doom post
@Michael Murray: jack conan is missed. I am not saying he should be brought back for the 6 nations but he’s the type of player we need to find. Izzy maybe, baird again maybe but we do need a ball carrier in the pack, doris is now getting marked a bit like CJ was a few years ago.
@Shawn: they did, but that was more about the respective bench qualities.Their starting XV had by far the better of it before the bulk changes…
@Sea Point: Yes but when ireland lose lots are talking nosence and think their the manager and want this and that and the negitivity is getting on my nose every team gets beaten people need to relax calm down look at england lost 5 in a row and people think their world beaters we lose one game we are finished unreal
@Shawn: Anyway thats my rant done
@Shawn: Dont forget to take your meds and calm down lol
@Teddy O neill: ….not the faintest idea how you can come to that conclusion….explain.
@michael Murray – agree with your comments. We as Irish are getting sucked into the narrative that we need to make whole changes and bring in 20 something players all over the shop.
It’s always worked for SA and France because of the massive pool of players they have to choose from. We forget that Farrell blooded two new caps on Friday night so let him do what he does best as we still have 3 years to the next World Cup.
@Mark Cunney: We as Irish need to stop thinking the media are an authority or expert in what needs to be done. They want clicks, everything else is secondary. We also need to stop thinking online forums like this or social media are in any way a representation of the overall fanbase. They are not.
Sick and tired of people knocking ireland for a small country we have done amazing stuff every f time we dont play well the negitiveity is a joke
They are not unbelievably dangerous, this is just nonsense talk to hype up the opposition. Ireland will beat them by 30 points plus, it’s one of the worst things about rugby that the opposition have to be hyped up before every single game. We get the same in the URC before Leinster face the Dragons etc. Just say nothing and prepare for the game.
@Aidan Farrell: even if they just, ” they can be dangerous”. That annoys me too like this is a turkey shoot and if it’s not then we’re toast.
@Aidan Farrell: One of the worst things is respect for your opponent? You have weird priorities and misunderstand the bedrock of rugby if you truly believe that. Fiji are dangerous, their style of play means they can cut you open. He’s not saying he expects to lose. It’s like some people just go out of their way to find things to complain about instead of just enjoying sport, makes me wonder why they even follow it since it just causes them so much annoyance.
Whatever else, Fiji still pose a physical threat. Look what happened when a promising Ireland out half, who was slightly built at the time, got clattered when given the chance v Fiji, and imo was never the same again. I remember Joey’s exit from that autumn game and would be concerned that the similarly ‘lightly built’ Sam could suffer similar treatment.
@John Morris: Very true
@John Morris: Joey is made of glass, his career would highlight that, not that game. So far despite his supposed frailty, Sam is yet to pick up an injury. He’s definitely a little light yet but that’s accentuated by the fact he’s 6’5”
It’s a bit rich to dish Fiji we as a team are not playing well at the moment, if it had not been for a stupid tackle by Argentina in the first minutes of the game we would have lost that game. Change has to happen we have lost the spark in the forwards we are not breaking tackles and giving to many penalties away I just don’t know what has happened to our discipline. I am at a loss to what’s gone wrong
@Phillip Keohane: The game doesnt work like that we never going to know what would of happend after stupid tackle
@Phillip Keohane: if my auntie had balls… and if Beirne hadn’t dropped the ball in the process of scoring, the game would have been more or less over at half time. You can pick out loads of incidents in a game and say IF
Dangerous, pffffff nonsense, outside World Cups Fiji are useless. Because unlike RWC’s, they don’t get millions from World Rugby, so their players have a month together in camp to prepare. They’re dangerous because Ireland have massively underperformed in consecutive games. Error strewn against NZ and just poor against Argentina, who they made look far better than they are. Farrell is feeling the pressure now to run the same team, because he needs his best players to hit form before we face resurgent Australia. He needs legs on the bench, so Prendergast in for POM (drafting him back in after one club match was nuts. Cian Healy is toast, can’t roll him out for just scrums when you desperately need real impact around the park in last quarter…
@Sea Point: if we were beating all round us, the same folks writing us off would be saying, typical of us to peak between WC’s. there’s this tendency to overreact to a couple of poor performances. Even though, we were probably well below par, we were competitive and our opponents got the benefit of lenient refereeing. If he cut out some of the silly penalty concessions and unforced handling errors, we’re still a top4 side (which is a great achievement given our pop and playing no). That said, there’s clearly a need to transition a few players in/out as mother time is knocking hard on the door of a number of the 30 something’s. Healy, POM, Henderson, maybe even Aki best days are definitely behind them
Will be a tough game
Fiji have some good individuals but have absolutely no structure or control within a game. Almost through the game away on numerous occasions against a Wales team in serious transition. We are no world bearters ourselves currently, but we really ought to be beating fiji.
@Ray Ridge: maybe what the rugby championship should do is change format and have SA,ARG,NZ,AUS,FIJI,Samoa,Tonga,Japan in the championship each year with all teams in one location for a 6 weeks to fight for the trophy…the tier 2 sides will get regular top class rugby and would hopefully improve at a rapid rate to make it very competitive in a couple of years ..funding, resources and top class coaching would need to be involved …and a great way to grow the game …
@Stuart: Not a bad idea Stuart. Not sure how it would fit in with the domestic leagues in said countries. Could it be run off in the same window as the Six nations. Fair play Stuart no more than myself you called France as banker of the weekend. It was much closer than I thought. Thought New Zealand were excellent. They really disrupted that French Scrum and lineout and looked dangerous with ball in hand. Having backed France I was delighted New Zealand kicked those 3 penalties in the last 15 minutes as apposed to kicking to the corner.
@Ray Ridge: yeah ray NZ looked the real deal . Fancied France all along but I’d say the NZ public and razor are very happy with where the side as at ..that was an immense performance from the kiwis .they are getting progressively better under razor , you can really start to see the crusaders coming through. The R championship next year is going to be some tournament ..the boks go to NZ for 2 tests , it’s going to be something else…
@Stuart: They really impressed me Stuart I must say. 3 tough games now against England, Ireland and France. Based on the Autumn performances to date it’s 1. SA 2.New Zealand 3. France 4. England 5. Australia 6. Scotland 7. Ireland 8. Argentina, 9.Fiji 10. Wales. Should Australia beat Wales they go 4th ahead of England. Should Wales win they 5th ahead of Australia. Discuss.
@Ray Ridge: in reality for me the world rankings at the moment would be 1. SA, 2. NZ, 3. IRE, 4, France, 5, England. If the world cup were in AUS tomorrow I’d have it this way to lift the trophy …1. SA, 2. NZ, 3 France, 4 England, 5 Ireland…I just don’t think Ireland have the strength and depth to win a world cup at the moment …
@Stuart: I do think SA and NZ are the best sides in the world at the moment and it’s clear to see..NZ lost a one point game last night into beating all the top sides in the north..imagine if these games were on their home patch.
@Stuart: Oh there’s no doubt SA and New Zealand are the top 2. That’s not even up for questioning or debate. Agree, if World Cup was Starting Monday morning it’s a 4 horse race between SA, New Zealand, France and England. Australia dark horses as they are home nation and have some unreal individual talent. Forget about the rest.
@Ray Ridge: Spoon
@Ray Ridge: You need help
@Ray Ridge: “Ireland are no world beaters” says the oracle, 4 months after we beat S.Africa in Durban.
@Michael Corkery: You don’t become a world beater by winning a one of game in the summer and then falling flat on your ar$e the next 2 games. You become world beaters by winning back to back world cups for example.
@Stuart: least you get it
@Ray Ridge: spoffer attention seeker and silly man
@Ray Ridge: putting scotland aus and eng ahead off us what a complete sasage u are england lost 5 in row scoland havent beaten ire in years we beat everyone you are a annoying troll