USA HEAD COACH Gary Gold says Joe Schmidt’s Ireland are among the best Test teams he has ever seen.
The experienced South African, who previously worked as an assistant coach for the Springboks, reckons Ireland are one of the “sure favourites” for next year’s World Cup in Japan.
Ireland ran in eight tries against the US in a 57-14 victory last night, with Gold highlighting the superb position Irish rugby is in at present.
“Up there with as good as I’ve ever seen, no question about it,” said Gold when asked how this Ireland team compares to other great Test teams he has come across.
“Keep in mind that this was a fully-changed Irish line-up, so the strength in depth in Irish rugby at the moment is just ridiculously healthy.
“For Joe to have rested 14 starting guys from last week and pick a handful of guys who haven’t even played in the combinations of this week is a massive credit not only to Joe and his coaching staff, but also the healthy state of rugby in Ireland at the moment.
“The four provinces are obviously all very healthy and their academy systems are very good, so you actually sit back and admire it in many ways. It’s good to see and it’s good for the game to see Irish rugby so healthy.
‘I’ve said it for a while now – they’re one of the sure favourites going into the World Cup.”
The US did manage to cause Ireland problems in the first half, scoring two tries to trail only 24-14 at the break, but couldn’t stick with Schmidt’s side in the second 40 minutes.
Gold underlined how difficult it is to prepare to face Ireland, highlighting their ability to manage long passages of play.
“The challenge is that there’s not too many weaknesses,” said Gold. “They’ve got a great set-piece, they’ve got a very good attacking game.
“You leave Johnny [Sexton] out and you bring Joey [Carbery] in and even the guy on the bench [Ross Byrne] is not a shabby 10 when he comes on. Their attacking shape is very good, the skillset is extraordinary and they’re very clear on how they want to play the game and they’re good enough to be able to execute it.
“Then on the other side of the ball, they work incredibly hard. Probably at the moment in world rugby, they’re the team – through the analysis we’ve seen – who can look after the ball for the longest period of time.
“At half-time, we had five sets of play that went on for more than two minutes and one of them was three minutes and 20 seconds – that’s a lot of rugby.
“We knew we were going to learn lessons today and unfortunately, at times, we weren’t good enough to handle that pressure. That’s only a credit to Ireland, it’s no shame on us, I don’t believe.”
There was concern for Eagles hooker Joe Taufete’e last night after he was stretchered off in the second half, but Gold indicated that the Worcester Warriors man should make a full recovery.
“He’s in the hospital at the moment,” said Gold. “Obviously he was knocked out but he was just taken as a precaution. We hope he will be ok.
“I think it’s a head injury, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with his neck.”
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He is such a talent,i just hope he doesnt fade out like so many other players.How is it that Belgium are producing these players?
Looking over the hedges into Holland for the last 20 years I’d say….
If the Irish public and the fai gave a toss about our league, maybe one day we could be producing players of that caliber and competing in the champions league.
Put pressure on the FAI to revamp the league, new teams & franchise. One team per county & 2 for Dublin! GET OF YOUR BARSTOOL IRELAND.
Next Friday Irl are probably gonna get slaughtered by Germany, and the same old moaning will start! do something about it stop relying on England’s hand me downs, produce our own players! Mimic Spain & Belgium, build academies!
I’m free on Wednesday Michael if that’s any good to ya?
We’ll do it tomorrow
Hes Kosovan but they have no team, hes going to play with Albainia
He hasn’t decided who he’s going to play for yet. He said two years ago that he would make his decision when he’s playing regular first team football.
He could play with England from 2015 due to residency rules.
The new Paul Scholes?
Belgium will be hoping they can hold on to him, as will Utd. I don’t know why he wouldn’t declare for Belgium as they should do well in the world cup next year and have a great chance of winning Euro 2016 or World Cup 2018.
What position did he start today?
Left mid
He might have an Irish granny and is probably holding on for a calling up from our new gaffer!
Eh, Roy Hodgson started talking about “nationalising” him so he can qualify as an England player- his Irish granny has got no chance…although as usual they’re way ahead of themselves, cos everybody wants to play for Engurland.
As long as he’s not the new Pogba (Contract ends at the end of the season), you can call him whatever you want.
Isn’t Januzaj out of contact at the end of the season?! This performance will have his agent doing cartwheels.
Delighted, glad to see a united team finally fight tooth and nail….
He’s the new Macheda!
Nah, in fairness he’s good alright.
Ive been saying since pre season that this kid should be starting in the team. He played every week during pre season and scored and couple and made a couple of assists. He will be a more central player as he gets older ( he started wide today ) And he will be one of the best in the world in a couple of years.
Belgium have unearthed a a load of excellent offensive midfielders in the last few years. But are still weakish in defence. Not sure they will be winning any major comps.
They have unearthed a lot of attacking talent based on the decision to standardise the playing formation to 4-3-3 across all levels of Belgium football a few years ago. Seemed strange at the time but it appears to be paying off now. They also copied the Barcelona academy training regime by having their young players first play 5v5 then 8v8 and eventually 11v11 to improve their technical ability. If they hold the ball as well as Barca it won’t matter how good their defence is. Having said that they have some good defenders in Verthongen, Vermaelan and Kompany
Weakish in defence? Vertonghon ,vermalan, kompany, van buyten(b.munich),alderweireld(a.madrid), lombaerts(zenith)…….do you watch football….
”He can be anything he wants to be”declares Carrick.
I think he will stick to being a footballer, good lad Carrick.
brill goal especially the second this is wat united have been crying out for..a good midfielder…..onwards and upward plz sign a new contract…MUFC TILL I DIE!!!
What a Crowd of Fakes..
Who here is a Manchester city fan I know I am
Goway Dermot look at the state of you
Mötley… Another winning bet look at my twitter