IRELAND COACH JOE Schmidt was refusing to get too downhearted following Ireland’s heartbreaking Six Nations loss against England at Twickenham today.
Speaking to RTE, when asked what went wrong, Schmidt responded: “I could probably pinpoint a number of things that went right.
“Off the set pieces was very good, but where we probably weren’t good enough was cleaning out their fringes at ruck time. It made it very difficult to play a constructive game. Their line speed was really effective and we didn’t play as we needed to through that line speed.”
And the New Zealand-born coach singled out one England player for particular praise.
“There was some unbelievable fielding from Mike Brown. There was a goalkeeper save at one stage, another one bounced up that he got really well as a last defender. What went wrong is one linebreak that Brown made.”
Schmidt says the team are determined to remain positive despite this setback, adding:
“We’ll take a couple of positives from this, because we’re very disappointed. There was a maul where we were going towards the line and they took it to ground and we didn’t get any result from that — and that could have been the difference.
“You’re just trying to construct an opportunity at the end of the game and we constructed a couple not too badly, we just couldn’t finish them off.”
He also praised their opponents and insisted they would remain optimistic in their bid for Six Nations glory.
“England did well, they stayed in the fight, they got back to their feet and got in the defensive line very well.
“A lot of people were saying we wouldn’t get a result here and you can’t get much closer than a one-score loss.
“[The Six Nations title] is the piece of silverware you want to get your hands on. Our points differential still puts us in a strong position, so we’ve got to make sure we go forward to Italy, as opposed to looking back to this game, and we’ve got to take some positives from it.”
Well said joe, we were not far away against a good England team..let’s kick on and win the thing. Bit of balance and less emotion by all would be more constructive.
That was a serious performance from Ireland there was never a point in that game when I thought we didn’t compete – compare this to the inconsistency we were faced with over the last few years. Roll on Italy and France and a tilt at the c’ship.
To be fair Schmidts record is 3wins 3losses. Wales are the only higher ranked team we have beaten under him. It’s a bit soon to be calling Joe the saviour yet.The truth of the matter is that Schmidt faces a huge task in the next few years rebuilding this team and replaceing the likes of BOD and D’Arcy. Today tactically England found us out and we couldn’t defend a lead and coughed up silly errors under pressure. We still are kicking too much ball away and badly.The good news is that the fixtures fall in our favour and a few of the player’s returning are getting gametime at the provinces. We should go into the french match knowing exactly what is needed to secure the championship provided we beat the Italian’s
We competed from numbers 1-10,very predictable out wide!!
800 years of oppression I can take. But 80 minutes of rugby leaves me a nervous wreck!
You experienced none of those 800 years, and to liken it to watching a game in a pub does your descendants a disservice.
So it’s in the future then?
“Descendants” – brilliant!!
Haha!!
Hahaha bugger .. Stupid drunk fingers
@padriag :-) Will stick to “What have the Romans ever done for us!” for the Italy game.
What a shame England were just a little tighter in what they did. Plus their decision making was a little better. sexton is a good player but some of his choices are a little off. Ie the chip out of defence when really we needed some breathing space. That was a cheap way to give up hard won ball.
When will we ever have a coach who will just go out and say we were rubbish and didnt deserve anything from the game as he picked the wrong 15
You’re some flute!
Clubs don’t beat countries ,wake up Joe
Well said drop Darcy and o Driscoll and trinble bring in henshaw and Marshall and zebo give them a chance now we’ve nothing play for
Beat Italy, which we will, and we go to Paris playing for the Championship … or am I just feeding a troll
a championship without the grandslam is like an egg without a yoke.. no substance !
Really? You must’ve seen a lot of Grand Slams to turn your nose up at a Championships
I’d take it and I’ll be happy if we win it but the grandslam is the big one it would seem like a hollow victory..
Are you on crack?
Na man, are you? you seem to be lacking a few brain cells
Joe needs to pick form over fitness. The idea of international rugby is to pick your best players. Players like Luke Fitz, Zebo and Donnacha Ryan should at least be in the 23 against Italy
Isn’t match fitness the basic starting point for any selection?
Did u not see the tempo and pace of that game today?
Fitness was key and to be fair Ireland faded a bit near the end.
What’s the point of having a bench with players you don’t trust to do a job?
No offence to the guy, and a great effort by the players – but not exactly magnanimous in defeat, changes tune quite drastically. Anyway… Roll on Italy
How has he changed his tune? Please explain your comment?
A lot of talk about eliminating one-score losses, but when we get one it seems quite acceptable – ?
6 games into Joes tenure and the signs are good even after this loss. It will take time for joes game to bed in. The test for Joe will be his new midfield. If he gets it right…. Full steam ahead
DArcy was very good today, sexton odriscoll were poor
, very poor
But that’s rugby we are far better now than this time last year
We need new centres. Joe has to forget about sentiment BOD should have gone last year
Hard luck Leinster. !!
Ireland failed because of one or all of the following:
The side selected wasn’t good enough.
The tactics were wrong.
The tactics were right but not followed by players.
Lancaster outsmarted Schmidt.
Whichever, we have been beaten by Australia, NZ and England over the last six games relying on sides largely comprising players selected and honed over a long period by Schmidt. Kinda weakens the argument that he is only in the job a short while, doesn’t it?
It’s true he is only a short while in the Ireland job. But he has been akin to a building sub-contractor in that he chose to work with a crew he largely developed and knows inside out.
England did a Northampton on him.
But that could be a god-send. Schmidt is still a superb coach and is smart enough to reappraise his approach.
A great World Cup campaign beckons.
Way an old fart
Do you even know what you’re talking about and where you’re talking put of?
Sorry, that was my 13 yr old