touchè!

Love that you are happy about Ireland's rise.. When rugby went professional, no Irish rugby fan ever imagined our team would one day be up there with the best.

Well said. I agree Ireland are the full package and their pack is big and hard enough to not it with anyone. England still building..

Andy Farrell nailed Rassie again . Also developed his team while drawing the series over there. South Africa relied on the old guard to win that series and need new blood. Steve Borthwick also deserves massive praise for getting England into shape in such a short period. Getting felix jones in is looking like we could seriously challenge France and Ireland come the six nations.

I think you completely contradict yourself. Telling us we made too much over beating Ireland by backing it up with what a brilliant team they have been.

​@jamesturnbull7042 England will be there for the 6 nations

@@kev63inuk I think Felix Jones has done amazing so far. I certainly feel you will challenge for the six nations this year, as we are losing Andy Farrell to the Lions. I feel that will be a massive loss! I think Doris will be the captain going forward, except when O Mahony is starting!

Ireland are still the most consistent side in world rugby. Only 3 losses in their last 24 games?

Heads down they came within a minute of winning back to back grand slams. I think Irelands problems are its not easy to be on it all the time and thats were Farrell seems to be great. I think he also had FRAWLEY and Osborne in his selection for many times now because he believes in talent and he can bring these gifted souls along in positions they have never been given a proper chance at . It’s not a fluke that POMs career spiked again once he was influenced by Farrell ..

@@davidwalker2402 Osborne was the biggest surprise on this tour. He was playing like a world class seasoned veteran out there for the most part. Most saffers said he was Irelands player of the series. That's some compliment considering it was his debut a week ago and has had limited experience at FB. Ireland are looking good going forward. They need more props to come through though.

@@PB22559 he was certainly best player in the second test, first test he was good but a couple of mistakes, great thing was how quick he learned from them.

@@davidwalker2402He’s a fair weather fan I’m guessing.

Interesting...I think Doris also suffers with captaincy and prefers the freedom to play...but he really stood up this week despite the yellow.. Not many other options however.

@@Zz-lm1no the doesn't seem to be too many natural contenders for the job, but time is on their side. We got spoilt going from O'Mahony to O'Connell to O'Driscoll.

I’m not sure any of that makes any sense or is real in any way. First off in the last 6 games England have lost 4 won two one against a tier 2 nation, so results show that this is not working yet. The excuses ran big because England were “transitioning “ but that transitioning is now about 18 months in take out the WC and its 12 months in. But England reckon the results are morale victories against a transitioning NZ Sid who have only been transitioning for two weeks and I might add NZ had a full almost 100% management change. The front row has been a problem for all of Bortwick tender almost two years yet England still have the problem the bench also does not look so clever. Swashbuckling I’m not sure England have earned anything to show this as they keep losing. Remember the hailed themselves for ‘nearly” beating France but failing to acknowledge that the week before Italy drew with France . I think England faced the all blacks at a time when they are trying to find their feet under a very promising management team and by the time November comes around a proper test against NZ and SA will be a better barometer when the pressure will be on the home team to win . Sorry for raining on your parade but I think less of the swashbuckling and more humility until you actually prove something might be a better approach, because there was two tests last weekend and there was one of them that was streets ahead of the other.

@@davidwalker2402No need for an apology . You dislike England clearly and that’s fine.

@@kev63inuk never made an apology but if you think something I said was wrong point it out 😉

@@ronhall9394 England are definitely on the right track. Their performances against Ireland, France and NZ show this. They did not look so good just after Borthwick took over. But remember Farrell’s first year was not great either. It takes time for a new coach to deliver. Declan Kidney and Joe Schmidt are exceptions.

Was interesting for me my friend when I heard that on the radio. Also disappointed that I can only dream of England rugby looking after our own interests as well as Ireland do. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇪

Completely agree. Our Winners Mindset / psyche needs updating

But is that a good thing? If England had broken the Eden Park streak, Razor would be pretty uncomfortable right now, which is absolutely not fair. Meanwhile, Rassie will happily lose every Rugby Championship ever as long as he wins the RWC, and Boks fans go along with it. From an Ireland perspective, it’s great that we won a few 6Ns, and the tours tour to NZ and SA have been amazing, but I’d happily lose the 26 and 27 6Ns if it’s building to a plan for getting past the $#%^ing quarter finals!

you have a terrible name.

How did we get away lucky? We scored the only try and had that biased muppet giving the boks more than they deserved,dickson that is,plus frawley took his kicks which by all accounts hes been practising like crazy,now look at who we were missing keenan,hansen,aki,conan,gibson park,and boks still could not score,luck had nothing to do with it,but very some dodgy officiating in first test we could have won that too.

@@amantedellopera1681 we lost the first game and won the second by a drop goal, to me that’s the dictionary definition of getting away lucky. One bad call is all that was in both results. I do like Frawley, far more than Crowley. The lad has balls

​@@Gallalad1Rubbish! If luck had anything to do with it? SA had it all.

​@@Gallalad1the Lowe try in the first test should have stood. I don't think you know what definition means if you think a purposely placed drop goal was "lucky". SA won three games on the bounce by a point en route to winning the WC. I guess by your metric, that was just all luck.

@@AfroGaz71 …. I did say South Africa were the luckiest team to win a World Cup 💀 I do think you need that rub of the green though, so that’s what I mean. It went our way this time. Easily could have gone the other way.

Insane achievement for Ireland for sure. I do normally as an Englishman support the NH sides against the SH except Scotland , but I was loving that Irish performance against the boks. Also I’d love to see Freeman in the center for England as he’s one hell of a player and needs to be in the side. As much as I hope I’m wrong as I’m a Leicester tiger but Freddie not good enough for the squad now . George Hendy at Full back for me.

@@kev63inuk I don't know who our replacement FB should be. Smith is the best playmaker obviously. Carpenter probably best all round. Maybe Atkinson could come through or Hodge add more to his game than run and hope?

Agreed Joe!

I think last weekend they went back to kicking instead of holding on to the ball and I wonder is this reverting to type.

We knew Joe we needed new props before the tour began and yeah think Fin Baxter up to the job for sure. And really looking forward to seeing you play against Fuji and seeing how your big boys go . Looking forward to seeing you back to your best against the Boks also.

@@davidwalker2402just you reverting to type my friend.

We were told they would be better in second test. Don’t think they were , in fact England were better . We had no Barrett to come off the bench though and change the game . What a class player he is .

As an Ireland supporter, I think you nailed it. England are back and we can see a potentially very good side playing open rugby. You have a very good back three, have two great 10s with the Smiths, a great back row, very good engine room and like Ireland, need to uncover new props. Ireland are still there despite the loss to NZ in the World Cup and to England in the 6N. In the last three years we have had just five losses, once to each of France, England and SA and twice to NZ. We found we can play without Keenan, Hansen, Aki, Gibson Park and Sheehan. Our one area of concern is prop where we again have struggled in the scrum where we coughed up a lot of scrum penalties. For the next World Cup we will need to replace Aki and probably Lowe, Possibly Henshaw and find a few props.

Think Patrick you beginning to sound over confident. You won’t win the six nations playing a B team. You may well win the six nations playing your best available team.

@@kev63inuk assuming you are replying to the other Patrick,I would agree that we will need to play our best available players to attempt a three-in-a-row of 6N taking account of the way England are improving, that Scotland will,one day come good, that France with DuPont will be better and Italy away will not be a gimme and that we will be missing Farrell.

@@patrickmccutcheon9361 Apologies Patrick i did mix up the names . I’m thinking no one will rest any players home or away against Italy anymore , and everyone will be looking to be at their best against Ireland for the foreseeable future. England do excite me again after four years of misery, and things can change a lot before the six nations but like you’ve mentioned DuPont being back for the french will be the big threat for your boys. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇪

He knows this defensive system well and does lead the defence well. And this combination with Lawrence has worked well . But agree we could do with someone challenging him for his jersey . But Borthwick has a settled team which carries lots of threat . I’m happy with slade and Lawrence for now. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Ireland (North and South) = 7 million

You have quoted the UK population. The population of England is 57 million.

@aidanhamspn1910 yes but you can only field 23 players so population is irrelevant. At the end of the day, the 23 Ireland has to pick is more talented than the 23 England/SA have to pick meaning population doesnt play as big a role.

Which explains why SA and England have 5 world cups and lots more semi finals and finals between them , And Ireland none. What’s your point Aidan ?

@@kev63inuk Oh god, just take the L and quite embarrassing yourself 🤣

😴😴🛌🛌🛌🛌🛌🛌...💤💤💤...

I have to say an Englishman bringing up NZ transition and calling it BS is BS. So England under new management although many of the team under EJ still there have now been in transition for 20 months, you can feel free to take out the WC so lets call it 12 months and in the last 6 games they lost 4 won two one against a tier 2 nation. They claim loses against France as morale victories forgetting the week previous France were held to a draw by Italy who missed a kick to actually beat them and now more morale victories against NZ using the excuses that NZ were not transitioning, and had much more experience but looking at the tests England team 675 caps NZ 703 caps so that rubbishes the experience, I don’t think need to apologise for having B. Barrett in their team . But regards transitioning NZ change their whole management structure not just the coach but everything and it showed in the way they made many unforced mistakes improved in the second test but they had two weeks and made no excuses “remember we are listening to England using the transitioning excuse for over 20 months now and still listening to it almost daily as an excuse to not being able to win . There are as many old heads in fact a lot more older heads on the English team been there since god was a boy so another made up BS myth. I think England will have to step up next November against an ABs team that will have been together long enough now as well as fronting up to SA before . As for Ireland they don’t seem to have these transitions like England do or at least not for the last 20 years and this is the same for most countries England excluded.

Eat your pancakes 😂😂

SA won the world cup but didn't dominate anyone. They won their 3 knock out games by ONLY 1 pt and NZ had a red card in the final. The last 5 games between Ireland and SA paints an interesting picture and that is that the Boks can't say they're better than the Irish. 4 wins for the Irish and only 1 win for SA is ample evidence to back up that claim.

A glitch my arse,sorry who made it to the semi final again?

So what about South Africa,and Irelands drop goal was that a glitch uckfay fooay

@@johnrichards2616I think he meant the game was a glitch and I think thats fair to say, after all since that game England have done nothing except lose and win one game against JAPAN , so I tend to agree Englands form before and after that game was to lose. They did claim a morale victory against France but a victory against France was not much as the week before Italy drew with them and had a kick able kick to win, also another morale victory against a transitional NZ team of one week was not as they thought as NZ came back and doubled down on beating England again. So yes it was a glitch .

@@davidwalker2402would it be fair to say you don’t like England David ? 😂. You do spend an incredible amount of typing time educating us about them .