What we learned from first week of the Nations Championship
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
And you're very welcome to the RTW Podcast. I'd like to have Bernard Jackman with me in the studio. How are you, Bert? Very good, thank you. And Neil is all the way over in Sydney in his very clean hotel room. Neil, how's things?
I'm great, Hugh. How are you doing?
I'm very good. I'm very good. Look, Bert, just quick, before we get over to Neil. slightly strange to be talking about rugby in July how are you feeling it feels like it has been a mammoth season and whatever about me kind of feeling like god are we still talking rugby for the players for the coach and stuff is it a bit too long I don't know definitely there wasn't a huge amount of hype about this tour or this tournament but
I think the way it started last Saturday morning, and there's a lot of other sport on, obviously, but I just thought the first day of the nation championship, World Rugby couldn't have got a better start. I mean, from the very first game, New Zealand-France, all the way through, I thought Ireland-Australia was a cracking match. There was obviously some of the quality wasn't amazing, but it was a cracking game. And then even, you know, the last game I watched that day was Scotland ripping apart Argentina over there. So there's some real good contests there. And, yeah, look, the players certainly look like they're still a little bit of life left in those legs. But definitely, for Northern Hemisphere players, this summer off will be badly needed.
Yeah. What's the sense over there, Neil? I mean, obviously, the resolve the players showed means that they're actually, you know, they're still well up for going and playing and going and getting results.
Is rugby in July unusual and how tired are players after a long season?
And Ekenet wins, as they showed against Australia on Saturday. But what's the vibe around the squad at the moment?
The vibe around the squad, particularly off the back of Saturday, is really, really good. We were out doing media yesterday at their team hotel, the beautiful hotel down in Sydney Harbour. And the mood the players were in really, really was encouraging. There was a good degree of kind of messing and joking going on. They were probably showing a little bit more of themselves than they normally would back at home. I don't know, is it just the fact that they were on the road it's a smaller group of media that they're speaking to it's more of an intimate environment so maybe they feel like they can kind of give off a little bit more of themselves but they were all very very engaging i don't know did you see john fogarty for example he was in a he was in rare form like he always is he was talking about the various options they have if if any of the front throws go down specifically we were asking them about loose head if since they haven't called up a replacement and he was talking about the the fact that
You know, Nick Timoney, for example, can hop in at hooker if required. The rolling Keller who can cover loose head. And he said, he said he's, he's eyeing up Bryn Ward for the last few weeks because he's about 120 kilos and he just fits the bill of a, of a prop that he'd love to see. So there was just a good bit of good bit of messing, good bit of joking. But at the same time, when it came down to talking about the game, it really was business. They seemed really dialed in for this game against Japan at the weekend. They seemed buoyed by what happened against Australia around the comeback, but they haven't let that gloss over the fact that there were a lot of issues in the first half, particularly around defence.
Yeah, I mean, the stats, Joe Schmidt must be blown his hair out going, how did we manage to lose that game? We look at the amount of tackles that they forced Ireland to make, the amount of missed tackles Ireland had, the line breaks, the offloads. Australia, we look at that and say, how did we lose that game?
Yeah, and I think they lost it because they're not used to winning tight games. That's the reality of it. I mean, that was Ireland's sixth win in a row against Australia. They have struggled. They've had some one-off big wins.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–1:27
2
Is rugby in July unusual and how tired are players after a long season?
1:27–14:43
3
Why did Australia lose to Ireland and is winning 'not a habit' for them?
14:43–36:51
4
Should Australia have taken the late kick at goal given half‑back issues?
36:51–37:09
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from RTÉ Rugby Podcast
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