Last night Georgia recorded their first win of the Rugby World Cup. It was a predictable and deserved result. Match Report.
Meanwhile back in the Irish camp. Despite the talk from Eddie acknowledging his conservative approach
to team selection after the French match on Friday, there are few changes in the team selected to play our crucial last ditch effort on Sunday against Argentina. Lets hope he is at least more adventureous on Sunday with his use of subs. I suppose its not a bad team, it's certainly good to see Denis getting a (last?) run out in an Irish shirt. Now we just need him to finish his career with a hat-trick of tries - hey maybe then he might get another chance ... dreaming again?
On Saturday after our defeat to France Argentina certainly did what we couldn't - put Namibia away convincingly. Felipe Contepomi scores 19 points including one try in a comprehensive rout of Namibia. "It started being a tough match, with very few points in the first minutes. But we showed a lot of patience. The match opened up a little bit and we could find our best game," Contepomi said. Match Report. Formbook makes the Argentina the clear favourites for Sunday.
Reality bites. As the French match started on Friday night, I was, on balance, glad not to be there – that was a reflection of how I rated our chances at that time. I can remember travelling to Parc de Princes in 1996 and while we had a good week-end in Paris it was another miserable defeat to the French that year. Just fifteen minutes into the game I had a completely different feeling – perhaps this was the game to be at. The Irish were aggressive and were creating chances. They were not the team that played against Namibia or Georgia – it looked like the team that played England and Italy last spring. Then the mistakes started to creep in and the penalty count gave France a nine point lead. Just before half time some good Irish pressure gave us advantage well inside the French half. RoG kicked a drop goal and suddenly we had a match again. But another error and a French penalty just before half time restored the status quo. The rest of the story in the second half was just a sad re-run… the French got another penalty and began to feel comfortable – remember they were playing for survival – they ran in 2 tries including a very soft kick and catch. Game over and now the dreamers need to really get creative. But we can be creative – its easy really – score four tries and win by more than seven points and Argentina go home and we get to play New Zealand. Sounds easy really!! Perhaps we could beat New Zealand and go on to …… well maybe not!
Official Match Report
Post match quotes:Eddie "France built a lead based on our indiscipline"
Post match quotes:Brian "The scoreline doesn't lie"
Post match quotes:Eddie later "a bit of a mountain to climb"
After the loss to Argentina France came out and gave a rugby lesson to Namibia. What can I say - it's the sort of score we should have run out against these guys! France have re-installed themselves as firm favourites for the game on Friday. That's probably the best thing we can say about this match. As underdogs we are in much more comfortable territory. Maybe that was Eddie's grand plan (though I doubt it!). Ireland will have to be the game of their lives to win - but they have the ability to produce such a game and the prize is huge: France out of the World Cup and a chance of a quarter final against Scotland. We can still Dream.
It was a very warm evening in Bordeaux and for the second time in 6 days the Irish team were hugely disappointing. They played much better than in the Namibian game. But were still only average. Georgia played the match of their lives - with a fire and passion that was Irish (Munster-like) in intensity. After the game they came out to applaud the fans. They got a standing ovation from French, Georgian and Irish fans in equal measure and they deserved nothing less. The Irish team rightly returned to the dressing room to try to figure out why they under-performed for a second week on the trot.
So our trip to Bordeaux fell short of expectations on the rugby side - but was still very enjoyable. The atmosphere in Bordeaux was fantastic the food and the wine were great. The performance was disappointing - a win is a win a missed bonus point is irrelevant to the goal of a semi-final place. It's all about beating France next week in Paris - it has always been about that since Croke Park last February.
Back in January Katy had been saying “there’s this great new singer – I can’t remember her name but you’d love her”. But she never told me who this great new singer was “she’s a bit like Joni Mitchell”. Then sometime in May I read an article in The Ticket, the Irish Times Friday supplement about Regina Spektor. I didn’t make the connection but was intrigued enough to go to HMV and buy her CD "Begin to Hope”.
On the evening I brought it home, I played in the kitchen and Katy said “that’s her – I can’t believe you got it”. It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was talking about. It was an instant hit in our house. Over the next couple of weeks I purchased “Mary-Ann Meets the Gravediggers” and then “Soviet Kitsch”.
At the end of June my weekly Ticketmaster update informed me that Regina Spektor was playing a gig in Tripod at the end of August and that tickets would go on sale at 9.00 on Monday the 9th of July. My outlook reminder worked and I was on the web as the tickets went on sale. I purchased 6 of the best available. Of Katy and Lisa wanted to go – and we also invited Dee and Gerry. I consider Gerry to be an expert on all things musical – but he hadn’t heard of her. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it”.
Went last Thursday week – they were fantastic seats, (up on the balcony with a bar and an armband - the benefits of booking early!) and it was an astounding show. Her albums are so varied and her sound pretty unique and fresh. The live show was all of that. She performed alone, and was overwhelmed with the welcome – or maybe it was just the jet lag. “I’m wearing green ‘cause I’m from Mars, nothing to do with being in Dublin.” She probably sang 5 or six unrecorded songs and then about 15 from the 3 albums -(the set list is a work in progress.). Some were lone vocals, some on guitar and mainly on piano. Her piano is so classical in sound but often in such a contrast from the voice and lyrics. Predictably “On the Radio” brought the house down pretty early on. But so much was so good and so varied.
For “Poor Little Rich Boy” she played left handed piano and played percussion with a single drum stick on The Chair. Katy has it on video!
“More Piano, More bloody Piano” she said to the soundman, as she false started Baby Jesus“more bloody piano” we all shouted. The rapport with the audience was so relaxed and spontaneous. She started a John Lennon cover, Real Love, but got the first line wrong. “ Thank you to the lovely lady in the front row who remembered the words. I’m scared of giving covers because this is what happens. It’s much better to make mistakes in your own stuff, but in other peoples you sure really show it if you f***ed up.” . (The youTube clip below shows her getting it right at a concert in Tennesse last June.)
She is a fantastic artiste; and it was a fantastic live show.
Pool D continues to surprise and intrigue. Argentina were just 90 seconds away from missing the extra point when they scored their fourth try in the 79th minute. Georgia put up a brave battle and it was just 6-3 to Argentina at half-time. Argentina were patient and in the end they achieved their goals. For us there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that Georgia are no push over, the good news is that Georgia are no push over and we need a big game and a solid win. Georgia may have played their best game. Ireland certainly need to win by 40 here to restore pride and more importantly confidence.
What a truly awful start for Ireland. We played had a reasonable 20 minutes but went downhill from there. Namibia are a group of mainly amateurs – just 6 professional rugby players in their squad. The best Namibian born rugby playing today is Percy Montgomery, who unfortunately for Namibia plays rugby for South Africa. They are the lowest ranked team in the group and one of the lowest ranked teams in the World Cup. We made 18 handling errors – most of which were unforced. There was a point in the second half when it looked like we might even lose – 27 to 17 ahead having conceded 2 tries in 4 minutes. Our more respectable tally of 32 points came courtesy of a questionable try by Gerry Flannery – if the referee went up to the TMO I’m sure it would have been disallowed!
So next week-end I am off to with Senan to see us play against Georgia. I am confident that we can put in a much better performance and I’m predicting we hit 50 points and win easily. I saw a very average performance against Wales(win) and France (loss) before we hammered England, followed by and awful performance against Scotland (win) and a sparkling performance against Italy. So this team is not consistent - but still has great capability. Whether we can improve enough to topple France and then Argentina only time will tell.
Here’s what Eddie had to say this morning.
At last the Rugby World Cup has started. The opening match was France Vs Argentina. France being at home fancy their chances. Of course New Zealand are the favourites by miles. This is the third time in 6 Rugby World Cups that Argentina have played in the opening game, they have never won these encounters. The players were very emotional during the National Anthem, it was like Ireland Vs England in Croke Park!
They started with fire in their belly and kept it up through the match. The amazing fact was they were hungrier than France and as a result they won the match 17 points to 12. Not a bad result for Ireland - but it doesn't change the fact that Ireland still must beat France to top the group. The bad news was that Felipe Contepomi, after a great performance and some great kicks missed a penalty right on full time that would have denied France an extra point, could be crucial for Ireland (or Argentina!)
Just bought tickets to see K T Tunstall play in the Stadium in Dublin on October 26th. Watch out for a review and some concert photos sometime early November.
This is a link to a good article on Ms Tunstall in today's The Irish Times supplement The Ticket
Trivia Question. Which team in the 4 English Football Leagues has a 100% record so far this season? Here's a clue, it's also the only team with negative points after four matches played. That's right, I've given it away, it's Leeds United. They are now bottom of League One (or Division Three to all of us old enough to remember!). Because they choose to go bankrupt after being relegated last year, Leeds started the season with a penalty of -15 points. On balance it was a tight call - with the lower funding in League One, Leeds decided that they would be unable to meet the continuing payments to their top premiership players who had left a couple of years ago but were still receiving settlements based on their loony playing contracts. A quick liquidation and resale sorted that out, for better or worse and now they are still alive as a football franchise albeit with a significant millstone hanging round their neck. It looked like it was possible that Leeds would make the double drop and be in League Two next year. But wily Dennis Wise has used adversity to advantage. He has galvanised the team (so far) with a "they're all out to get us" Roy of the Rovers approach. As a result Leeds have won their first four matches. So now they are the only team on maximum points in England (Rangers also have the only 100% record in Scotland). It's not much consolation to a patient Leeds fan (and there still are a lot of us out there!), but it's the best we can do in these sorry times!
After the exertions of our hill walk in Carlingford, we had a much more sedate Sunday. We had 2 great seats in the Cusack Stand, just on the half way line, for the All Ireland Hurling final between Kilkenny and Limerick. As I was born in Limerick I had to support the Limerick team and of course Kilkenny were firm favourites at odds of One to Four. Kilkenny were good value even for these ridiculously short odds and they provided us with an exhibition in precision hurling. They won every Limerick puck out in the first fifteen minutes and after just 11 minutes they had won the game being ahead by 2 goals and 3 points to no score. Given that the final score was 2-19 to 1-15 you could say that Limerick won the last 59 minutes! But I am sure that Kilkenny never really went above 3rd gear. The consolation prize for Mags was that Tipperary beat Cork convincingly in the minors.
On Saturday the 1st September we attended the first Denis O'Connor walking Festival in Carlingford. There were about 150 participants and the whole venture raised more than €40,000 for charity. Almost 50 people got up at 5 am to start the 40 kilometre Tain Way walk. I would love to have been fit enough – but I know my limitations. So instead we opted for the easier but not easy Slieve Foy ascent. We started at 1.30. Our guide took us up the first leg at quite a pace – not fast but relentless. The good thing was that we gained a lot of height quickly. After that we were left to our own pace. It was very well organised with guides along the way to ensure no one got lost. The middle section was nice and easy with a gradual angled ascent followed by a lovely ridge walk. But then the impressive crags of Slieve Foy loomed closer and the real climb started. There was a pretty good path all the way but it was steeper. Also there were a couple of false tops – and although we knew it could be the top – we could hope! Then someone said there was a cup of tea on top – that spurred us on. Unfortunately they were misinformed!
But the break on the top was welcome. There was a big crowd of familiar faces. The views to the Isle of Man, the Mournes, Dundalk Bay and right down to Howth Head Bray Head and the Sugarloaf were spectacular.
The descent exercised some new muscles and was tricky – but views on the way down are always more dramatic. The string of walkers down the path made a great picture. By the time we got down we were ready for a shower. The weather held up pretty well all day we had a couple of showers but they never seem to last more than 5 minutes. Later we had a lovely evening at the Carlingford Marina, starting with a couple of very welcome pints and followed by good food and company. All in all a very successful first in what must become an annual event.
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