The Sunday Tribune - Italia 90

The Sunday Tribune - 25 Years Later

Packie Saves! Uploaded by M+MD.

This cover has a lot of memories for me - anybody alive in Ireland in June 1990 will recognise. I remember that on the day of the quarter-final play-off against Romania we had arranged a meeting with a Abacus Venture Capital who were considering an investment in the Tribune at the time. We were considering a rights issues to fund the soon to be launched Dublin Tribune. We arranged a presentation to Abacus at 2pm on the day of the match - we didn't realise at the time that it would clash with the match - but as the funding was important we waited for them to cancel - they didn't. The presentation went well and we were finished about 5 minutes after kick-off. The presentation as in the old Goodbody's Stockbrockers offices in Dame Street and we rushed to the nearest TV set - Blooms Hotel. We watched the first half and decide to make a run for Baggot Street at half time. I will always remember walking up through Dublin at half-time - there was hardly a car or a bus on the road - the place was deserted in the middle of the afternoon, it was more like 9am Sunday than 3.45 pm Monday. We met the rest of the Tribune folks in Toners where we watched the rest of the match. It went to a penalty shoot-out and Packie Bonner famously saved the 4th penalty with Niall Quinn slotting the fifth we were through to the quarter-final -it was the stuff of fairy tales.

What its all about... Victory...

IRB RWC 2007 Final - SA v England
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Jon Truimphant

...and Defeat

Defeated
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Joni dejected.

World Cup Final England 6 South Africa 15

Bundled into touch - no try
Originally uploaded by Mangi Wau

It was as we thought too much to hope for - yes it's true we were hoping for an England win. But South Africa were really always in control. At 15-6 as a final score it will not go down as a classic game of rugby - but it's fair to say it was a classic cup final. It was a dull edgy game, with lots of mistakes on both sides and a very close call from the TMO on a probable English try - but South Africa had the extra gear in the end.
England put up a much improved performance but it was not good enough in the end. It's been an interesting World Cup; the game has changed a lot in 4 years. It seems more technical now - the kicking and territory game was very successful, sometimes a little unfairly (if you can say that!) but that's how sport evolves. We can now look forward to thrashing the world cup finalists in Twickenham this spring and of course think about the possibilities of a trip to New Zealand for World Cup 2011.

Rugby World Cup Semi Finals England 14 France 9South Africa 37 Argentina 13

Sad Frenchman!
Originally uploaded by rosbiffer

The Semi Finals gave us 2 good matches. England Vs France was a real war of attrition. England scored a quick try then France got ahead and managed to stay ahead for most of the game, but in the end they were not able to close out the game and they fell victim to their success against the All Blacks almost the same way as they did in 1999. England played the best rugby they have played for some years and varied their game enough to counteract the French. In the end the better team won.
Argentina also played a little like they had also won their world cup by getting this far. The South African never really struggled and on balance they have had by far the easiest run into the final. You have to think that their name is written on this one - a little like England in 2003.
Time discloses all!

Southern Hemisphere arrogance takes a dent this week-end

Saturday 2pm, Marseilles - Australia V England. Final Score 10-12 It was a strange feeling shouting for England. This week-end the pride of northern hemisphere rugby football was vested in our old enemies England and France. England played the game of their lives. They attacked Australia at the breakdowns with a ferocity that the All-Blacks would find hard to better. They turned over the ball maybe ten times. Even though Joni Wilkinson was not as accurate as usual - only 4 from 7 - they still managed to squeeze out a 12 points to 10 victory. Australia lost it mentally in the last few minutes. When they got a penalty in the last 2 minutes which was obviously outside of Mortlock's range - they prayed for a miracle rather than backing themselves and kicking for the corner. Mortlock missed and England ran down the clock to give a famous victory. You can showboat with big scores (91-3 V Japan; 55-12 V Fiji; 37-3 V Canada) in the early stages, but in the knock-out stages you need heart and brains in equal measure to go forward.

Saturday 8pm, Cardiff - New Zealand V France. Final Score 18-20 New Zealand slipped up - so someone else will take their birthright again. Fabien Pelous, a veteran of France's famous 1999 world cup victory against the All-Blacks said of the game: "We knew we wouldn't play much, we would occupy territory. We got away with it; if we played that match again 5 times out of 6 we would lose it". Crazy Benny Laport picked a team of kickers to ensure that the played the game as much as possible in the New Zealand half. The tackles made statistics of 178 by France to 36 by New Zealand tells a tale of a fierce French Résistance.

Tricolour v Haka Uploaded by -Muppet

The Résistance started with the Haka. They lined up on the half way line in Red White and Blue T-shirts forming a large tricolour. Apparently this was Serge Betson's idea - good one. The Haka advanced to the line 'til they were nose to nose at the end. Chabal eye-balling his opposite number, nose to nose, was a sight to raise the French morale.

After the game Richie McCaw was interviewed on TV. The hurt and the pain visable on his face and in his voice, made our Irish teams hurt seem trivial. Later he said of the team in the dressing room "The pain in the eyes and the body language sums it up. It's hard to put it into words but there are some pretty shredded guys". In contrast to our arrangements, Graham Henry will be replaced before Christmas just like his four predecessors. I think this simply raises the pressure and expectation on New Zealand for 2011 - although they will be on home soil again.

Sunday 2pm, Marseilles - South Africa V Fiji. Final Score 30-20 While South Africa managed to hold it together to beat Fiji by 37 points to 20, it took a remarkable piece of individual leadership by their captain John Smit to pull them back from the brink. In the second half the 14 man Fiji team scored 2 tries in quick succession. They then just missed a try to take the lead. Smit called his team into a huddle. He said he could see in their eyes what he had seen in the eyes of the Australian and New Zealand players the previous day. He told them to snap out of it and go win the match. South Africa managed to use their rugby brains and skill to finally grind out a win. But there was no doubt about who had played the better rugby. Can you believe that earlier in the week Jaque Fourie said that Fiji did not merit the respect of the Springboks.

Sunday 8pm, Paris - Argentina V Scotland. Final Score 19-13 It was the poorest of the 4 matches. Argentina won in the end but only just. Scotland made lots of errors and gave limited ball to their outside line. They never took the flat pass from the scrum or ruck, but always passed deep and so often went backwards. Argentina were nothing like the team that beat France or Ireland. The score-line flattered both teams, if that's possible. So having started out this week-end thinking that the semi-finals could be a southern hemisphere tournament we now will have a north south final in the end, when France or England will take on South Africa or Argentina. The money would have to be on France to beat South Africa in Paris - but this World Cup is not one to predict.

Catalogue of Crazy Dreams... Argentina 30 Ireland 15

© Inpho It's been a month for Crazy Dreams. - First that we could beat Namibia by a Cricket Score; - then that we could get 5 points against Georgia; - then we could beat France and put them out of the world cup - double revenge for Croke Park and the last world cup; - and finally that we could beat Argentina by four tries.

Well now the dreams are shattered, and it's not just the supporters who feel the pain. I don't hold with piling the blame on Eddie - he is who he is - he is totally predictable - we liked it when he nearly won us a Grand Slam - why should we feel any different now. We might like him to be a bit more adventurous in selection and in the use of subs - but I don't think that was the difference in these performances. © Inpho The reality is that most teams who win the World Cup will do so because New Zealand haven't played to their potential. Ireland can never produce a team to beat New Zealand at its best. We need more than passion, though ironically our passion seemed to let us down this time. Our skill levels are better than in former years, but we need to get it all together - Players Passion; Skill; Commitment; Management - at the same time. Lets be honest we exposed our weaknesses in at least 2 of our 6 Nations games earlier this year. The End of Dreams (for now). Well now we can enjoy some class rugby as the World Cup continues without us. (Earlier France hammered Georgia by 64 points to 7.) Post Match Reactions Eddie O'Sullivan Brian O'Driscoll Other Players - D'arcy; Wallace; Comteponi; Pichot The final table for the pool of death looked like this: >

© inpho

Convincing win Georgia 30 Namibia 0

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

Come on Denis
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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?

How it should have been... Argentina 63 Namibia 3

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.

End of dreams? Not just yet... France 25 Ireland 3

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"

The French show how its done...France 87 Namibia 10

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.

Just a win is still a win. Ireland 14 Georgia 10

Ireland V Georgia
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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.

Are we there yet?
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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.

Not a shock - just a surprise Argentina 33 Georgia 3

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.

Its a shocker - but no damage done.... yet Ireland 32 Namibia 17

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.

Quelle Surprise? - It's started with a real surpriseFrance 12 Argentina 17

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!)

Getting in the mood for Rugby World Cup

© inpho

Leamy: We'll Be Ready To Peak In France. Interviewed ten days ago, Ireland's number eight Denis Leamy feels there is no need for supporters to panic about their team's World Cup hopes, despite their recent less than impressive defeat of Italy. "We will be a lot better for having played that game against Italy. Personally, it was important to get a game under my belt going into the World Cup," "The fixture list has worked out for us. I think the way everything was organised means it was probably in the coach's mind. No disrespect to either Namibia or Georgia, but we would be expected to beat them both and we'll use those game to sharpen the knife for the big two," added the 25-year-old. "It wasn't one of our better performances on Friday but you have to be realistic. For a lot of us it was our first game of the season, for others it was their second. "You can't just flick on a switch. It's going to take time together and the Italian game will have brought us on an awful lot. Hopefully we'll be ready for the big games at the World Cup." Horan Emphasises Importance Of The Scrum Prop Marcus Horan believes Ireland have the potential in their scrum to surprise teams at the forthcoming World Cup, admitting that the Irish forwards thrive on criticism of their set piece play. Read on for the thoughts of the 47 times-capped front rower. ON PLAYING ITALY LAST WEEK: "The Italians would be one of the best in the world at scrummaging I suppose and it was a great run-out for us. With the pool that we're in for the World Cup, it's going to stand to us down the line. "It's important get those games. We set ourselves up against these teams and try and grade ourselves against them every season so it's important to have a game like that under our belts heading towards the World Cup." ON POOL D RIVALS ARGENTINA AND IRELAND'S SCRUM: "I think the Argies will probably be leading the way scrummaging wise. Our scrum is going really well. We are very happy with the way training is going and the progress we have made. It's great that we always have our critics - it keeps us going. "On Friday night against Italy we obviously didn't start well but I think it was more to do with the interpretation of the referee's call. We got the hang of it in the second half and we put them under pressure in one or two scrums. We got one or two against the head which is a great thing against an Italian side. "We pitted ourselves well in the Six Nations too against France in the second half of the game at Croke Park and the boys did well out on the summer tour in Argentina. It's a place we can surprise these two teams (Argentina and France) and hopefully give it a good go. "On French soil, if their scrum is under pressure, the crowd tend to turn against them so it's an important area of the game we should try to exploit." © extracts from articles published on the Irish Rugby Supporters Site