Ireland vs All Blacks

[Gaillimh]

I was trying to figure out if NZ really do have the depth to lay claim to having the top two teams in the world, so I listed what I think are each of our best 15s, then for the fun of it, our second best 15s:

15 Muliaina Dempsey - Muliaina on attacking ability, Dempsey on Defence
14 Rokocoko Horgan - Rokocoko on speed, Horgan on strength
13 Nonu O Driscoll - O Driscoll.
12 Mauger D'arcy - D'arcy
11 Sivivatu Trimble - Sivivatu on speed, Trimble on strength
10 Carter O Gara - Carter on running game
9 Kelleher Stringer - Kelleher on physicality
1 Woodcock Horan - Woodcock in the scrum, Horan in the loose
2 Mealamu Flannery - Flannery
3 Hayman Hayes - Hayman in the scrum, Bull in the loose?
4 Jack O Callahan - Jack
5 Williams O Connell - O Connell
6 Collins Best - Best
7 McCaw Wallace - McCaw
8 So'oialo Leamy - Leamy

Then, to compare our second teams, it's a bit pointless but anyway:

15 MacDonald G Murphy - 50 50, Murphy on a good day
14 Howlett Fitzgerald - Howlett, Fitzgerald untested
13 Smith Kelly - Smith, Kelly doesn't quite have the legs
12 Tuitupou Lewis& nbsp; - Tuitupou, Lewis untested
11 Gear Hickie - 50 50, Gear for speed
10 McAlister Wallace - McAlister
9 Weepu Boss - Weepu, Boss inexperienced
1 Somerville Young - Somerville, Young inexperienced
2 Hore Best - Hore, Best inexperienced
3 Tialata Best - Tialata, Best inexperienced
4 Eaton O Kelly - Eaton, O Kelly past it
5 Robinson Hogan - Robinson, Hogan untested
6 Thorne Easterby or Ferris - Thorne, Easterby old, Ferris untested
7 Holah Gleeson - Holah
8 Masoe Quinlan - Quinlan ?

So, our second team is mostly either past it or untested

[SkibRed]

Oh come on....Just watch the video of the All Blacks Vs Ireland last November if you want to see how good or bad they are.

Carter just on the running game???? smileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gif

Enough!

[SkibRed]

Oh come on....Just watch the video of the All Blacks Vs Ireland last November if you want to see how good or bad they are.

Carter just on the running game???? smileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gifsmileys/biggrin.gif

Enough! Good wum, take a bow

[Mcork]

It's good to be opimistic but we need to get our feet back on the ground.


15 Muliaina Dempsey - Muliaina far ahead on every aspect of the game.


14 Rokocoko Horgan - Rokocoko on speed & on strength
13 Nonu O Driscoll - O Driscoll.
12 Mauger D'arcy - Mauger although I admit D'Arcy was great these AI's
11 Sivivatu Trimble - Sivivatu on speed & on strength.
10 Carter O Gara - Carter on all aspects of the game


9 Kelleher Stringer - Kelleher on physicality
1 Woodcock Horan - Woodcock in the scrum, Horan in the loose
2 Mealamu Flannery - Flannery (Mealamu is a thug, anotrher spear against France), I'll give you that only cause I dont like Mea
3 Hayman Hayes - Hayman in the scrum & in the loose?
4 Jack O Callahan - Jack
5 Williams O Connell - O Connell : Yes
6 Collins Best - Collins : If Best continues in this form perhaps at the end of season we can compare both.


7 McCaw Wallace - McCaw
8 So'oialo Leamy - So'oialo : Leamy is getting there but the AB is ahead (the only one IMO) of him at the moment.

[Sin a bhfuil]

Yeah sorry Gaillimh but can only see two Irish advantages in both those 15's... give us another few years!

[i_like_cake]

@@@@SPAN style="color: black;">@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">Long separated by cruel fate, the No.6's raced across@@@@/SPAN><o =""></o>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">@@@@SPAN style="font-family: monospace;"> @@@@/SPAN>the @@@@/SPAN><br style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, @@@@/SPAN><br style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">one@@@@/SPAN><o =""></o>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;"> having@@@@/SPAN><o =""></o>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">@@@@SPAN style="font-family: monospace;"> @@@@/SPAN>left @@@@/SPAN><st1 =""><st1:city w:st="&#111;n"></st1:city></st1>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">at @@@@/SPAN><st1:time style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;" hour="18" minute="36" w:st="&#111;n">6:36 p.m.</st1:time>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;"> travelling at 55 mph, @@@@/SPAN><br style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">the other from@@@@/SPAN><o =""></o>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">@@@@/SPAN><st1 =""> <st1:city w:st="&#111;n">Auckland</st1:city></st1>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;"> at @@@@/SPAN><st1:time style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;" hour="16" minute="19" w:st="&#111;n">4:19p.m.</st1:time>@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;"> at a speed of 45 mph.@@@@/SPAN><br style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;"><br style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">@@@@SPAN style="font-family: courier new,courier,mono;">Now that is the sort of comparison I would like to see happen... !!!@@@@SPAN style="font-family: monospace;">smileys/razz.gifsmileys/razz.gif@@@@/SPAN>@@@@/SPAN><o =""></o>@@@@/SPAN></pre>

[Gaillimh]

It's good to be opimistic but we need to get our feet back on the ground.





15 Muliaina Dempsey - Muliaina far ahead on every aspect of the game.</font>
14 Rokocoko Horgan - Rokocoko on speed &amp; on strength
</font>12 Mauger D'arcy - Mauger although I admit D'Arcy was great these AI's
</font>11 Sivivatu Trimble - Sivivatu on speed &amp; on strength.</font>
10 Carter O Gara - Carter on all aspects of the game</font>
2 Mealamu Flannery - Flannery (Mealamu is a thug, anotrher spear against France), I'll give you that only cause I dont like Mea
</font>3 Hayman Hayes - Hayman in the scrum &amp; in the loose?</font>
6 Collins Best - Collins : If Best continues in this form perhaps at the end of season we can compare both.</font>
8 So'oialo Leamy - So'oialo : Leamy is getting there but the AB is ahead (the only one IMO) of him at the moment.
</font>
Dempsey vs. Muliaina: You're probably right, Muliaina might edge Dempsey in most aspects of their game, but I don't think that he is light years ahead. I've watched him for years, and there have been many games when he's been pretty anonymous, particularly when he plays with the Blues and doesn't have a good pack in front of him.

Rokocoko vs Horgan: I don't agree that Rokocoko is stronger - Horgan has 6 kgs on him. Rokocoko is a speed merchant though.

D'arcy vs. Mauger: Well, they are different kinds of players. Mauger is a 'second five-eigth' with a good kicking/distribution game, D'arcy can scavenge and make line breaks. I guess it depends on the tactics used, but D'arcy would edge it in my book - based on his performance in the AIs.

Sivivatu vs Trimble: Yeah, Sivivatu is heavier than I thought 99kg vs Trimble's 91kg. Sivivatu then, but give Trimble a year to sharpen up...

Carter vs O Gara: I agree - Carter is awesome in every facet of his game. However, ROG's tactical kicking is right up there, and I would suggest that he equals Carter in kicking from hand?

Mealamu vs Fla: Yeah, Mealamu is a thug, have seen him have very bad days throwing though, so while they are probably about equal for athleticism, Fla would edge it on throwing consistency.

Collins vs. Best: 36 caps vs. 7 is the difference between them.

So'oialo vs Leamy: Again, 29 caps vs 16. I'd say that Leamy's biggest weakness at the moment is that his handling skills let him down occasionally, if he sorts that out...

Okay, so I was probably being a bit optimistic, however there is a certain 'Irishness' about putting your own team down, isn't there? It's part of the 'Ah sure, don't put yourself forward', self-depracting thing. I think that, finally, when we move beyond that now we do it with confidence - we aren't just setting ourselves up for a fall.

So, for some big ifs: If Leamy, Best, Trimble and D'arcy continue to grow into their positions, and Flannery comes back as good as he was when he got injured, then I would say that coming into the world cup, we would edge the ABs at 5,6,8,12,13 and 14.

[Riptide]

[QUOTE=Gaillimh]I was trying to figure out if NZ really do have the depth to lay claim to having the top two teams in the world, so I listed what I think are each of our best 15s, then for the fun of it, our second best 15s:

15 Muliaina Dempsey - Muliaina on attacking ability, Dempsey on Defence
14 Rokocoko Horgan - Rokocoko on speed, Horgan on strength
13 Nonu O Driscoll - O Driscoll.
12 Mauger D'arcy - D'arcy
11 Sivivatu Trimble - Sivivatu on speed, Trimble on strength
10 Carter O Gara - Carter on running game
9 Kelleher Stringer - Kelleher on physicality
1 Woodcock Horan - Woodcock in the scrum, Horan in the loose
2 Mealamu Flannery - Flannery
3 Hayman Hayes - Hayman in the scrum, Bull in the loose?
4 Jack O Callahan - Jack
5 Williams O Connell - O Connell
6 Collins Best - Best
7 McCaw Wallace - McCaw
8 So'oialo Leamy - Leamy

Then, to compare our second teams, it's a bit pointless but anyway:

15 MacDonald G Murphy - 50 50, Murphy on a good day
14 Howlett Fitzgerald - Howlett, Fitzgerald untested
13 Smith Kelly - Smith, Kelly doesn't quite have the legs
12 Tuitupou Lewis& amp; nbsp; - Tuitupou, Lewis untested
11 Gear Hickie - 50 50, Gear for speed
10 McAlister Wallace - McAlister
9 Weepu Boss - Weepu, Boss inexperienced
1 Somerville Young - Somerville, Young inexperienced
2 Hore Best - Hore, Best inexperienced
3 Tialata Best - Tialata, Best inexperienced
4 Eaton O Kelly - Eaton, O Kelly past it
5 Robinson Hogan - Robinson, Hogan untested
6 Thorne Easterby or Ferris - Thorne, Easterby old, Ferris untested
7 Holah Gleeson - Holah
8 Masoe Quinlan - Quinlan ?

So, our second team is mostly eith

Once again I find myself agreeing with mcork.



Optimism is one thing, but frankly several around here have been on the happy tabs/wowee sauce.

[Gaillimh]

My point is to challenge the assertion that because the All Blacks are unassailable, everyone is playing for second place, ourselves included.

They are clearly superior to us at 7, 9 and 10, as we are clearly superior to them at 5 and 13. They are better than us at 1, 3, 11 and 15. The rest of them you could argue about. With Collins and So'oialo, I think they have peaked - Collins in particular already has biceps on his biceps. Leamy and Best are only getting going.

[Riptide]

Once again I find myself agreeing with mcork.

Optimism is one thing, but frankly several around here have been on the happy tabs/wowee sauce.



It's become quiteridiculous. In the wet of Dublin, when O'Gara is more capable of controlling the tempo of the game, we will always have a decent shout, but we have neverbeaten the All Blacks anywhere at any time, nor have we ever won in South Africa, and it is 26fu$%ingyears sincewe won in Australia.Fast grounds haven't been kind.


This Sept, we'll be in a real battle to get out of our group. France, on thefast fast French tracks of Sept/Oct, will be favoured at home and the Argentinians can wreck our scrum. Hell, our scrum was in trouble against even the Aussies. Argentina, after one week of prepartion, and missing several of their top players, beat England at Twickenham.

[gelly]

on the pitch NZ are ahead of us in almost all positions what about off it How far is henry ahead of EOS </font>tactically </font> he is miles ahead ithink</font>

[Riptide]

My point is to challenge the assertion that because the All Blacks are unassailable, everyone is playing for second place, ourselves included.

They are clearly superior to us at 7, 9 and 10, as we are clearly superior to them at 5 and 13. They are better than us at 1, 3, 11 and 15. The rest of them you could argue about. With Collins and So'oialo, I think they have peaked - Collins in particular already has biceps on his biceps. Leamy and Best are only getting going.


The ABS are better than us period..1-thru 15.... We have NEVER beaten them.. anywhere!! O'Driscoll is the only Irish player whocould feel quite confident of making their starting 15. Given the emphasis the ABs place on all the players being athletic and having the skills to pass off either hand at pace, and being able to offload before and in contact (reason Holah isn't in the squad), it's unclear if even O'Connell would get in ahead of Jack or Williams.


Lets win a bloody trophy first before we continue to get carried away. I mean, when is the last time Ireland actually won the 6N's/5N's championship? Then we can go into encounters away from Dublin with greater confidence that we can well... just emerge from our group.. nevermindhavethe ability to beat top class opposition 4 weeks in a row with the same 15.. Last time we played all our top players on 3 consecutive weekends, we were smoked by Australia and cited fatigue. I am not thinking WC just yet.

[Upfront_1979]

odd that we did OK agaisnt S.Africa scrum but were terrible against Australia? Are the S.Africans now worse than australiaor did we just have a bad game?

[dipstick]

How we will perform depends a lot on on our key players, Rog, Hayes, POC etc., survive the 6 Nations. Without them we are f**ked. Look at what happened toSale over w/e.

[ECSquared]

I really think we are losing the run of ourselves, would we beat a full SA team?


Are we confident of beating Wales and even Scotland in the 6N? Lets win the grand slam (which has to be the next logical step if we're coming on as everyone would have us believe) and talk about it then.


Personally I'm not convinced yet, beat the other 5 in the 6N and then I will be getting there. SA had a reserve side and while we did very well in both matches I'm not sure the Aussies really wanted to know in those conditions. Not taking away from Sundays performance, it was very very good, but lets not lose the run of ourselves. Not so long ago (a year actullay) we got hammered off the pitch by an arguably worse AB team than the one walking around Europe now.

[sewa]

I really think we are losing the run of ourselves, would we beat a full SA team? Yes. As aregular watcher of Currie cup I am convinced of it.


Are we confident of beating Wales should be our toughest game in 6N allright and even Scotland Yes in the 6N? Lets win the grand slam (which has to be the next logical step if we're coming on as everyone would have us believe) and talk about it then.


Personally I'm not convinced yet, beat the other 5 in the 6N and then I will be getting there. SA had a reserve side Not true. They had a few injuries which is to be expected but dont expecta major change in personnel come the world cup.

[neiljung]

Once again I find myself agreeing with mcork.

Optimism is one thing, but frankly several around here have been on the happy tabs/wowee sauce.



It's become quiteridiculous. In the wet of Dublin, when O'Gara is more capable of controlling the tempo of the game, we will always have a decent shout, but we have neverbeaten the All Blacks anywhere at any time, nor have we ever won in South Africa, and it is 26fu$%ingyears sincewe won in Australia.Fast grounds haven't been kind.


This Sept, we'll be in a real battle to get out of our group. France, on thefast fast French tracks of Sept/Oct, will be favoured at home and the Argentinians can wreck our scrum. Hell, our scrum was in trouble against even the Aussies. Argentina, after one week of prepartion, and missing several of their top players, beat England at Twickenham.




<!-
var SymReal&#079;nLoad;
var SymReal;

Sym()
{
window.open = SymWinOpen;
if(SymReal != null)
SymReal();
}

Sym&#079;nLoad()
{
if(SymReal&#079;nLoad != null)
SymReal&#079;nLoad();
window.open = SymRealWinOpen;
SymReal = window.;
window. = Sym;
}

SymReal&#079;nLoad = window.&#111;nload;
window.&#111;nload = Sym&#079;nLoad;

//->




This time 2 years ago we had beaten SA once ever, now we've beaten them three times.
Until this Autumn we'd never beaten 2 SH teams in successive games.
Before last March we had never beaten England three times in sucession.


Seeing as we seem to be on run of firsts it's prob as likely a time as any for us to create a few more.


Times are changing pretty quickly, 100 years of defeats against a team don't count for much if you beat them next time.

[Upfront_1979]

6 nations


England - we will beat them and probably by a record score


France - in Croker with 80,000 fans and the fact that they still don't have a fly-half and their pack does'nt seem to be as strong as before I'd say we should take this.


Scotland - was initally a little worried because their style of play is probably one of the best ways to nullify ours but with Jason white and probably cussiter out along with Allister hOgg( I think) we should get through this easily enough.


Italy - again a potential bananaskin with their pack but we should still have too much for them.


Wales - up first so we have to start well but then again so do they. will know better after this weekend what state they are in but this is the game I'd be worried about. Although if we do lose it I still think we will win the tournament as I can't see wales or francebeing as consistant as us.

[Riptide]

I really think we are losing the run of ourselves, would we beat a full SA team? Yes. As aregular watcher of Currie cup I am convinced of it.


Are we confident of beating Wales should be our toughest game in 6N allright and even Scotland Yes in the 6N? Lets win the grand slam (which has to be the next logical step if we're coming on as everyone would have us believe) and talk about it then.


Personally I'm not convinced yet, beat the other 5 in the 6N and then I will be getting there. SA had a reserve side Not true. They had a few injuries which is to be expected but dont expecta major change in personnel come the world cup.





Really? No major changes? I'd say that only five starting players from last weekend - van der Linde, Smit, Spies, Habana and De Villiers - barring injury are almost sure of facing England in France.Even Jake White said today "The team we're playing on this trip is nowhere near our strongest... everyone knows that."


Only Smit from the front 5 that started aganstireland will be in the starting 15. Matfield/Botha are arguably the best locking combo in the game.When SchalkBurger returns from injury, he is assured of a spot among the loosies. So I'd count 5 probable changes in the pack alone. DuPreez at 9, Fourie at 13, with probably only Habana assured of his place in the back three,possibly Steyn also.. So that's an additional 3-4 changes.


It's really quite possible there would be 8-9 changes in a first Bok XV for say the England vs. Bok pool encounter at the WC.


On another note, the skill level and contest at the breaksdown in the Currie Cup Final was on par with anything I have seen outside theTest arena in years.

[Riptide]

Once again I find myself agreeing with mcork.

Optimism is one thing, but frankly several around here have been on the happy tabs/wowee sauce.



It's become quiteridiculous. In the wet of Dublin, when O'Gara is more capable of controlling the tempo of the game, we will always have a decent shout, but we have neverbeaten the All Blacks anywhere at any time, nor have we ever won in South Africa, and it is 26fu$%ingyears sincewe won in Australia.Fast grounds haven't been kind.


This Sept, we'll be in a real battle to get out of our group. France, on thefast fast French tracks of Sept/Oct, will be favoured at home and the Argentinians can wreck our scrum. Hell, our scrum was in trouble against even the Aussies. Argentina, after one week of prepartion, and missing several of their top players, beat England at Twickenham.


<!-
var SymReal&#079;nLoad;
var SymReal;

Sym()
{
window.open = SymWinOpen;
if(SymReal != null)
SymReal();
}

Sym&#079;nLoad()
{
if(SymReal&#079;nLoad != null)
SymReal&#079;nLoad();
window.open = SymRealWinOpen;
SymReal = window.;
window. = Sym;
}

SymReal&#079;nLoad = window.&#111;nload;
window.&#111;nload = Sym&#079;nLoad;

//->


This time 2 years ago we had beaten SA once ever, now we've beaten them three times.
Until this Autumn we'd never beaten 2 SH teams in successive games.
Before last March we had never beaten England three times in sucession.


Seeing as we seem to be on run of firsts it's prob as likely a time as any for us to create a few more.


Times are changing pretty quickly, 100 years of defeats against a team don't count for much if you beat them next time.





We can beat teams at home in the wet of Lansdowne Rd. England are crap - even Scotland even beat them.


So, I'm not a buyer of this sauce. Yes we are a good team, a very good side but we have not shown anyone we can win away from home on a fast surface yet...never mindseveral weekends against top class opposition.

[Mcork]

It's funny but the this thread seems to mix unrealistic optimism with unfounded pessimism in equal measure.


What's for sure : if you compare us to 1 year ago, we have improved enormously, even from the 6N's we are unrecognisable. That may well have been a 2nd string SA side &amp; an Aussie team that didn't want to know in the conditions but I'm 100% sure they'd have beaten us this time last year. Our skill levels under pressure are good even in poor conditions, that is something new. And contrary to what some may believe, fast dry tracks in France in November? I wouldn't bet on it, the pitches I'm playing on here aren't that dry. Watched Montpellier v SF in a mud bath last friday night. Anyteam wishing to win the WC in France is going to need to adapt to the conditions. For me that makes the AB's clear favourites.


Where I would draw the line is in comparison with the SH, when we go down there, we're not at our best because it's the end of the season &amp; vice versa when they come up here so comparisons are hard to draw. I think going on the evidence, the Aus backs are considerably better than ours but our pack would seem to have the edge, get them on a wet day &amp; we have a decent chance of beating them. A dry day &amp; I think they'd be favourites. SA I'm less sure about as they were missing quite a few players. The AB's are well ahead of everyone (incl us) at the moment. There is 10 months left to bridge that gap. I sincerely believe though that we'll only have ourselves to blame if we dont prove ourselves the best team in Europe in the spring. Time to prove the doubters wrong with a GS, until then it's premature to talk about the WC.

[Sin a bhfuil]

I really think we are losing the run of ourselves, would we beat a full SA team? Yes. As aregular watcher of Currie cup I am convinced of it.


Are we confident of beating Wales should be our toughest game in 6N allright and even Scotland Yes in the 6N? Lets win the grand slam (which has to be the next logical step if we're coming on as everyone would have us believe) and talk about it then.


Personally I'm not convinced yet, beat the other 5 in the 6N and then I will be getting there. SA had a reserve side Not true. They had a few injuries which is to be expected but dont expecta major change in personnel come the world cup.





Really? No major changes? I'd say that only five starting players from last weekend - van der Linde, Smit, Spies, Habana and De Villiers - barring injury are almost sure of facing England in France.Even Jake White said today "The team we're playing on this trip is nowhere near our strongest... everyone knows that."


Only Smit from the front 5 that started aganstireland will be in the starting 15. Matfield/Botha are arguably the best locking combo in the game.When SchalkBurger returns from injury, he is assured of a spot among the loosies. So I'd count 5 probable changes in the pack alone. DuPreez at 9, Fourie at 13, with probably only Habana assured of his place in the back three,possibly Steyn also.. So that's an additional 3-4 changes.


It's really quite possible there would be 8-9 changes in a first Bok XV for say the England vs. Bok pool encounter at the WC.


On another note, the skill level and contest at the breaksdown in the Currie Cup Final was on par with anything I have seen outside theTest arena in years.








You say that Van der linde will be in the first 15 but then that Smit is the only one of the front five??? Juan Smith, Pierre Spies and Andre Pretorius were all first choice selections. And Jake White is obviously going to bring to attention the fact that they are understrength when most Saffas are calling for his head!

[daveirl]

And contrary to what some may believe, fast dry tracks in France in November? I wouldn't bet on it, the pitches I'm playing on here aren't that dry. Watched Montpellier v SF in a mud bath last friday night. Anyteam wishing to win the WC in France is going to need to adapt to the conditions. For me that makes the AB's clear favourites.

The world cup is in Sept/Oct. Conditions should still be good.

[Mcork]

And contrary to what some may believe, fast dry tracks in France in November? I wouldn't bet on it, the pitches I'm playing on here aren't that dry. Watched Montpellier v SF in a mud bath last friday night. Anyteam wishing to win the WC in France is going to need to adapt to the conditions. For me that makes the AB's clear favourites.

The world cup is in Sept/Oct. Conditions should still be good.



When is it starting exactly? It rains quite heavily in the south west in sept/Oct normally (South east is only place you can expect dry weather). Obviously it's nothing like Ireland where you have constant precipitation but you usually get sporadic heavy rain at some point. Pitches can be quite bad, flooding is common. North France is more stable but I'd bet quite a few of the matches will be played in the rain so any team preparing to play uniquely on hard ground could be disappointed.

[Gaillimh]

Our two important pool matches are both in Paris. France on the 21st of september and Argentina on the 30th. If we win the pool (obviously a big if - I was in Paris for the six nations this year, and the first half was somewhat depressing!), then we play Scotland in Paris on the 7th of October. If we come second in the group, then we play New Zealand in Cardiff on the 6th.

It's a pretty bad draw - _I_ was exhausted after the Argentina-Ireland game in Adelaide, and all I had to do was watch, cheer and worry aloud that I was having a heart attack - can only imagine how the players felt.