CJ Stander and Craig Gilroy scored hat-tricks as Ireland thumped Italy 63-10 to claim a bonus point and give them a boost in confidence following last week's loss to Scotland. Paddy Jackson had a 100% record with the boot, slotting nine conversions.
The nine-try victory was Ireland's biggest ever in the Six Nations, and was the first attacking bonus point of the competition, after the trial system was brought in this year.
After havign two away games, Ireland will host France in Dublin next.
A Fawlty Towers impersonation in the scrum? that's just hilarious........How british can you get!!
Yep, agree with that and I know I'm preaching to the converted, but the footballery whiny shit is destined to get worse now that rugby players are no longer allowed to self police the game. Not so long ago, someone in Stander's position would have made a mental note of the player and clattered him, possibly very illegally, at the next opportunity.
Yes DrG. First time I played flanker (not that long ago relatively speaking), I don't know if I made it that obvious, I certainly didn't do a Jonny May or anything, but I reckon the prop recognised I was new to the position and felt a welcome initiation was in order.
First scrum - bop on the nose. Not hard or anything, but very funny! As soon as he did it he went "oh sorry!" in the style of Basil Fawlty giving that spoilt kid a clip round the ear in fawlty towers. One of his teammates goes "what?". Prop replies "ah I accidentally punched the flanker in the face - well I say accidentally..."
I agree and to be totally honest it was a fair challenge, on any player if you can get a good grip you have the potential to spin them onto their back and therefore get under them to stop grounding....
...Chances are on a behemoth like Stander it'd never work... But at the same time "when in Rome"...
Totally agree, especially considering Ireland already had a 20 points lead.
Plus that was absolutely nothing. Italian player grabbed him by the shoulder and barely touched his cheek.
It wasn't that bad and back rows moaning about trivial crap isn't something I'm used to, but if you're happy with it then ok, just highlights the negative way the game is heading.
This used to be a game where blokes would outshine their opposition, not bitch to the referees to reduce the number of opposition to then make getting those points even easier.
Seems rugby is destined to adopt a football template and become a sport that relies on referees to penalise an opposition into a loss...
CJ Stander was my first pick of the fantasy tournament and I've not regretted it. He'd be my first name down for the Lions tour. That guy is awesome.
Sorry, but no. If someone pointlessly clotheslines you when you're going in for a try you have a right to complain. In fact, you shouldn't even need to complain, because the referee should see it and deal with it himself without needing it to be brought to his attention.
I've had a prop hit me on the head as he threw his arm round to "bind" in a scrum (I was playing flanker), the cheeky shite was trying to rile me up, but I didn't go complaining to the referee.... Stander must get far worse than that, he is calling for it because of the new directives....
Especially since his head got nothing. Sure, the italian grabbed him above the shoulder (slide tackle they called it in Wales-England), but, as a 6, he knows better than anyone else that it happens hundred times in a game. Granted, he could be more gracious in victory, instead of trying to play the ref rather than the game.
he probably didn't like getting whacked in the head....
True, he probably should just get on with it and let the ref do his job, but regardless of the new directives, the Italian wasn't going to achieve anything by trying to tackle him at the point so its a fair point for complaint
Didn't like seeing CJ Stander pointing to his head when he was hit diving for a try....
Would he have done that 2-3 years ago? Or is this just an example of what's to come with the new directives?
Anyway, small negative in a massive positive of his game. So well done to him and Ireland overall..