“Can You Give Us A Game Plan That Might Work?” – Eddie O’Sullivan Tears Into Ireland Coaching Ticket
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Bullied again.
Former Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan has not held back in his analysis of Ireland following their 18-7 defeat to England at Twickenham in the Autumn Nations Cup this afternoon – and it’s hard not to agree with him.
While Ireland had much of the possession for large parts of the game, with England making an astonishing 232 tackles to Ireland’s 63, the men in green failed to make much ground and never really looked like scoring.
It was a frustrating afternoon for Ireland fans once again with Farrell’s side reverting back to one out runners, flat passes, and just pure and utter soulless rugby that never had a chance.
And O’Sullivans’s comments are right on the money.
“The question here in the review is the players asking the coaches – ‘can you give us a game plan that might work here?’” O’Sullivan said.
“They’re sending guys out with a game plan that’s tailormade for England’s defence effectively. There’s no other evidence.
“There was nothing there today to say that we were even on the verge of breaking England down. The break from Earls and [Stockdale’s chip] that’s two moments of brilliance.
“Good luck with that every Saturday for 80 minutes.
“But take those two out of it and it’s nothing head-on, front assault, regardless of casualties.
“If they were in charge of an army it would be off the charts in terms of casualties. England were gobbling this up all day. Set the line double tackle, stand up, set the line, double tackle.
“And we’re going backwards all day. There wasn’t one bit of evidence today that we know how to break that defence down. And here’s the killer – if England had changed up their defence today I can get it, you can get caught on the hop but we knew that was coming. And we were awful in the first half and just as bad in the second really.”