The Irish players attempt to take some off the heat off Kidney, the world rankings make for grim reading and more on the very attractive soprano singer you may have spotted before the England game on Saturday.
Blame us not Kidney, say the Irish players
It’s been more than 24 hours at this stage, but the defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield yesterday still hurts. A lot. It’s not the defeat itself, more the manner of it, that most sticks in the craw and has many Irish supporters questioning the future of Declan Kidney as Irish coach only a few weeks after his future seemed safe following a magnificent showing against Wales on the first weekend.
Kidney will argue that there was nothing he could do about the failure of Paddy Jackson to convert his kicks or the failure to make the most of a share of possession that would flatter a lion and accordingly, the players came out fighting on his behalf after the match.
“I’d love to give them more credit for the win, I really would but, and I don’t mean to take anything away from them, I think we bottled it,” Donncha O’Callaghan is quoted as saying in today’s Irish Times.
“We had to get a result and we weren’t good enough… we had the winning of that game and weren’t good enough to take it which is really tough to take. It’s the worst period in sport,” he added.
Rob Kearney echoed O’Callaghan’s sentiments, saying: “Coaches are under pressure, players are under pressure, everyone has to bear the brunt of that; today was a game we should have won and we didn’t so questions have be asked.”
It was honourable of the players to come out fighting on Kidney’s behalf, but will it be enough to save the Cork man from the chop? We have our doubts…
If defeat didn’t taste rank enough…
It doesn’t matter nearly as much now as it did prior to the draw for the 2015 World Cup, but it’s never nice to see yourself fall down the world rankings, as Ireland did this morning, as it adds salt to the very gaping wounds being felt in the camp at the moment.
After back to back defeats, Ireland have dropped to seventh in the world rankings, swapping places with Wales, with Samoa, Argentina and Scotland lurking ominously in the background and ready to capitalise on any further slip-ups.
Unsurprisingly, England are by far and away the highest ranked northern hemisphere side, but they are still more than 1.5 ranking points away from threatening the dominance of the big three Down Under.
IRB World Rankings
- New Zealand 90.08 rating points
- South Africa 86.94
- Australia 86.87
- England 85.30
- France 81.20
- Wales 80.74
- IRELAND 79.28
- Samoa 78.71
- Argentina 78.71
- Scotland 78.19
Sultry Soprano isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty
The terms ‘Soprano’ and ‘hands dirty’ in the same sentence throws up all sort of menacing connotations thanks to the brilliant mob TV series, but thankfully the reference is above board in this case.
Anyone tuning into the England v France game on Saturday will have seen the very lovely Laura Wright belt out a version of ‘God Save the Queen’ before kick-off (in a very eye-catching dress), but she dispelled any stereotypes of diva-like behaviour amongst Soprano singers by turning out for her local rugby side, Rosslyn Park Ladies, on Sunday.
Pic via Twitter/ESPN Scrum
As a full back, Laura was more worried about high balls than high notes on Sunday morning, but by the looks of the picture above she enjoyed herself and didn’t make a song and dance about the task at hand.
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