tha_mai says...

meanwhile, as Ireland bicker . . . more matches today Fiji-Samoa, NZ-Wales, SA-Italy, England-Ireland, Australia-Argentina, France-Scotland.

Wales had the hiding of a lifetime last year from NZ - 0-92 and sure they'll do better this year. For tv coverage, if you have a fast internet line, all games online at wiziwig.

Posted 00:08 08th June 2012

mickcaherdavin says...

TG4 purchased the main rights package for the Rabo, Leinster are the most successful of the Irish provinces at the moment, that's why the matches are on TG4, their was huge cuts in RTE's sports budget

Posted 18:20 06th June 2012

Norm says...

Blametheref

Re your 14.38 post. That is astonishing generalising. It sounds like a personal view of yours that far from makes it so. Write to your TD, write to RTE, but dont blame irish speakers for RTE not paying to get the viewing rights to your beloved Leinster. Would you prefer that the games werent shown at all?

Your arguments generally carry much more reason and rationale than that.

Posted 17:57 06th June 2012

Norm says...

Blametheref/ Leinster Boy

I agree that he GAA's performance in the lead up to the access being granted to rugby and football was archaic and reprehensible, I would go so far as to say they almost singlehandedly killed the joint Irish/ Scottish bid for the Euro championships about to kick off in Ukriane and Poland. But lets not loose the run of ourselves. The IRFU were every bit the equal and opposite played in this stand off down the years, they too were banning players in much of the country from playing GAA if they wanted to play rugby, ask Jarleth Fallon of Galway who was showing great potential for Connaught until he was told to forget about the sport which he made his name in.

Also, and I am by no means proud of this fact either the assertion that the intransigence in the GAA is strongest in Cork and Kerry is flawed and shows only a stereotyping by someone who does know what they are talking about. Many of the counties in my own occupied corner of Ireland put them to shame in their intransigence.

But heres the thing that cuts across all of this, you can no more judge the entire GAA on the actions of the upper echelons any more than you can blame the entire game of rugby for the recent decision to ban more than one non irish qualified player playing provincial level at any one time.

The GAA is a unique organisation that sets the standard globally for an amateur organisation, how many other amateur organisations could build a stadium like croke park which proved a home for irish rugby to be proud of? And yes there was tax payers money poured into it but it was for the most part built by the GAA and the money raised at grass roots level.

Posted 17:24 06th June 2012

crunchfit says...

@mickcaherdavin

Not saying that it is absolutely true, but from what I am aware, there are elements of truth to the story. Not sure of the degree of truth though...

Posted 13:03 06th June 2012

mickcaherdavin says...

Are you completely off your nut?? It wouldn't surprise me if you wear a tinfoil hat!! I've never had the misfortune to read anything as daft, If you honestly believe that the whole point of having Leinster matches on TG4 is down to a conspiracy theory between the Kerry GAA County Board and Munster supporters, you'd want to get yourself check out or spend less time standing under power lines..on another note , fair play to Ireland

Posted 23:40 05th June 2012

makemehappy says...

@ABlack - don't think you can forecast that easily who wins the best runner up slot. It just isn't too easy in this tournament. Wales for example might get the spot if they don't get murdered by NZ.

Posted 16:59 05th June 2012

leinster_goy says...

@blametheref

"Irish rugby is going through big changes and soon could be the most popular field sport in the country" i would have agreed with you a year ago, but the fact that a huge amount of rugby is now being shown on TG4 is going to seriously stunt the growth of the sport. how can they expect to encourage participation in and support for rugby in ireland if it's broadcast half the time in a language that three-quarters of the country, by their own admission, neither speaks nor understands?

disgracefully, this affects Leinster, more than any other side. i'm struggling to think of the last time, aside from the final v ospreys, that a Leinster pro12 match was broadcast on RTE. with probably a few paltry exceptions, their games were all shown on TG4. meanwhile, stab city united's pro12 games are almost entirely broadcast by RTE. coincidence? my left tit

there's a lot of malicious lobbying here by vested interests such as the GAA, whose influence is concentrated (surprise, surprise) in the kingdom of kirrih/people's re-pube-lic. quite anturally, they are incensed at the intrusion of foreign games into their beloved little country, and will do everything in their power to keep their pure GAA sports in the ascendancy. moreover, they resent the growing dominance of Leinster rugby which is based in Dubbers (where, of course, all us liberal intellectual west brits reside) and will try anything to protect munster, the local power, whose dominance is clearly on the wane. they don't even have the goodwill to offer the services of the 80,000 seater croke park for the heineken final next year, even though its the only stadium with the necessary capacity for the event. that's how bigoted and small-minded these people are. how in the name of BOD is rugby going to grow in the long run in a country like this?

Posted 13:42 05th June 2012

JoseArtigas says...

@Blametheref: The sport is calling Hurling. It's played with a hurley, called a hurl in some areas.

Great win the the Irish u20s. Hanrahan was great at 10, as mentioned so were the front row and Henderson and Coughlan put in great performances too. The ferocity of the Irish tacklers and the ability to make a mess of most Baby Bok rucks was inspirational.

Posted 12:49 05th June 2012

hayj05 says...

@DutchWing - It certainly appears that way. Although that score did flatter Wales & Samoa might not be easy beats for them either.

Might depend on how much the Baby Blacks beat them by... sure it's not a given but watching the two sides I don't expect Wales tp be able to compete with the black machine.

I tell you what though. South Africa will be a wounded beast after that result & the crucial game against a very strong England side promises to be the match of the pool stages.

And those proclaiming that it wasn't a shock are surely kidding themselves.

Maybe if you watched the game & saw how the teams played it wasn't much of one but did any of you seriously think Ireland had a chance at beating South Africa in South Africa for the opening game of a WC before the game started.

I'm pretty sure that was the first win by any Ireland age group side over a South African age group side & the first time an Irish national side has won in South Africa period.

Posted 10:07 05th June 2012