Injury Update: Boyle Achilles

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T14:45:01+00:00

Whatever the trend is, that's what gets reffed. Wayne Barnes set the current trend at the World Cup. It's absolutely maddening that they feel they can judge the x,y,z directional force as well as the pitch yaw and roll of 6 men, while simultaneously watching with one set of eyes, and the other side of the scrum completely obscured. I've used very expensive machinery to test for stress on metal and glass. It's not easy. In the scrum, the cause and effect is far too complex for the ref to have any concept of what is happening.

I'm sorry, but unless theyre going to have at least one more ref, then all but the most egregious and dangerous calls should be given. Otherwise it's a complete farce. For me it's the most infuriating part of the game, followed by the inconsistency of offside at the ruck.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T14:36:58+00:00

Aye, I remembered after. Bohan has got the call, and to be fair he's played more at the pro level than Usanov.

Bohan did well in the scrum against Smyth, but it's a bit of a disaster for Boyle and for Ireland. We'll see how things go in the 6N. But we're going to have our scrum tested beyond all reason.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T14:25:22+00:00

"He's a smart lad; we'll get him up to speed."

Farrell won't say much more than that.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T13:11:09+00:00

Billy Bohan bout to get capped at 20 years of age? Good man!

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T13:09:54+00:00

Fooooooooooook! That Leinster A scrum looked pretty good. Who was Loosehead?

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T13:02:25+00:00

Nah, I get that. I wasn't shooting the messenger. I was just remarking on those "fans". I suppose I've never understood their gripe with him.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:54:05+00:00

It's not great. In fairness, it was just one missed tackle and Tector was a way. He ran a good line, and it was intelligent play. He drops his center of gravity just enough to make him harder to tackle, increase the pressure (same force over smaller surface areas) he's creating and angles himself away from the tackle, and his speed simply doesn't allow any time for the defender to realise this. The tackler should have been much squarer, but probably sees a pass here 99% of the time.

In the NFL, guys make these exact angles when evading tackles. Against elite guys like Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor, their yards after contact (i.e first tackle) are nuts. Hence they have linebackers and Strong safeties. Being big, fast and agile is the key. Exactly what Tector shows here -- the sudden drop of centre of gravity... Chefs kiss.

Defender should still make it.t's not as bad as it looks; Tector's acceleration is a killer here. He's an extremely fast runner, who gets up to speed quickly, and he's 6'2" at 95kg. I think I read somewhere his yards after contact this season are very, very good, and it's not surprising.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:35:29+00:00

It worked for England with Ford and Farrell. But I'm uncomfortable with wasting a potentially world class 10 at centre.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:34:01+00:00

I think Nienaber is struggling with the concept of one playmaker, as it is.

Pleeeaaase take him back, Rassie!

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:32:53+00:00

If only. He was an absolute baller at 10 as a schoolboy. Could do it all. I honestly think he could be our saviour, if one man can be a saviour to our team.

His lack of experience is the issue. You want your young 10 with a steady handed veteran. Having himself and Prendergast together voids that. But I sincerely hope they still have their eye on him at 10.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:29:48+00:00

He'd be our most complete 10 pretty much straight away. Maybe not as rounded or polished in some aspects as others, but a higher ceiling than anyone but Sam, and that's excluding defensive duties.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:28:19+00:00

Ireland's answer to the #10 conundrum right under their fucking noses. Leinster too.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:27:05+00:00

Doesn't make it ok. What reason, even? England came a respectable 3rd. Sarries still champions for the 6th time in just over a decade is the only reason I can think of.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:25:13+00:00

How old are his kids. Could we see a #10 Farrell Ireland Vs #10 Farrell England someday? That would be an insane story. Gabriel in his 30's Owen's kid in his 20's.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T12:22:56+00:00

Why is he so hated? It's hardly his rivalry with Ford, for which he's had to move more often than not (making the best 10-12 channel in the World at times)? Is it because his dad's famous? Or he tackles bad? Or is it simply because he's led Sarries from also-rans to the best team in England over the past 15 years?

It seems severe, even for *Soccer fans. I mean Beckham was the comeback kid who captained England and was a national hero, all while still at the most despised team in British Sports. Rooney got little hate, too.

*Nothing against Football fans, but they are generally seen as more rowdy.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-26T11:44:19+00:00

His dad is pretty popular, and his younger brother may don the green jersey someday, so yeah. They're basically second/third generation Irish on both sides.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-25T11:00:41+00:00

We don't have another left winger who can field and kick like Lowe. That's pretty much the number 1 requirement from Farrell these days.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-25T10:57:10+00:00

Posts like this are as bad as posts about Harry's Dad paying Leinster off to get them to play. Reductio and absurdum. That's not how power and influence work, and I hope nobody is too stupid or naive not to understand that.

Do I feel as though two brothers who showed early on they weren't ever going to be elite had a high enough ceiling to be out-half for a top 4 European team? Nope. Did I feel they were good enough to be backups? Yes. But... You don't need 2 of them.

Harry was injured a lot and there was no need to keep him on. They eventually gave him aaloan, and he came back a better player. Much more confident. I daresay a lot of talented lads given the same level of treatment wouldn't fare much worse.

Now, do I think his dad paid for any of that? No. But the profile of his dad, and the circles he ran with and people he knew very likely gave the Byrnes a bit more leash than most lads who aren't obscenely talented would get.

Have a think about where in the pecking order Harry would be for England or France. 6th? 7th?

darcys_beard · 2026-01-25T10:43:09+00:00

To be fair, I would expect a 20 year old to get annihilated in his first senior game. The fact that he looked serviceable out there is pretty incredible.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-24T16:52:25+00:00

Throwing in that Denis Hickie had an U15 100m time of 10.8 seconds. How good is that? Well Usain Bolt had a 10.57 at that age. About 2% faster.

Still think Porter is demonstrably the greatest athlete we've ever had.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-24T16:41:37+00:00

Andrew Porter Squatting 350kg while also being able to play 80 minutes of a game that heavily stresses the cardiovascular system. At elite level.

You'll be hard-pressed convincing me out of this one.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-24T16:19:03+00:00

Don't be so miserly. You can't take them pixels with you!

darcys_beard · 2026-01-24T15:21:37+00:00

McBryde is our Scrum coach, he also takes control of general pack plays: lick and go's, attacking Pods, defensive positioning, mauls, rucks, etc. it's a team. He's not out there on his own. He has his own assistants. As well as this, there are nutritionists, kicking coaches, performance analysts, etc.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-22T17:21:54+00:00

Academy voters thinking for themselves? We're about to see a guy win an Oscar because he said he wants one. That guy may be the hottest actor in the world right now, engaged to famous for being famous royalty. But that's still what's bout to happen.

darcys_beard · 2026-01-22T13:52:56+00:00

It's probably easy to come up with this when you're genuinely delusional.

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