{"id":118692,"date":"2025-11-03T03:26:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T03:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/118692\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T03:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T03:26:14","slug":"tv-lads-verdict-on-irelands-performance-against-the-all-blacks-not-very-well-done-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/118692\/","title":{"rendered":"TV lads\u2019 verdict on Ireland\u2019s performance against the All Blacks? Not very well done \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cUndercooked\u201d was the word of the week, and if you\u2019d a euro for every time it was mentioned by the Virgin Media<\/a> lads on Saturday evening, you\u2019d have been dining on Wagyu steak and chips for your supper, washing it down with a 1945 Domaine de la Roman\u00e9e-Conti Grand Cru. <\/p>\n

Over in Chicago, though, Andrew Trimble was disputing the notion that Ireland were a bit on the raw side going into \u201cThe Rematch\u201d, as the Soldier Field contest with New Zealand had been dubbed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say they\u2019re medium rare, which is how I like my steak,\u201d he told Tommy Martin. And he was confident that Andy Farrell<\/a> would pour his \u201csecret sauce\u201d over the Irish team and they\u2019d be cooked to perfection.<\/p>\n

Indeed, so optimistic was Andrew, he\u2019d made a bet with John Kirwan, the New Zealand old boy, who, he said, was a little too \u201cbullish\u201d in the build-up to the game for his liking. The bet? Andrew would go for a swim in Lake Michigan that night if Ireland lost. Tommy had hypothermia even thinking about it. <\/p>\n

He had a quick chat with Farrell, \u201cback in the day job\u201d after his loan spell with the Irish (and British) Lions, before handing over to the studio, where confidence wasn\u2019t quite at Andrew levels. There was a good deal of fretting over the age profile of the Irish team, Shane Horgan noting that even the heirs apparent were no spring chickens. \u201cIt\u2019s a major issue,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t a Zimmer frame in sight, though, when Ireland took to the field, but the panel wasn\u2019t entirely hopeful about their prospects. \u201cNew Zealand,\u201d was Shane\u2019s forecast. \u2018New Zealand-ish,\u2019 was Alan Quinlan\u2019s, because \u201cIreland are undercooked\u201d. \u2018Ireland-ish,\u2019 said Rob Kearney. \u201cIf you\u2019re emotionally at the pitch, it doesn\u2019t matter how undercooked you are,\u201d he insisted. <\/p>\n

(We won\u2019t labour the point here, having already emoted on the subject<\/a>, but God almighty, that pitch, which looked like something you\u2019d see at the Ploughing Championships, those markings, those boots, those ads. The only sensible way to watch this match was on the radio.)<\/p>\n

\"TadhgTadhg Beirne reminding himself what it’s like to be on the pitch, after the game with Josh van der Flier and Tadhg Furlong. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Anyhow, all was going completely grand until the game approached the third-minute mark, it feeling like in or around 90 minutes later when the ref, who couldn\u2019t find a telly that worked, concluded that Tadhg Beirne deserved a yellow-card for his collision with Beauden Barrett. And you know what they say: it\u2019s hard enough battling the All Blacks with 15 men, never mind having one sinbinned soldier. <\/p>\n

It got worse. His card was upgraded to red. Undercooked? You now feared Ireland would be incinerated. <\/p>\n

But. The 14 men only went up the pitch and scored a try, 78-year-old Tadhg Furlong going over the line. Jack Crowley converted and Ireland were 10-0 up. Dave McIntyre and Ian Madigan were pinching themselves, Ian chuffed with how Ireland had responded to their little setback. He was particularly impressed with Tommy O\u2019Brien\u2019s early contribution to the effort, telling us that he had the required \u201crepeat-effort top-end speed\u201d for a modern winger. As ever, rugby is a language with which many of us are not familiar. <\/p>\n

Granted, New Zealand scored their own try three minutes later, but Ireland were 10-7 up at the break. Shane was euphoric. \u201cThey\u2019re cooked!!\u201d But Joe Molloy tried to calm him down. \u201cYou suspect New Zealand will come in a big way in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second half? New Zealand came in a big way. Not until after the 60th minute, though, all was well with the world until then. Thereafter? Barbecued. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they ARE undercooked,\u201d a glum Alan concluded at full-time. \u201cIt felt very much like a pre-2016 performance against the All Blacks,\u201d said Shane, Joe not exactly lifting his spirits by suggesting that \u201cIreland didn\u2019t defend brilliantly, Ireland didn\u2019t attack brilliantly, lineout continued to wobble\u201d. Apart from that, all went smoothly. <\/p>\n

At least the Virgin Media lads could head to the cosy green room for a hot toddy, Wagyu steak and chips. Spare a thought for poor Andrew over in Chicago. He was changing into his Speedos. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cUndercooked\u201d was the word of the week, and if you\u2019d a euro for every time it was mentioned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1451,25747,61,60,1449,43,58217,907],"class_list":["post-118692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-all-blacks","tag-andy-farrell","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-news","tag-tadhg-beirne","tag-virgin-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}