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Conway hails Ireland's 'savages'
Andrew Conway has paid tribute to Ireland’s resolve in refusing to panic after their record 57-15 loss to England at Twickenham ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
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Munster star Conway stormed in for Ireland’s bonus-point try in Sunday’s 27-3 thumping of Scotland that allowed Joe Schmidt’s men to start their tournament in style in Yokohama.
Ireland’s comprehensive humbling in London on August 10 prompted questions about head coach Schmidt’s World Cup plans, but Conway revealed there had never been any talk of great change in the wake of that loss.
Conway hailed Ireland’s forward pack as a bunch of sharply-focused “savages” for their aggressive display that set the tone for Sunday’s potent victory.
Asked if the win offered some vindication for Schmidt’s long-term vision, Conway said: “You take lessons from that, you don’t panic and think that all the good work from the last six years isn’t there.
SOUND ON! 🔊
A subway station has never been so much fun for @IrishRugby fans… #MyRugbyMoment pic.twitter.com/sfkvgKRNvo
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 22, 2019
“There’s an experienced group there, and they know that bad days do happen and you’d rather have that in August than (from) September to November.
“Our life is way easier when the forwards perform like they did against Scotland; they were savages.
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“They were nicely pumped up and ready for everything, they backed everything up with their actions.
“It’s a joy to play with this pack when they are playing like that.
“When the forwards are doing it up front we need to back that up and not give the opposition an easy ride out wide.
“But if they’re getting off the line and dominating collisions, it’s a whole different world for us out wide, because we’ve got time to read, to see what’s in front of us and what they are planning.”
'It’s a frustration for everyone, because everyone knows they are going to have some tight turnarounds.'https://t.co/ow75a9bP80
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 22, 2019
Conway toasted his seventh try for Ireland by laying the credit at the feet of scrum-half Conor Murray, whose quick thinking he explained helped Ireland exploit an exposed blindside.
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The 28-year-old winger has raced quickly from a nervous wait to find out whether he would make Ireland’s final 31-man World Cup squad, to bagging his debut try in the global tournament.
Ireland will roll on to face hosts Japan in Shizuoka on Saturday, with the ever-humble Conway always prepared to put collective interests ahead of personal gain.
“That day was a tough day, I wasn’t wrong,” said Conway, looking back on the day spent waiting to discover his World Cup selection fate.
“But since then obviously you just turn the page. Once you’re in you’re in.
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“I know myself that if Earlsy had been fully fit I probably wouldn’t have trained this week.
“But that doesn’t really matter, I just need to stay as ready as I can be constantly, and the chances will come.
“You’ve got to stay fit, stay prepared and whenever you get the opportunity you’ve got to take it. That’s all you can do.
“For the try, I think there was a high ball, and Jordan (Larmour) did really well to feed off the scraps.
“And as I was getting off the ground Conor Murray shouted ‘Conway!’ and I immediately knew what he meant.
“He meant get wide, and I knew he was going to hit me flat. So it was very nice to score at the World Cup.”
Read criticised for neck tackle
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments