South African scrums continuing to haunt Irish rugby

I don’t see it as an excuse-they should be able to control themselves better under pressure-but the pressure is a factor. And it’s now building across games as well as in games

Chicken and egg-is Ireland’s form being impacted by poor discipline or is poor discipline just a sign of a struggling team? McCarthy and Ryan are making panicked decisions because they’re under pressure and uncomfortable in the moment

That’s probably the most annoying thing-a totally arbitrary change that has just made things worse

I think the 20 minute red card has really fucked them card-wise. If a red isn’t a red anymore, what’s a yellow. South Africa got straight reds a few weeks ago for shots similar to Ryan’s and in old money that’s just a red. But yesterday, who knows

I thought SFM deserved a yellow but by the same token TO’B could’ve been binned for the one where he hurt himself. The rest I thought were fair enough. Ryan and Crowley particularly mindless

I kind of admire the bloody minded FUCKYOU-ness of just taking scrums forever. But at some point they have to grasp there are no points for that

Can’t fault Ireland’s effort or dog but they were mostly hanging on for dear life in that second half. Fairly flattered by that scoreline

One 1%-er today which I’ll absolutely take