Team Ireland Daily Diary at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

[mpjmcevoy 362]

11 minutes ago, Cosmo Kramer said:

An absolute bottle job from the sevens team there sadly. No idea what they were thinking with the penalty under the posts. Threw away a great chance to beat the ABs and now have to play Fiji in the quarters.

It was a complete brain fade all round, although I was having great difficulty understanding what the Ref's problem was. That said, it was interesting in the first half to see a ref actually call the blatant tackle and ruck infringements by the Kiwis that we've seen them do forever in both forms of the game...and then mysteriously stop doing so when they were clearly still 'at it', including the last turnover.

 

But it still shouldn't have mattered, but for that brain fade. Ireland are a team that play smart to overcome the better strength and instincts of other teams. It's unforgivable they were so dumb in that one moment.

 

Seems to my eyes that three of the best four teams have ended up in one group, and the reward for escaping as second place team is to face the best team, while the other two teams have to face each other again. It's all dreadfully similar to RWC 2023 - meanwhile, the winner of USA - Australia is going to get two shots at a medal!

 

I expect Fiji to win and win handily, but there's no shame in that, we played very well in the group, beaten the Boks, scared the Blacks. Top 8 finish and a punchers chance of a miracle after a strong but frustrating group stage...not the worst Irish olympic performance.

[Cosmo Kramer 24]

I wasn't expecting the sevens team to medal, the draw was a joke so we were always up against it. But the strength of that team is that they try to play smart to counter what they lack compared to other teams, so to lose because of a huge tactical error is a tough one. 

 

The draw was so tough that even managing to beat South Africa a second time was likely to throw up a semi final against the hosts. So it was going to be a battle every step of the way regardless. The only saving grace of this result is that if they do somehow manage to beat Fiji they would then at least avoid NZ and France in the semis. But the more likely outcome is that it won't matter now.

 

Next up is the boxing draw this evening, that will be held before the rugby quarter final. We're in 10 of the 13 draws in the boxing, so surely they can't all turn out unfavourably for us...

Edited July 25 by Cosmo Kramer

[mpjmcevoy 362]

2 hours ago, Cosmo Kramer said:

I wasn't expecting the sevens team to medal, the draw was a joke so we were always up against it. But the strength of that team is that they try to play smart to counter what they lack compared to other teams, so to lose because of a huge tactical error is a tough one. 

 

The draw was so tough that even managing to beat South Africa a second time was likely to throw up a semi final against the hosts. So it was going to be a battle every step of the way regardless. The only saving grace of this result is that if they do somehow manage to beat Fiji they would then at least avoid NZ and France in the semis. But the more likely outcome is that it won't matter now.

 

Next up is the boxing draw this evening, that will be held before the rugby quarter final. We're in 10 of the 13 draws in the boxing, so surely they can't all turn out unfavourably for us...

"We're in 10 of the 13 draws in the boxing, so surely they can't all turn out unfavourably for us..."

 

Are ye Irish at all?

 

There's a reason it's called Murphy's law and not 'Noviski's law'.

[Cosmo Kramer 24]

I'll leave it to others that are more knowledgeable to dissect the boxing draws, but notable from the snippets I've seen on Twitter that M Walsh, Lehane and Moorhouse in addition to the seeded O'Rourke and Harrington are all now two bouts away from a medal after the draw - none of those five will face R32 bouts.

[Cosmo Kramer 24]

Gallagher with a bye to R16 on the men's side and Marley has only 16 in his division so no R32 bout for him either.

 

G Walsh, A Walsh and Clancy now the only three of our 10 needing three wins for a medal, two wins will do any of the other seven.

[Cosmo Kramer 24]

Hugo Keenan dropped for the Fiji game. Being honest, he's been poor, probably too long in 15s now to successfully make the step back to 7s.

[mpjmcevoy 362]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Kramer said:

Hugo Keenan dropped for the Fiji game. Being honest, he's been poor, probably too long in 15s now to successfully make the step back to 7s.

Wow. Fiji winning try a blatant knock on...but yet again, eventually, the brain fade, this time from McNulty taking a quick tap when Ireland had been marching downfield in lumps by line outs.

 

Jesus, we had them. Jesus, that stung.

[Cosmo Kramer 24]

An awful lot happened there, including a very questionable Fiji try. But we had them on the ropes at one point in the second half, 8 points ahead, and Kennedy went for a low percentage grubber kick through going for the kill. Can't help but feel that the secret to winning from that point was to keep possession and slow the game down, it's what Ireland 7s do best. By the time we got our hand on the ball again we were four points down and chasing against the clock. Considering they were missing Conroy and Keenan was a complete bust, it was a decent effort, but it was there to be won and they let it slip.

 

They might as well go and do the opening ceremony now, it doesn't really matter whether they finish fifth or eighth.

[Cosmo Kramer 24]

Looking at it again, that was an awful miss from the ref for the knock on for that second Fiji try. But we did put ourselves in that position by needlessly coughing up possession near their try line a minute earlier.

[duineeile 5]

That's just gutwrenching, 15-7 ahead and with possession of the ball and they found a way to lose it. Its the hope that kills you. Disappointing referee missed knock-on for last Fiji try