Monday, March 01, 2010
IT speaks volumes for the character of any side asked to put in a hundred tackles, makes all but one of them, and comes out at the right side of the result against a very hungry and aggressive England side performing in front of their own supporters at Twickenham.
To their eternal credit, that’s just what Ireland managed to do in achieving their sixth victory in seven games against the English and keeping alive their hopes of a fifth Triple Crown in seven seasons. On Saturday, he scored three terrific tries through their back line whereas England got theirs courtesy of the Italian TMO who decreed that prop Dan Cole had grounded the ball after a series of rucks under the Irish posts.
In many ways, it is difficult to explain why Ireland won this match considering their relative lack of possession for long stretches of a game that rarely rose above the ordinary but was edge of the seat throughout. England’s beleaguered coach Martin Johnson put it down to "not taking our chances" and silly penalties. On the latter count, he must have been furious with scrum-half Danny Care who for the second successive year let his side down badly.
Twelve months ago in Croke Park, he was yellow-carded for a wild challenge on Marcus Horan. On Saturday, he needlessly pushed Tomás O’Leary after his team had been awarded a penalty on the halfway line. The decision was reversed as a result, Jonny Sexton found a great touch, Paul O’Connell won the line-out, David Wallace drove powerfully into three English defenders before recycling quickly, O’Leary picked out Sexton on the blind side and he sent Keith Earls in for Ireland’s second try.
An upbeat Declan Kidney was full of praise for the way his players stuck at it.
"It’s never easy for Ireland. We must be at full tilt as we were today if we’re going to win," the coach mused.
Indeed, as one searches for reasons for Ireland’s win against the head, Kidney himself must qualify as one of the primary factors. His original selection, the way he used his bench and the manner in which his management team, and most especially defence coach Les Kiss, got things right, came in for much deserved praise in the pubs and clubs throughout London on Saturday night.
Kidney’s legend grows with the passing of every match and he was well entitled to take a bow for masterminding a great victory.
Although Jamie Heaslip was voted man of the match, the star of the show from my perspective was Tommy Bowe who scored two of the tries with a dazzling exhibition of speed, determination and balanced running. The first came after a beautiful grubber kick by Sexton as early as the third minute and his second – the match winner – was brilliantly taken after O’Connell claimed a line-out, the excellent O’Leary surged into the England 22 and found Bowe only too willing to take on a couple of Englishmen and leave them for dead.
It’s a move Ireland have been trying to perfect for ages and couldn’t get it right – until, of course, it really counted. The Springboks caught the Lions with a similar tactic last summer and some Irishmen present that day felt sure they also had the kind of players to make it pay for them as well.
Kidney continually goes on about the need to build a serious squad of players and given the shortage of talent in some positions, it looks like he’s getting there. Take the crucial out-half berth. He started with Jonny Sexton on Saturday and he did many things very well, not least in placing the lovely dink for Bowe’s first try. But when the younger man looked to be feeling the pressure just a little, the coach turned to Ronan O’Gara. And it was his brilliant touch finder that put Ireland on the attack and led immediately to Bowe’s second.
Now Kidney has two outstanding out-halves – and if he were to look a little askance at England and their persistence with the past-his-best Jonny Wilkinson, who could blame him? As for getting his starting line-up spot on, he could point to O’Leary and how brilliantly he answered the call. He may not be everybody’s idea of the perfect scrum-half but his pace and vision for the winning try were compelling factors in the whole game while he does so much about the field and not least in the physicality stakes that he is an invaluable member of the side and, on the evidence of Saturday’s game, pretty sure to remain so.
Considering his lack of game time over the past four months, Geordan Murphy performed creditably at full-back. If Bowe was the outstanding figure in the three-quarter line, there was also confirmation that the richly talented Keith Earls is maturing with every game into an outstanding international player.
By and large, the best work of the remainder was done in defence. The good news is that Brian O’Driscoll’s head injury – sustained in a clash with Paul O’Connell’s knee – is not as bad as feared and he should be available to claim his 100th cap against Wales at Croke Park on Saturday week.
The forwards’ aching limbs yesterday testified to the serious examination they had and certainly it’s an area where England appear to have lot of potential. It was a wonderful day for John Hayes as he won his 100th cap while Tony Buckley did very nicely when coming in as his replacement after 65 minutes.
The pack as a whole struggled for the most part although here again the scrum held up when it needed to do so most and once again the excellent Jamie Heaslip, O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan and later Leo Cullen put a lot of pressure on the English line-out. Declan Kidney’s satisfaction at being able to call in the likes of Buckley, Cullen and Shane Cullen as the game moved into its latter stages was well apparent was perfectly understandable.
Ireland must now be a good bet for yet another Triple Crown though the championship is almost certainly headed for France.
IRELAND: G Murphy; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll (capt), G D’Arcy, K Earls; J Sexton, T O’Leary; C Healy, R Best, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, S Ferris, D Wallace, J Heaslip.
Replacements: T Buckley for Hayes (60); A Trimble for O’Driscoll (63); R O’Gara & L Cullen for Sexton & O’Callaghan (68); S Jennings for Wallace (69).
ENGLAND: D Armitage; M Cueto, M Tait, R Flutey, U Monye; J Wilkinson, D Care; T Payne, D Hartley, D Cole, S Shaw, S Borthwick (capt), J Haskell, L Moody, N Easter.
Replacements: L Deacon for Shaw (5); B Soden for Armitage (48); J Worsley for Moody (54); L Meers for Hartley (62); P Hodgson for Care (72); D Wilson for Care (72).
Referee: M Lawrence (South Africa).
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