Ireland at a fork in the road

SLOPPY execution, poor decision-making and too many turnovers. But enough about Scotland. Tomorrow’s game at Murrayfield is one in which Ireland, too, desperately need to click back into gear.

After the unpalatably high counts in both errors and penalties that were registered in the first two RBS 6 Nations games of 2011 against Italy and France, Declan Kidney will be demanding that his players start converting possession into scores while maintaining the commitment made in the wake of the 2009 Grand Slam success and subsequent reinterpretations of rugby’s laws to expansive, running rugby.

The inclusion of Ronan O’Gara at fly-half in place of Jonny Sexton should not compromise that commitment but through better field position put Ireland in the right places to get those scores.

There was no better example of that than against the French two weeks ago when O’Gara entered the fray and put Ireland back on the front foot with a laser-guided kick to touch inside France’s 22, from which Jamie Heaslip eventually scored Ireland’s third try.

Ireland have been inching towards their goal with every game but the way forward has met with plenty of roadblocks, not least from within the squad, whose gung-ho desire to keep ball in hand, while admirable, has too often come at the expense of the basic skills.

Three tries were run past the French in Dublin two weeks ago at the cost of only one yet Ireland came away with nothing but frustration after conceding too many penalties inside their own half and squandering several more opportunities to cross their rivals’ line.

“Field position is an important part of the game, possession is an important part of the game and it’s getting that balance right; that’s what we’ve talked about,” defence coach Les Kiss said yesterday before departing for Edinburgh. There is no doubt O’Gara, against a Scottish side smarting from a woeful defeat to Wales last time out, is the man to provide the more pragmatic balance.

Now it is up to the players to start executing, making the ball stick in their hands and staying on the good side of referee Nigel Owens at the breakdown.

Ironically, it was those two areas, and several more, where Scotland came up so miserably short against the Welsh. And why this is a match that is pivotal to both team’s Six Nations campaigns.

For Ireland, if they finally click, this could be the start of a fifth Triple Crown campaign in eight seasons. Lose and, well, we’re into dangerous territory there.

After defeats in France and that 24-6 shocker at home to Wales, a third reverse in succession will mean Andy Robinson’s team will have veered dramatically from the encouraging pathway signalled since beating the Irish at Croke Park last March and going on to win back-to-back Tests in Argentina and a home one over South Africa in November.

The architect of those three big Test victories was fly-half Dan Parks, who kicked 32 of Scotland’s 37 points in the two Argentina wins and all of them in the 21-17 defeat of the Springboks.

After a dreadful display of tactical kicking against the Welsh and a failure to unlock Shaun Edwards’ defensive system, even when Wales were down to 13 men in the first half, Parks has been jettisoned for the more creative yet inexperienced Ruaridh Jackson while the lacklustre scrum-half Rory Lawson makes way for the sparkier Mike Blair.

Those are two of eight changes, one positional, from the Wales game with Robinson clearly not prepared to assume the terrible display wasn’t a blip.

Sean Lamont may be starting at inside centre for the first time in his career but he showed more dynamism as replacement against Wales than the rest of the Scottish back-line put together and the pack certainly looks better equipped. Moray Low coming in at tight-head for Euan Murray, whose absence on a Sunday is on religious grounds, improves the Scotland scrum while the return from illness of lock Richie Gray brings not only an extra inch in height over the man he replaced, the 6ft 7ins Nathan Hines, but a more mobile presence in touch and specifically at the breakdown.

AS Jacksons go, the 22-year-old Ruaridh is more Percy, the fresh-faced Lightning Thief, than movie tough guy Samuel L. He is the play-maker the Scottish fans have been clamouring for yet Ireland appear to be targeting the incoming Six Nations debutant at fly-half.

Whereas Parks was happy to sit deep in the pocket, Jackson plays closer to the gainline, Kiss pointed out.

“He’s a young lad, it’s his first start, he’s got to aim to turn up in a team that has had seven changes, so he’s got a lot on his plate in terms of going forward with that,” he said. “There are certainly ways you can pressure him, and sometimes you pressure a guy indirectly. I won’t go into too much detail but he has to feel pressure in different areas.

“He does play the line a bit more, so he has to be more attentive to his execution and accuracy in that area. We feel can put pressure on, but it might not all be direct pressure. If we can put pressure on those spaces around him as well, we’ll see how he handles it.”

The Welsh proved that a little pressure is all it took to force errors from Scotland; two weeks ago they made 19 of them, compared to Ireland’s 17 against France. And a team that won the ball 39 times in the Welsh 22 yet only managed six points all afternoon surely can’t be as bad as that again, but Ireland have it within themselves to be a whole lot better. It has to happen tomorrow.