Wonderful stubborn defiance bodes well for the future
For Ireland, their mojo restored with this pulsating, high-intensity shutdown of a previously rampant title- winning and record-breaking side, there were the inevitable what-ifs of a 2017 RBS 6 Nations championship that had promised much yet failed to spark after a disastrous opening half in round one.
For England, parading the championship trophy around an emptying arena on Saturday night will have been a bittersweet experience following their final-round defeat, their campaign tarnished by a failure to secure back-to-back Grand Slams and also achieve a 19th straight win that would have eclipsed the All Blacks as the most successful winning run in top-tier Test rugby.
As often as we have heard it mentioned by the Ireland management and squad during the past couple of weeks, there is truth to their assertion that fine margins can be an infuriating variable in so keenly a contested competition as the Six Nations.
For while Ireland have, in terms of results, lurched between defeats and victories during February and March, head coach Joe Schmidt saw it rather differently. Not so much a rollercoaster ride, that sequence of LWWLW that secured second place behind England and maintained Ireland’s record of top-half finishes under their current boss since 2014, but a campaign of consistency.
Of course, consistency is in the eye of the beholder. Eighteen wins in a row is the type of consistency most Irish supporters would prefer but coaches are a funny lot. That Schmidt finished on a high that reminded us all of the joys last November’s win over New Zealand delivered in Chicago, will put a gloss on a campaign that has seen the head coach come under more scrutiny than at any point in his four-year tenure of the national side. The opening defeat to Scotland was bitterly disappointing, not only because Ireland gifted their hosts a 14-0 head start inside 21 minutes and trailed 21-8 at the interval but having clawed back into it to move in front going into the final quarter conspired to lose it again.
A nine-try romp in Rome was followed by a different win in a gladiatorial battle back in Dublin with France but then Ireland ran into a red brick wall in Wales and were back to square one, held tryless under the Principality Stadium roof after losing both the breakdown and lineout battles and spurning the few opportunities they did create.
“I think we were consistent four weeks in a row,” Schmidt said on Saturday night. “I think we were pretty good against Wales... We were clearly disappointed with that first 30 minutes in Murrayfield... I think we were consistent, it is just those fine margins. We won 13-9 tonight, we were down 15-9 when we drove over the line with 12 minutes to go against Wales. They are incredibly fine margins.” That Ireland came out on the right side of those fine margins Saturday did not diminish the disappointment.
“There is a degree of frustration, and a fair element of pride, but I think no matter what happened it was always going to be a very, very tight championship and if the championship had been on the line today, it would have been fantastic,” Schmidt said.
“At the same time, with the bonus point England got last week, even if we won, we would have had to beat them with a bonus point. So, it was always going to be difficult to get to that level. Those frustrations will continue in the overall review of the championship and, at the same time, it is incredibly positive to finish on a note like that because that was a huge challenge tonight.”
Indeed, there is much to applaud from Saturday’s performance in an epic contest under the Aviva Stadium lights as Ireland, spearheaded by the outstanding Peter O’Mahony, who replaced Jamie Heaslip just before kick-off, starved England of possession and reduced a formidable side that had destroyed Scotland 61-21 the previous week to strúggling scrappers, keeping them tryless for the first time in 28 games since their 2015 Six Nations visit to Dublin.
“I was delighted with the way we played the first 20 minutes. We knew we couldn’t try to defend England for 80 minutes, we had to go out there and take the game to them. I think we played with width and variety,” Schmidt said of an opening quarter crowned by Iain Henderson’s 23rd-minute try.
It left the home side 10-3 up at half-time having enjoyed 74%possession and forced England to make 101 tackles in the first 40 minutes. Eddie Jones’s side edged their way back into this compelling scrap after the break, Owen Farrell kicking a 50th minute penalty before Johnny Sexton, who had opening the scoring in the 10th minute and spent much of the game since picking himself up off the deck after a succession of late hits largely unpunished by referee Jerome Garces, dusted himself off once more to land a 62nd-minute gem from long range.
It would prove the winning score, Farrell returning the deficit to four points five minutes later but Ireland refusing to give the English even a sniff of their tryline. This was stubborn defiance and it was wonderful. It bodes well for the future, but then we said that last November when Ireland signed off for 2016 with a clean sweep of one-off wins over South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. The next step must now be to get some real in terms of results.
With the likes of Connacht’s imported Kiwis Bundee Aki and Tom McCartney becoming Irish qualified by residency later this year, Schmidt will have more depth in addition to the new blood he has introduced this season – Andrew Conway’s appearance off the bench against England making the Munster wing/full-back the 20th Test debutant since the World Cup.
That can only help realise the ambition to turn isolated wins into a model of consistency on a par with England and the All Blacks.
“Yes,” agreed Schmidt, “those guys they have a job to do to displace guys who are already there. I know we did have 10 Test matches (wins) in a row, all but one were Tier One, so we have got to 10 before, we currently one in a row so we have taken out first step. Certainly be very keen for the boys to add to that.”
J Payne; K Earls (A Conway, h-t), G Ringrose, R Henshaw, S Zebo; J Sexton, K Marmion (L McGrath, 69); J McGrath (C Healy, 59), R Best – captain (N Scannell, 9-17 HIA & 73), T Furlong (J Ryan, 76); D Ryan (D Toner, 64), I Henderson; P O’Mahony, S O’Brien (D Leavy, 66), CJ Stander.
M Brown; A Watson, J Joseph (J Nowell, 67), O Farrell, E Daly; G Ford (B Te’o, 63; Ford 70), B Youngs (D Care, 64); J Marler (M Vunipola, h-t), D Hartley – captain (J George, 55), D Cole (K Sinckler, 78); J Launchbury, C Lawes; M Itoje, J Haskell (T Wood, 59), B Vunipola (N Hughes, 63).
Jerome Garces (France).
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