Donal Lenihan: A welcome end to a forgettable year for Ireland on all fronts
Keith Earls touches down for Ireland’s third try against Scotland in their Autumn Nations Cup clash at the Aviva on Saturday. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
After a challenging start, the Autumn Nations Cup has come and gone. Having witnessed, in the flesh, the flair and excitement Japan brought to the table at the last World Cup, I was really looking forward to seeing them in action once again.
It proved an early blow to this fledgling tournament that they never even made it to the starting line. With due respect to Georgia, they were never going to make up for the loss of the all-action style favoured by the Japanese. Given how dull some of the fare has been over the last few weeks, the Cherry Blossoms were badly missed.
At least we had the multi-talented Fijians to lighten up proceedings and offer something different. But there was no such luck on that front either with the coronavirus rendering them inactive for the opening three pool games. When they were finally cleared to play — after a month spent fighting multiple outbreaks of the virus in their camp — their six-try (38-24) win over the Georgians in Murrayfield on Saturday offered us a glimpse of what we missed over the past month.
Incredibly, with England lifting the silverware after their extra-time win over a severely understrength, but gallant, French outfit in Twickenham yesterday, the finishing positions for the home countries proved a carbon copy of the recently completed 2020 Six Nations championship with the French runners up, Ireland the best of the rest finishing ahead of Scotland, Wales fifth and Italy claiming the wooden spoon.
This tournament might never again see the light of day and, if that proves the case, nobody will feel the loss.
It appeared doomed from the outset. When Fiji’s opening game against France had to be cancelled, the organisers were left with a dilemma they hadn’t even contemplated. How many match points do we award to the French?
Let’s face it, the whole thing was far from perfect, even before the French sent a combination of their seconds and thirds to Twickenham for the final weekend.
In some respects, that same sentiment could apply to Ireland’s 31-16 win over Scotland on Saturday to end a very difficult and challenging year for new Ireland coach Andy Farrell on a positive note.
This win was both hard-fought and character-driven after a very poor opening 30 minutes with the visitors looking comfortable on both sides of the ball. It didn’t help matters that, somehow, Ireland missed a scarcely believable 15 tackles in that period alone.
Then, out of nowhere, it appeared as if Ireland flipped a switch and played their best rugby for some time, full of attacking intent and bristling with a continuity that forced the visitors into a concession of penalties in their defensive zone. In the circumstances, it was inevitable that a yellow card would be brandished by English referee Matthew Carley with Scottish centre Duncan Taylor the deserved victim.
Ireland used that period well, racking up eight points which served to set the tone for a far more positive half-time debrief. However, a big worry for Farrell has been a succession of poor performances in the third quarter of games which, in recent seasons, had always been consistently rewarding.
How welcome then to see Ireland sprinting out of the blocks with two tries in six minutes immediately after the break, complementing the first of a brace from the excellent Keith Earls in the dying embers of the first half. In effect, that 12-minute blitz finished the game as a contest.
It was also pleasing to see Ireland not only play with far greater width to their game but to recover their composure after a lapse of concentration from Rob Herring off a defensive ruck which gifted Duhan van der Merwe a cheap try, at a time when they looked as if they were about to step up to another level.
This has been a hugely demanding and intense period of international action with six tests in seven weeks. That doesn’t happen very often and was made even more challenging by the necessity to live, for all intents and purposes, in isolation for nearly two months. That in itself is exhausting without having to deal with the demands of hitting peak performance on the back of so little rugby over the previous five months.
What the period has confirmed is that, right now, Ireland are the best of the rest with a fifth-place world ranking behind England and France on this side of the world along with South Africa and New Zealand. I’m sure Australia and Argentina, in sixth and eighth place respectively, would fancy their chances against us right now.
To his credit, Farrell has handed opportunities to 42 different players in his first year in charge and, of more importance, introduced 11 new caps to the demands of test rugby.
That will stand to him in the forthcoming Six Nations when, hopefully, the likes of Tadhg Furlong, Dave Kilcoyne, Dan Leavy, Garry Ringrose, and Jordon Larmour could all be available for selection after injury.
After a tetchy week in camp, with Farrell clearly irked by the fall-off in performance in a really disappointing second half against a very average Georgian side that yielded just three points, the pressure was on Ireland to finish this campaign on a high.
As captain, Johnny Sexton threw the gauntlet down to his players when he came out swinging in his press conference during the week, insisting that serious progress has been made over a very productive period working together.
In the circumstances, you can be certain coach and captain highlighted the need to explode from the traps to sow seeds of doubts in the minds of the Scottish players who, despite an appalling record against us with only one win from the last nine tests between the sides, always appear to believe they have a divine right to beat Ireland.
In the circumstances, the composure Ireland displayed in not only absorbing the poor start, but the defensive shortcomings early on and the concession of that soft try scored against the run of play, showed ample character when dominating proceedings from that moment onwards.
To finish on a high was massively important as it not only enables the players return to their provinces with a spring in their step, it means that when they reassemble for a fresh tilt at the Six Nations in February, they do so in a positive frame of mind for a fresh challenge when the high-flying French and English arrive in Dublin.
Before that however, a win on the opening day of action in Cardiff represents the next short-term goal. In that respect, Saturday’s performance has helped to lift the cloud and clear the air.
