Donal Lenihan: Now is the time for Ireland's leaders to emerge
Tadhg Beirne and Robbie Henshaw were among Ireland’s best performers on a day when every player went above and beyond in an attempt to negate their numerical disadvantage. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson
Anyone whose been involved in a Six Nations campaign, be it as a player or in management, will appreciate fully just how fraught with danger the opening round of this unforgiving tournament can be.
You’ll take a win, of any kind, with the knowledge that the scope for improvement once that first game is out of the way is huge.
A win alters the mindset in a way that can prove transformative, especially when it was fashioned on the road with a home fixture to follow. The only danger here is that the feeling of relief is so palpable, some players tend to relax ever so slightly and, subconsciously, lose focus.
Given the pressure to win first up, round one can often be turgid with teams playing to avoid defeat rather than going bald-headed for a victory. To be fair, that wasn’t the case this time out, with three contrasting but highly entertaining encounters.
Ireland will be furious at their failure to win in Cardiff, despite playing with 14 men for 70 minutes of intense action. Peter O’Mahony was reckless and has paid a hefty price. Hitting rucks these days is risky business. Opponents’ body positions can change at the last second as a consequence of being tackled or turned which means that the arriving player has to be so careful hitting a ruck at full steam.
Once contact is made with the head, your fate comes down to mitigating circumstances. Given O’Mahony had his elbow cocked, instead of his arms being outstretched in an attempt to wrap, his fate was sealed and he left the officials with no choice.
Players know by now there is zero tolerance for an elbow or shoulder to the head even if there’s times when the arriving player finds himself in a compromised position. With five head injury assessments in the Welsh game alone — four of whom failed to return — players need to be more aware of their actions in and around the tackle than ever before.
Apart altogether from the suspension he will receive, O’Mahony is fully aware that his actions cost his team dearly and inflicted more pressure on a coach who can’t catch a break at the moment. I’ve no doubt Ireland would have won this game with a full compliment on board. Wales are an average side and may not defeat another side in this championship, bar Italy.
Ireland have questions to answer and areas to address. Why did they wait until reduced to 14 men before deciding to retain possession and run at Wales? The opening quarter was dominated by both sides kicking away possession in a desperate attempt to keep the opposition pinned in their own half of the field.
Ireland need to focus on the positives this week, in particular, their performance in the second quarter. Having not only lost O’Mahony but Ireland’s other main jumper in James Ryan, who was having a stormer up to the point of his head knock, Ireland attacked with ball in hand, retained possession through multi phases and forced Wales into conceding penalties, which Johnny Sexton immediately converted into points.
Once they kept the ball in hand and built their phase play, aided by a vastly improved showing at the breakdown resulting in far quicker ball, positive things started to happen. When Robbie Henshaw, Josh van der Flier, and Tadhg Beirne — three of Ireland’s best performers on a day when every player went above and beyond in an attempt to negate their numerical disadvantage — combined for a great try just before the break, against the odds Ireland found a way to turn a six-point deficit into a seven-point lead.
With uncertainty surrounding the availability of a number of players due to injury, it’s going to be a very challenging week for everyone in camp in the build up to Sunday’s game.
That’s the time for leaders to emerge, for the character that was so evident on the field in almost defying the odds to win in Cardiff to the fore, and lay the foundations for a monumental test against a supremely confident French side.
Much will defend on the availability of Ryan and Sexton but adjustments will need to be made to curb the ball-winning capacity of the French up front. If Ryan is fit, I would pair him in the second row with Iain Henderson, who was outstanding given his lack of recent game time when introduced early on Sunday, and shift the highly influential Beirne to fill the No 6 jersey vacated by O’Mahony. I await Farrell’s team selection on Friday with interest.
Pride of place on the opening weekend goes to Scotland who scratched a 38-year itch by finally beating England in Twickenham. After so many false dawns, Scotland delivered the magnificent all-round performance they have been promising for the last two years.
Generations of very good Scottish players have gone through their international careers without ever experiencing the sweet taste of victory over their great rivals at the old cabbage patch. So for the Calcutta Cup lifted by two new caps in Cameron Redpath and David Cherrie, on the 150th anniversary of first playing for the famous trophy, was indeed special.
Redpath was superb on debut and has every reason to feel satisfied with the decision to follow his dad into Scottish colours having been part of the England squad only a few months ago. Overall, England’s decision making in advance of the game and during it was well short of the mark.
Not for the first time, we saw evidence of just how vulnerable and one dimensional England become when they fail to dominate the collisions and control the gain line. From a position where they produced their best performance of the professional era with that amazing dismantling of New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final 15 months ago, they have become a bit of a one-trick pony with an underperforming attacking game.
Scotland’s forwards, with Jonny Grey superb, were magnificent in all facets. Winning his 62nd cap, the towering second row has been on the scene for a while but has never really delivered on his early promise, failing to make the 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand.
Last year, he stepped outside his comfort zone with Glasgow Warriors and joined Exeter Chiefs. That move has been transformative with Chiefs coach Rob Baxter a major influence. In his first season down south, Grey won a Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup medal. The experience has helped to springboard him to a new level and, on the basis of his performance on Saturday, a Lions tour beckons.
Likewise Scottish captain Stuart Hogg, who a year earlier took the exact same journey, has also matured as a result of his new adventure. Known primarily as a brilliant broken field runner, it was his tactical kicking, more so than the more free spirited Finn Russell at out-half, that served to keep England on the back foot for the majority of an absorbing contest.
With only two professional franchises in Glasgow and Edinburgh to work from, more and more Scottish players are experiencing rugby in England and France but returning to the international stage as more rounded players. While we have a far more stable platform here in Ireland, with four Heineken Champions Cup provinces to work off, perhaps it’s time for the IRFU to accept that having some players — Simon Zebo at Racing 92 for example — exposed to a different culture and playing environment isn’t without its merits after all.
