Ronan O'Gara: Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton's futures are different debates

Andy Farrell et al knows better than you or I that the attack is a work in progress, that Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray does not work for Ireland at the 2023 World Cup, writes Ronan O'Gara

Before anyone gets too comfortable throwing rocks and doling out blame from behind their keyboards, anyone know an Irish head coach who’s shot the lights out at a Rugby World Cup?

Didn’t think so.

When some people talk about ‘under-pressure Andy Farrell’, I am moved to wonder: Under pressure from whom? The public? And water is wet. That is an abstract issue. Being ‘under pressure’ is not the sort of language a coach in Farrell’s position really concerns himself with anyway.

Due respect and all that, but the public is hardly central to his thought process when he is formulating a strategy for the next World Cup.

And that is where he should, and will, be judged.

Ireland have lost the opening two games of a Six Nations campaign for the first time but the deficit in both Wales and France defeats was one score. It might have been less in Cardiff, more against France.

Andy Farrell et al knows better than you or I that the attack is a work in progress, that Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray does not work for Ireland at the 2023 World Cup. But before anyone begins (again) to consider the half-back duo an ageing tandem, they are anything but.

Murray is a full World Cup cycle behind Johnny, so they should be decoupled in relation to the important debate about Ireland’s half-backs for France in two years’ time. Where Johnny is now, Murray will be 18 months after the next World Cup.

It must be aggravating for Murray to be persistently and inaccurately spoken of in the same age context as his veteran out-half.

Two and a half years out, and form-permitting, Ireland is looking for someone to back up Murray at nine. The 10 issue is a perfect reverse: we should be wondering who Sexton is backing up and mentoring as a third choice.

Frustratingly for him as much as anyone else, even Joey Carbery can’t, for the moment, shape the debate in that regard, but management is probably projecting a Carbery, Harry Byrne, and Sexton axis two years hence. The situation with Ben Healy and Jack Crowley is similarly dependent on Carbery’s wellbeing so unwelcome though it is, Ireland’s out-half conundrum will take another year to iron out properly.

Which might just prove advantageous as the potential solutions are yet to emerge. Decisions on their playing minutes are so important. We may need to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

Conor Murray can use the next 12 months to end concerns about his spark, something he is unlikely to rediscover in a continuing partnership with Johnny. That’s a fact of life. There might still be an epic 80 minutes for the thirty-somethings but in terms of the cycle that we keep getting wrong, ie the RWC one, Ireland must be testing a new dynamic.

It must be aggravating for Murray to be persistently and inaccurately spoken of in the same age context as his veteran out-half, says Ronan O'Gara. Picture: NPHO/Dan Sheridan

Ireland isn’t going backwards under Farrell, or Mike Catt. But the game against Italy now jumps out with a significance we did not imagine a few weeks ago. It represents a blank A4 piece of paper that means you can construct any team you want.

An Ireland team that has lost key players before, during and after the defeats to Wales and France is not in jeopardy of being mugged by Italy. There is a significant gulf in class. There are financial considerations of course, but Farrell and his management need not concern itself with the Six Nations table anymore. Any measured analysis will wait and judge Farrell on 2023; none of his predecessors have delivered at a Rugby World Cup so why are we panicking with Farrell at this stage? Give the man some time.

Ireland still look a side midway from structure on the road to a new place. The changes from Joe Schmidt’s time in charge are substantial and will not happen in a single springtime. Yes, they are very lateral at times. But just as there are examples of that from the French defeat, Mike Catt doesn’t decide to tuck the ball under his arm in midfield and not give the pass. I tallied four opportunities last Sunday, maybe a fifth, where Ireland were overlap-strong in the outside channels and they tucked the ball. All the coach can do is offer the shape.

Saying Ireland has no width in its game is a debate not based in fact.

One thumping thought remains after the second round of Six Nations games. God help the poor lad who clocks or stamps on an opponent before this thing is done. He may as well kiss 2021 goodbye.

Studying the Zander Fagerson incident at Murrayfield on Saturday, one struggles to equate it with the red card and a ban that rules him out of the remainder of the championship. Like the punishment of being sent off, losing the game, forfeiting a possible Triple Crown and a Grand Slam, isn’t a sufficient penalty?

Scotland's Zander Fagerson leaves the field of play after being shown a red card during the Guinness Six Nations match against Wales at BT Murrayfield 

La Rochelle were in Toulon that night. The head coach, Patrice Collazo, was down pitchside. He is big and imposing and for once I felt depowered up in the coach’s box. I allowed myself get revved up, contesting every decision from the stands, roaring like a buffoon. I was disappointed with myself, a complete waste of energy.

We were pinged for two first-half penalties. Let’s just say they come under the ‘if-you-were-to-call-them-in-every-game’ category. The second one? Disturbing. We are on an exit, Ihaia West kicks it 60m down the field, and our nine is called offside for going early. From 60m back! I went to see the referee, Thomas Charabas, after the game.

Jerome Garces has the French officials focusing so much now on the language they use. I was on a fishing expedition, I wanted to get my language correct for my Monday review, to give me a better chance of explaining to our players. I wanted the best understanding of where the referee was coming from.

Then I see the Fagerson red and I am thinking ‘what is going on?’ The Peter O’Mahony example was an open and shut case; the Fagerson one is a portent of things to come. It seemed the only one who wanted the red card for the Scottish prop was the referee Matthew Carley.

The upshot of it all is Fagerson’s punishment is greater than O’Mahony’s. Someone tell me that is not because he disputed the accuracy of Carley’s decision?

The inconsistency drives us all inside the game bananas. Everyone agrees with the ambition to make the game safer but Zander Fagerson doesn’t play another minute in the championship because he approached a ruck with the sole intention of a legitimate clean out.

We are setting ourselves up here for a fall. The language of rugby’s laws is king now. ‘Intent’ is no longer part of the vocabulary. Logic need not apply, so leave your common sense at the door. We are moving into VAR territory.