Donal Lenihan: Small creases that New Zealand tour will help iron out
Stuart Hogg of Scotland is tackled into touch by Hugo Keenan of Ireland during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Scotland at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Super Saturday? Not quite. For that you need an ever-evolving plot that takes the path less chosen and anticipated.
Ultimately, not only did the tournament's best team emerge victorious, Frqance did so capturing the ultimate prize on offer, the cherished Grand Slam. In the runners up slot, the standout next best in Ireland.
For drama and resilience in the face of adversity, a well deserved and overdue win for Italy after suffering 36 ignominious championship defeats on the bounce. The fact that it was achieved on the road, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, makes it even more noteworthy. Quite what is says about the current state of Welsh rugby is another matter.
Having finished second in each of the last two seasons, Saturday’s victory marked the natural progression for a French side finally maximizing the vast playing resources at its disposal. With Ireland and England both having to travel to the Stade de France, this was the year the French management earmarked to go the whole way.
It is also why, with France and England traveling to Dublin for next season’s Six Nations, that Ireland must now set their sights on continuing to mark their progression with a championship success. A Grand Slam? Perhaps, but what Saturday’s stuttering defeat of Scotland underlined clearly was that Ireland still has a way to travel to become the team they aspire to.
That’s no bad thing. The three test tour of New Zealand this summer, which now looks almost certain to be supplemented by an additional two midweek games against the Maori All Blacks, promises another layer of preparation which could prove vital.
France were the dominant team throughout this campaign but when you remove the three additional bonus points the winner of a Grand Slam receives, it reduces the actual French points won to 22, just one ahead of Ireland.
Over the course of the last two weekends, Ireland registered bonus point wins, by a margin of 17 and 21 points, over England and Scotland respectively, had reason to look back on both knowing that the scope for improvement is huge.
On Saturday, Ireland had a reasonably straight-forward target in their sights, a first Triple Crown since 2018. That was achieved on the way towards a rare and wonderful Grand Slam, delivered in such impressive fashion by Joe Schmidt’s team on a baltic day in Twickenham. On special days such as that, a Triple Crown fades somewhat in significance.
On this occasion, with a first opportunity for Ireland to lift silverware in front of their home support since 2004, it represented a very worthwhile symbol of progress. When Conor Murray scored Ireland’s fourth try in the final minute of the game, it drew a frenzied response from Ireland’s captain Johnny Sexton that made you appreciate what winning something tangible meant to the players.
The fact that Ireland were made fight harder than they might have envisaged in advance made the win a bit more special in the end. With nothing really at stake from a Scottish perspective, the visitors started the game in festival mood, chucking the ball about as if they were representing the Barbarians. Unfortunately, they managed to suck Ireland into that festive mindset, resulting in a frantic opening period.
Had Scotland showed any modicum of composure on their visits to the Irish twenty two, Ireland would have been in trouble. One bad overthrow at an attacking Scottish five metre line out, coupled with a number of unforced handling errors, let Ireland off the hook at a time when the visitors were dominating the contact area.
Recognising the madness all around him, Sexton, having miscued an earlier penalty kick to touch, rifled the most perfect of 50/22 kicks to within five metres of the Scottish line which ultimately set up the opening try of the game for the hard working Dan Sheehan.
For the second week in a row, the newly introduced 50/22 kick, which rewards the team kicking from the zone between their twenty two and half way line and finds touch in the opposition twenty two with the subsequent line out throw, served to offer the momentum shift so badly needed.
In Twickenham, two such efforts from Andrew Conway helped lift the siege at a time when a pumped up and rejuvenated England were imposing all kinds of pressure on Ireland. In this instance, Sexton’s magnificent effort provided the field position for Sheehan to bag the opening score. Given all the pressure Scotland had applied to that point, that try proved a body blow.
At least Ireland manufactured and delivered that score entirely on the back of their own efforts. The next significant turning point came courtesy of an alarming piece of selfishness from Scotland’s captain Stuart Hogg. His failure to execute the simple pass to a supporting Scottish player on his inside shoulder, five metres from the Irish line, was unforgivable. Succeeding at international level is all about executing under pressure. Cast your mind back to Ireland’s opening try against England in Twickenham when Josh Van Der Flier and Sheehan combined perfectly in a series of two on ones to beat the England defenders and put James Lowe away.
In a similar situation Hogg sought to go it alone but was smashed into touch by a superbly executed cover tackle from Hugo Keenan. Given that Hogg butchered a similar scoring effort in the other end of the field at a crucial time in the corresponding fixture two years ago you would have though that he’d have learned from his previous lapses on this pitch.
A Scottish try at that stage, eight minutes into the second half, would have reduced the margin between the sides to two points. Not for the first time, Scotland and Hogg in particular was found wanting. Such incidents have the capacity to decide test matches.
Given that the Scottish captain was one of a small cohort to break a team curfew after their win against Italy, you wonder if that lack of discipline was symptomatic of a wider issue within their squad. Once again, after starting the campaign on a high with a win over England, the Scots ended up playing nowhere near the expectation levels surrounding what many felt was their best squad in years.
The one constant flowing from the Irish set up, as articulated by Peter O'Mahony at the tail end of last year when he highlighted that this was the most enjoyable and cohesive Irish squad he has been involved with, is that this group of players are comfortable in their own space and keep playing to the death.
That attribute was responsible for clawing their way back into the contest against eventual winners France in that brilliant game at the Stade de France, having looked lost at sea early on. In many respects, Ireland’s opening games against Wales and France were their two best performances of the championship, which is a slight concern.
The nature of the sending offs of Hame Faiva and Charlie Ewels against Italy and England tended to spook Ireland somewhat and it took them a while to respond to the circumstances they found themselves in.
The fact that Ireland lost three of their first choice front five in Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher and James Ryan for the last two games has also shone a light on a key area requiring the emergence of more depth in the reserve troops.
That, along with a number of other technical issues, will occupy Andy Farrell’s mind as he contemplates one of the most demanding of challenges in how best to negotiate a potential five-match tour of New Zealand. Right now, with another Six Nations campaign resigned to history, that is exactly what this ever-evolving group of players and management need.
