Donal Lenihan: Jimmy O'Brien the big Autumn winner for Ireland so far
RISING TO THE CHALLENEGE: Jimmy O'Brien played a very prominent role in the defeat of the world champions.
So much for Andy Farrell and his management team to absorb from an invaluable 24 hours of high-octane intensity at the weekend.
From the moment Craig Casey led his Ireland A charges onto the RDS on Friday to when Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli blew the final whistle down the road at the Aviva Stadium the following evening.
Let’s start at Donnybrook where the game against an 'All Blacks XV' was likely to prove even more informative, in terms of testing World Cup credentials, as the big one against South Africa the following day.
Of the players named in the matchday squad against the Springboks, only Robert Baloucoune and Stuart McCluskey aren’t nailed on to make the journey to France next year. A cursory glance over the Ireland A side and only a handful - Casey, Nick Timoney, Gavin Coombes, Jeremy Loughman, Ciaran Frawley and perhaps Jacob Stockdale - were under serious contention to travel before the events of Friday night.
The biggest winner over the weekend was Jimmy O'Brien. Originally selected to start on the wing against the New Zealanders, the sequence of events that saw Robbie Henshaw having to withdraw, leading to McCluskey’s promotion from the bench, led to O'Brien being handed the No 23 shirt against the Springboks.
Playing 53 minutes, out of position at outside centre against the World Cup winners, certainly wasn’t on O'Brien’s radar when he woke up on Friday morning. By Saturday, not only was he a fully-fledged Irish international, he had played a very prominent role in the defeat of the world champions.
That’s exactly the type of response Farrell was looking for, players capable of rising to the challenge in adversity. Unfortunately, for a number of other World Cup contenders, what transpired on Friday night served as a timely reminder that the demands of international rugby can be poles apart from those placed on you in domestic rugby.
When the All Black XV stood for “God defend New Zealand” just prior to performing the Haka, you could see they saw this as far more than just an opportunity to press their individual cases for ultimate honours with the senior team.
This game was televised live back home. The full All Blacks side had just suffered a very rare home series defeat to the Irish. It was their responsibility to set the record straight and remind everyone that, despite the vast number of players they have lost to the All Blacks cause to overseas contracts, there is plenty of talent still plying their trade at home.
Perhaps some of our younger players were beginning to believe their own press but what transpired was a totally dominant performance from a far more physical and skilful New Zealand outfit.
It helped their cause that on the receiving end of a thoroughly dominant pack stood a tried and tested half back combination in TJ Perenara and Damien McKenzie. Between them they have amassed 118 caps for New Zealand. That makes a difference.
To win a World Cup, you must have quality at both scrum-half and out-half, yet those two were deemed surplus to requirements to the full All Black squad before Perenara earned a recall for Saturday’s game against Scotland. I suspect it won’t be long before McKenzie joins him. Anyone taking comfort from the recent demise of New Zealand had better think again.
If South Africa managed to rise from the ashes of their 38-3 humiliation in Dublin in 2017 to lift the Webb Ellis Cup less than two years later then, of all countries, New Zealand have the capacity to address their poor run of recent results.
Apart from the full internationals fielded at the RDS, a handful of uncapped players stood head and shoulders over their equivalents in green. If Coombes wants to take the step up to the next level, then his work rate needs to improve. Explosive carrier that he is, he needs more involvement on both sides of the ball.
New Zealand have struggled to fill the void at No 6 since Jerome Kaino retired after the 2015 World Cup. Many have been tried but none have taken ownership of that shirt. On Friday night we may well have seen the answer to New Zealand’s dilemma in Dominic Gardner. He was superb.
As the chase to fill the supporting role to Johnny Sexton continues, Friday night also served to highlight that Ciaran Frawley still has a distance to travel to convince that he’s ready to step into the starting No 10 shirt in a World Cup quarter-final should the captain and his understudy Joey Carbery be ruled out.
For me, that comes as no surprise as out-half is one of those positions you have to be starting in regularly to sharpen your game management and learn how to direct and control a game. To be fair to Casey and Frawley, they were on the back foot all night as the Irish pack struggled to compete.
The game-time afforded to Jack Crowley at out-half recently has helped catapult him into the picture. Once again he made a positive impression off the bench on Friday night and showed just how durable he is when surviving a massive hit from the enormous Patrick Tuipulotu.
More interesting for me was the fact that Farrell employed Crowley as one of his mic'd up water boys for Saturday’s encounter. As he lined up on the touch line, facing the Irish players during the national anthems with the rest of the Irish support staff, you could imagine Crowley dreaming about being on the other side of the trench in the not-too-distant future. That gap has closed appreciably over the last month.
If further proof of having a front line No 10 on board was needed, then you only had to watch Damian Willemse struggle to offer any direction to his pack on Saturday, despite enjoying plenty of front-foot ball. His kicking out of hand, a key tenet of the South African game, was woeful while the visitors left seven very kickable points behind them off the tee. Ireland won by three.
All this confirms is that, when the sides meet again in Pool B at the Stade de France on September 23 next year, there will still be very little separating the sides. Saturday’s win was far more valuable for Ireland in that it served to address the issue of recent shortcomings, at provincial and international level, when coming up against physically superior forward units.
As I’ve mentioned before, the stupidity of World Rugby conducting the draw so far out from the 2023 event sees the top four in the game, Ireland, France, South Africa and New Zealand all pitted on the same side of the draw.
South Africa and Ireland will both advance from Pool B but, win lose or draw in their pool encounter, will end up facing France or New Zealand. Both will prove formidable opponents.
Meanwhile, the likes of Wales, England, Argentina and Australia are likely to enjoy a far less stressful passage to the last four. Last weekend’s frantic activity on the international front not only added credibility to the New Zealand revival but asked some questions of two serial contenders in France and England.
Saturday night's win over the Wallabies saw a French side win 11 tests in a row for the first time in their storied rugby history. The fact that they had to do so from a position where they trailed by four points with less than five minutes to go says much about the new-found character and resilience in their squad. Two years ago they would have been out on their feet with no way back.
The try at the death from the outstanding Damien Penaud was worthy of winning any international. Just like Ireland, France were nowhere near their best yet still found a way to win. That’s what the best teams are capable of.
What we also know is the French have incredible strength in depth at half-back. Their No 10 Romain Ntamack had played very little rugby for Toulouse coming into this game and it showed. When the match was in the fire in the final ten minutes, it was his replacement, Mathieu Jalibert, who found a way to breach the Wallaby defence with a sumptuous pass to set Penaud on his way.
Incredibly the final result in Paris, 30-29, was flipped in Twickenham as England flattered to deceive when losing to Argentina. Eddie Jones is walking a tightrope over there at the moment. Ten months out from the World Cup their selection appears all over the place.
All that and the highlight of the month so far, for me at least, is yet to come. South Africa’s visit to Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Thursday night is both historic and fascinating. Munster may be seriously depleted by injury but tradition demands they turn up against a famous touring side.
It’s a massive night for Munster rugby, for a number of reasons. More on that next week.
