Victory puts Irish in a good place
Home advantage is the one thing the Welsh will cling to, but, having replicated Ireland’s feat in winning successive tests on the road against Scotland and Italy, they will return to the national stadium with a more positive mindset than when they left their spiritual home after that opening night championship defeat against England.
Declan Kidney could hardly pick a more favourable away venue to finally kick-start Ireland’s tournament than the Millennium Stadium. When the team bus pulls into the impressive arena it is inevitable that the thoughts of the players and management will drift, momentarily at least, to the last occasion in 2009 they were here in the green of Ireland. The drama of the closing minutes of that Grand Slam encounter will live with all for a long, long time.
It will also act as a reminder that things have changed somewhat in the intervening two years. In an effort to evolve and improve, the Irish management, influenced by the changes in law interpretation, sought to tweak and refine the way Ireland play. And, like the swing changes undertaken by Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington, the adjustments are taking time to bed in.
It could be argued that the two Welsh victories over Italy and Scotland were a bit more convincing than Ireland’s, yet mentally I think the Irish players have it over their Welsh counterparts. The Welsh clubs are still reeling from a dismal season in Europe, where they failed to get any representation in either the Heineken or Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals. By way of contrast Ireland have three teams still competing for European silverware.
One can’t help but escape the feeling Saturday’s game is crucial in setting the agenda for both sides in the build-up to the World Cup. Should Ireland lose then England on Saturday week, even in the Aviva, becomes just a little bit more difficult while Wales have to travel to Paris.
The Irish players continue to exude positivity despite their failure to put away inferior opposition where it matters most, on the scoreboard, but a defeat in Cardiff and even their reserves of self belief would be exhausted. After all, Ireland have only lost twice to Wales in their last ten meetings. By announcing an unchanged starting XV yesterday, Declan Kidney has done the right thing and the players will be more comfortable and confident as a result.
The thing that is wrecking the heads of the Irish players is that their defensive organisation under Les Kiss is as good as it ever was with just two championship tries conceded in three games, and their attacking game is also in rude health with seven tries already in the bag. In those circumstances, a point’s differential of +2 is baffling.
Only England, with 11, have scored more tries while matching Ireland’s achievement in conceding just twice. Wales have only leaked a creditable four tries. They are finally showing signs of rediscovering the defensive blanket devised by Shaun Edwards that was primarily responsible for winning their last Grand Slam, three years ago.
Ireland have been lacerated for their concession of penalties in this championship – 35 in all – but they are not alone, Wales have conceded 36. Over the weekend I watched the Queensland Reds beat the Brumbies for the first time ever in Canberra In Super 15 despite the fact that they were outscored by four tries to one.
NOT unlike Ireland, the Brumbies had difficulties with indiscipline and interpretation at the breakdown and were punished by the boot of Quade Cooper, who landed seven penalties, a conversion and a drop goal. The Irish are not the only ones finding it difficult to stay on the right side of the referee but the key is to stay on your feet in the contact area. Unfortunately, despite the best intentions, sometimes that is easier said than done.
Unfortunately in this country we have a tendency to focus on the negatives or the perceived deficiencies of a player. Connacht’s Fionn Carr falls into this category, not even granted a run with the Irish Wolfhounds because of perceived defensive frailties instead of being afforded an opportunity due to his exceptional try scoring exploits.
Mike Ross was pigeon-holed for too long for the things he couldn’t do rather than being selected for the vital ingredient he does better than most – promote the right hand side of the scrum. Now that a bit of confidence is being shown in him, he has also improved in his perceived weaker duties — ball carrying and in his defensive chores.
The penalty debate has gone on for too long, but it does require a change of emphasis from Ireland at the breakdown. The tackler and the next arriving player must put all their energy into driving beyond the ball, staying on their feet and isolating the tackled player. This is a mindset but one that requires concentration and discipline. Going to ground must be the last resort. If the referee sees that you are making every effort to stay upright, then he will work with you — and boy, do Ireland need to be seen to work with the officials at the moment.
On Saturday Ireland have a southern hemisphere referee for the first time in the tournament this season in South African Jonathan Kaplan. Last weekend he officiated in Super Rugby when the Lions played the Auckland Blues in Johannesburg and I am sure Ireland’s video guru, Mervyn Murphy, will have noted his foibles and laid them out in black and white for the team. Hopefully on this occasion they will respect and reward his hard work.
The next ten days dictate the priorities for the World Cup warm up period next August. With two games against France, England in Dublin along with another joust with Scotland back in Murrayfield, it can hardly be described as easing your way into RWC action. That is no harm. Four years ago the preparations set the tone, losing to Scotland in Edinburgh, almost having your captain decapitated against Bayonne in the south of France and squeezing an undeserved win over Italy in Belfast with a hotly disputed try in the closing minutes.
A win on Saturday is what is needed to set the pulses racing for the visit of England. All the better if they are chasing the Grand Slam and Ireland another Triple Crown.
ON a different subject, what are the IRFU doing to club rugby? Is it not bad enough that over the years the All Ireland league has had to compete on match days with Heineken Cup fixtures while this season there were three rounds of games fixed for Six Nations weekends?
Last weekend, with the luxury of a rare Saturday at home in Cork, I looked forward to attending a club game – any club game. To my surprise neither Dolphin, Cork Con, UCC, Highfield or Sunday’s Well had a senior fixture at AIL level, despite the fact there were no competing attractions on television. What kind of fixture scheduling is this? Madness.
Then again, the new proposals in relation to the number of contracted players allowed to feature in next year’s All Ireland league – two (one forward and one back) – represents yet another retrograde step. I fear the implications will have greater ramifications for Munster than any of the other provinces. I’ll come back to this post-Six Nations, but I wonder if new League sponsors, Ulster Bank, were aware of this proposal when they decided to come on board?
