Autumn fall guys
Wales can be a very claustrophobic place for an under-performing rugby side and right now, after that comprehensive defeat by Samoa on Friday night, the Welsh players are getting it in the ear from all angles. In the midst of yet another crisis, just about the last team you would want to face is New Zealand.
But is it ever any different over there? It always appears as if the public perception of their national team oscillates somewhere between brilliant and brutal in the twinkle of an eye, facilitated in many respects by some incredible variances in the level of their performance.
Defeats like those against Fiji at the 2007 World Cup and Samoa on Friday are an all too common occurrence while on the same weekend two seasons ago they were lucky to escape with a 16-16 draw against the Fijians. On the flip side, and in the midst of those catastrophic setbacks, how they managed to produce three Grand Slam-winning sides over the last eight seasons, given that Ireland have accomplished only two in the 138-year history of the IRFU, remains a bit of a mystery.
Despite our recent losing streak, we never seem to encounter problems against sides ranked below us compared to our higher achieving Welsh counterparts. Already the grumbling has started in the valleys over the newly perceived folly of releasing Warren Gatland to coach the Lions — shades of Graham Henry in 2001. Gatland, who returned from Lions duty over the last two weekends, where he took in a number of the non-Welsh games, takes over as head coach against New Zealand and Australia over the next fortnight.
Given that he will stand down on a permanent basis until the conclusion of the Lions tour in July, he could do with manufacturing at least one win over what is sure to be a challenging period. Given his recent health travails, that is the last thing he needs.
Even if he delivers a win in one of those two Tests, that will only serve to prove the detractors’ point that he should not have been released on Lions duty in the first place and that he should be reinstated for the Six Nations campaign. It is a difficult one for the WRU, especially with the general rugby public rounding on Gatland’s assistant and current caretaker coach Rob Howley. He has now presided over five straight defeats and the vultures are circling.
England coach Stuart Lancaster is also beginning to feel the heat after failing to deliver against Australia last Saturday. Those who expected the Wallabies to pitch up at Twickenham and become the sacrificial lambs at the altar of an English rugby revival know precious little about the psyche of the Australian rugby player. Despite all their well documented injury problems and their meek collapse against France the previous week, they were always going to be up for this one.
Lancaster was given a lot of scope, considering the difficult job he inherited after England’s disastrous World Cup last year, when their actions off the field incurred far more wrath than their shortcomings on it, but people are now beginning to question his credentials for the job. Next Saturday’s contest with South Africa, against whom England finished with a draw in the last of their three-Test summer tour, now becomes central to Lancaster’s future.
In those circumstances, Declan Kidney’s immediate task is far more straight-forward. Beat Argentina on Saturday and the return from the November series is acceptable, with a second tier seeding for the World Cup draw also secured. A win would also offer something positive to build on for the Six Nations. Last Saturday’s outing against the struggling Fijians produced conclusive evidence that there is some quality talent ready to make the breakthrough and that will not have gone unnoticed by some of the older brigade in the squad. After all, it isn’t as if Wales, England or Scotland have covered themselves in glory and all are eminently beatable in the new year. Lose, however, and that opening Six Nations clash in Cardiff on February 2 will appear far more daunting.
The transformation in the French squad had been, by far, the most significant development within the sides who will contest the Six Nations and no wonder Philippe Saint-Andre was in such a positive mood following up that emphatic win over Australia with an equally impressive showing against Argentina. Despite a 17-point defeat, the Pumas also played well and underlined the strides they have made. The one plus from the Irish perspective was that while the majority of Kidney’s front-line troops had their feet up over the weekend, Argentina were embroiled in a real battle.
The inevitable consequence of that was injuries and having already lost the services of Felipe Contepomi — how he would have loved to finish his international career in Dublin — their excellent winger Horacio Augilla has now been ruled out with concussion in addition to full-back Lucas Gonzales Amorosino, both of whom started against France. It is a measure of the growing Argentine strength in depth that they are likely to be replaced in that back three by Exeter Chiefs’ Gonzalo Camacho, who enjoyed a superb Rugby Championship, and one of Ireland’s former tormentors in chief, Juan Martin Hernandez.
There were a lot of raised eyebrows during the Rugby Championship when New Zealand’s World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry pitched up in the Argentine camp. Henry, employed as a consultant for the duration of the tournament, had a very positive influence on their squad and is credited with introducing a more fluid game plan.
While Argentina have never beaten Ireland in Dublin, they arrive far more primed for action than at any previous time. Their squad would normally be playing catch-up at this stage, but, after eight top-class international Tests since August 18, they no longer have to name check the new additions to their squad. That makes them a more dangerous prospect than ever before.
