Now we really are at the end of an era
Round one action had everything — drama in the form of the Welsh comeback after Ireland raced into a 27 point lead. Shock when everyone’s pre-tournament favourites, France, were turned over by an Italian side championing a new style of running rugby and increasing maturity, with England backing up that monumental performance against New Zealand with controlled excellence against Scotland.
In all 16 tries were scored on the opening weekend of action, six apiece in the Wales-Ireland and England-Scotland games and four in Rome in that famous victory over France. Since then the games have got progressively worse, with only six tries registered across the board in round two, and five in total last weekend.
Ireland’s point-scoring ability has waned at an alarming rate after registering 30 in 42 minutes — including three tries — at the Millennium Stadium to a paltry 14 with a single try, in the subsequent 198 minutes of competitive action.
At times Ireland look brilliant with ball in hand, as they did when mesmerising a very good Welsh defensive set up in that blistering opening half in Cardiff. Despite all the injury-enforced changes in the set-up, they still managed to do the same in the opening period in Murrayfield, some cleverly executed moves with decoy runners creating holes for the support to make the line breaks. The disappointment was when natural skill and understanding of what was required to convert the line breaks into points arrived, the players failed to execute. That is not the coach’s fault.
Luke Marshall had an explosive start to his international career with two scintillating early breaks but found himself isolated, with Craig Gilroy caught cold and too deep in support. Marshall forced the pass and a certain try went abegging. He will learn and has a massive future ahead of him. From the moment he lit up the Aviva Stadium in that mismatch on opening day when the combined U20 talent of Leinster-Ulster exposed their equivalents from Munster-Connacht in a backline that also featured Paddy Jackson and Gilroy, Marshall looked a natural. He has it.
Keith Earls, however, will know he should have done better with two outstanding forays, but on each occasion failed to link with the supporting Brian O’Driscoll. On such margins are games lost and coaches lose their job. I am convinced that had Ireland converted any of those opening opportunities, Scotland would have folded.
Three days on from Edinburgh, I am still having difficulty rationalising how Ireland lost. You really had to be there to see just how bad this Scotland team was for the opening 50 minutes. Yet, Ireland somehow conspired to lose. More alarming is the manner in which the Irish challenge seems to fade away in the final 30 minutes of games when, for some reason, the team appears to tactically lose its way. It happened against South Africa in November and has been a feature in all of this season’s Six Nations encounters.
Fitness cannot be an issue as Ireland’s player management and strength and conditioning programmes are up there with the very best. It can only be a mental thing and when they find themselves under constant pressure, their discipline goes enabling the opposition to claw themselves back into the game.
Ireland conceded a succession of crazy penalties over an 11 minute period which enabled Greig Laidlaw to turn an eight-point deficit into a one point lead. The Murrayfield faithful, who had been stunned into silence by the Scottish inadequacies in the opening half when Ireland dominated territory and possession — without a functioning set piece — to such an embarrassing degree, gave their side no chance of success. Once they smelt blood however they, like their players on the field, sparked into life.
The end result was a travesty for this young Irish side, but they have lost their way when it comes to closing out tight contests. The sense of panic, evident in the concession of those cheap second half penalties, will only serve to erode their confidence further.
Since the three-test series in New Zealand last June, this Irish side have experienced a roller-coaster of emotions. From being within a whisker of beating New Zealand one week to the humiliation of that 60 point defeat. From the highs of scoring seven tries against Argentina and three more in double quick time against Wales to just a single five pointer since doesn’t make sense.
The inevitable consequence of all this is the spotlight firmly focused on Declan Kidney’s future as head coach. The fact that his contract is up in June and that the IRFU had refused to enter any negotiations until the conclusion of the Six Nations championship tells its own story. Kidney has been under enormous pressure since the summer tour and I got the impression from the body language of some in the union hierarchy that had Ireland failed to beat Argentina to secure their tier two status for the 2015 World Cup last November, Kidney could have been replaced at that stage.
That type of pressure feeds into a squad. The players are well aware of the outside influences and ever since that opening must-win clash against the Welsh, there has been an end-of-term feeling about the current set-up.
Kidney has taken all the flak but his chief lieutenants in Gert Smal and Les Kiss must bear comparable culpability. The lack of variation in the Irish lineout has been an issue for some time and I couldn’t understand why Ireland failed to introduce a series of five-man options against a towering but ponderous Scottish lineout on Sunday. Not only would that have facilitated winning clean, off the top ball, but it would also have freed up Sean O’Brien to run at a porous Scottish midfield, as David Wallace used to do to such good effect.
By several accounts, Kiss had a big influence on the selection of Jackson over Ronan O’Gara and while Jackson fulfilled many of his primary duties well, he fell down on some of the basic requirements of the role. His place-kicking is not of international standard but that was known well in advance. Ireland’s game plan was spot-on in Edinburgh but was compromised by a failure of execution allied to questionable decision-making on the field.
Not only is there an end of term feeling to this championship but an end of an era one, with O’Driscoll now almost certain to call it a day at the end of the season. In all probability, at least at international level, O’Gara will do likewise. Both have been unbelievable servants to the game in this country and if they do depart, they deserve to go out on a better note.
Sport is frequently unkind, though, and the fairytale ending is the preserve of the very few. Unfortunately, Kidney, for all his great work, is likely to experience that too.
