Make no mistake, this is the Grand Slam game
The Irish coach, starting at Twickenham tomorrow, will be looking for tiers of players who can keep performing, who do not buckle under intense mental and physical scrutiny. Schmidt needs to differentiate between those who respond well to setbacks — and those who don’t.
Even at elite level sport, there are those whose confidence tank empties quickly. But the blue chip variety are the ones who maintain a consistent equilibrium irrespective of how they perform.
I am fascinated by this side of the game. Arsene Wenger has had a fair number of French players down through the years at Arsenal and I can totally understand what he is talking about when he alludes to confidence dropping off a cliff after one defeat. But that is a peculiar French phenomenon, and one I am more au fait with now after eight months living and working in France.
Mood swings in French sport change so quickly, it’s incredible. The violent mood swings in the space of 48 hours is fascinating to see.
Compare that with the narrative at Twickenham tomorrow. I go back to the darkest days of the 2007 World Cup in France for Ireland. Even then, when things could scarcely have been worse for the team, the D’Arcys, O’Driscolls, O’Connells never felt inept or unworthy as sportsmen. In France, it’s how they feel it on the day. It might be all over after 10 minutes. They don’t dig as deep into the soul as our culture does. They are more brittle — that culture is very much alive in France.
Ireland’s mental strength under Schmidt gets its first rigorous examination on the road tomorrow.
Stuart Lancaster has built a culture of fighting for everything. This England squad can’t be accused of lacking bottle. They play for each other. There is serious unity there.
Therefore, it will be fascinating — and very revealing — to see how either team responds if and when the opposition kick on into a lead. Who will crack first? Lest anyone forget, Ireland’s games thus far have been at home. We lived and survived by a creed in the Munster dressing room for years — the sign of a top player was whether he had the ability to still do it with a couple of thousand of his own fans being out-screamed by 35,000 from the home team’s fans. That’s when you see the true character of a player; you’re away from home and sometimes you might think there’s nothing to play for, that it’s never worth it. But you stick your chest out and show what you’re made of.
Make no mistake, this is not just a crucial game against England, this is the Grand Slam game. I believe it is that big. If Ireland win — and I think they will win — history is there for them. As players, you don’t feel that expectation because you are locked away in the surreal world of camp. The coaching staff won’t have to tell the players that this is a process.
Maybe if they went four-out-of-four and were heading for Paris, maybe then a few people might get the old ‘whoa, what’s this in front of me, Grand Slam?’ But in the middle of the campaign it won’t be an issue. Short-term goals lads, blocks of 10, 15 minutes at a time like Jamie Heaslip talks about. That’s how they’ll approach it.
The portents are good. Dan Cole is a loss for England in an area they would fancy themselves.
Psychologically, it’s a plus area lost for Lancaster and Ireland’s front row will look to capitalise on any chink of English self-doubt. This is where Cian Healy is crucial. He is now looked up to, people expect a performance from him. His rookie stage is in the rear view mirror, even if his Lions tour ended prematurely and people outside Ireland didn’t see him at his marauding best.
He is judged within the game now from the highest of standards and that’s a challenge in itself, the same as Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, Johnny Sexton, Heaslip, and Rory Best. Healy has joined that bracket of player now.
Ireland’s rucking has been exemplary, as fine-tuned as their rolling maul. The amount of detail with which our rucking is being coached makes it very hard to defend against. You think you know what’s coming, but Ireland are clearing past the ball and they’re grabbing jerseys. It’s so difficult to combat.
Ditto with the rolling maul. There is only one tiny window of opportunity for legally stopping the maul, and that is ‘sacking’ the jumper, i.e. the moment he lands, you have about two or three seconds to separate the lifter and wrap the jumper up and pull him down on top of you so the entire maul collapses. But it is a penalty to take a player out in the air and at any subsequent time once the maul is formed and moving.
In developing the maul, the jumper’s blocker is fundamental — that’s why people appreciated John Hayes so much in his time. He was an immovable object. He’d lift O’Connell and he’d take all the flak, but they were never able to get him on the ground. It’s the tactic du jour at the moment, because we’ve scored tries off it lately. But right back to Ginger McLaughlin, it’s been an effective tool for teams — including Ireland.
Leinster have also employed it very effectively in Europe, but the Bulls in South Africa were a big mauling unit before the Springboks took it on board. The All Blacks use it but Australia don’t because the set-piece for them has been just a way of restarting the game — that’s changing now though, with Laurie Fisher back there, having spent time in the northern hemisphere.
Lancaster is at a juncture now with England where they will soon be able to play both ways — he will need those tactical options for 2015. Owen Farrell is key to either plan. Though he can go deep and kick, he’s also good with the ball in hand. It would be a mistake to pigeon-hole him purely as a kicking 10.
England won’t lack for size and mobility in the pack either — but I’m very interested to watch how their back line is developing with a view to the next World Cup. It may be that new recruit Sam Burgess and Manu Tuilagi form a sizeable midfield combination. Mike Brown is a serious player too, and if Danny Care gets parity from his forwards, he can do damage. They’ll always have good wingers but lethal finishers — a la Vincent Clerc or Gael Fickou in France — are thin on the ground in England. That firepower that Mike Catt, Will Greenwood et al brought to the table has not been coming through.
That’s why I can’t say they were unlucky to lose in Paris. They had 80 minutes and with a six-point lead when you have three chances to make it a two-score game, that highlights a dearth of ruthlessness. Ultimately you pay for that at the top level.
I’d give anything to be in Twickenham tomorrow. As sportspeople you enjoy playing in the best of stadiums and Twickenham is up there, because it’s historic. You’re going to have Sweet Chariots bellowing out at certain stages but that’s what the competitor inside you wants — up against the wall, against everybody, do it for the people at home attitude.
There’s a nostalgic tinge to everything Brian O’Driscoll does at the moment, which is not how he would want it. He’d rather just focus on England’s midfield. Brian’s shadow looms large over Joe Schmidt’s selection policy still — the coach must start looking towards the 2015 World Cup but Brian is still the best man for the job and the Six Nations is so important in its own right. But Schmidt understands just how big a void O’Driscoll’s departure will create. For a lot of players you can over-estimate these things but not with this fella. I keep going back to presence in sport — it’s not what his presence does to our team, it’s what it does to England tomorrow.
If he was taken out and you had a Robbie Henshaw or a Fergus McFadden in there this weekend — it’s just different, and that’s no reflection on those players. There aren’t many Brian O’Driscolls in the world.
It’s tailor made too for Sexton to grab the occasion and shape it as he likes. You could see he was going away to Irish camp happy after Racing Metro’s win over Toulouse. Last week he came back from Irish camp for the Bayonne game and I saw it — he bounced onto the pitch and essentially kept us in the hunt for the Top Six.
Not that the stars are aligning for Racing. Every other result went against us last weekend — Toulouse beat Biarritz away, Castres got a bonus point in Toulon. Grenoble shocked Clermont.
Hence, tomorrow evening’s game in Bordeaux is huge. My mind can’t wander elsewhere. Can it?
* I shall return to the new Munster coaching ticket in next week’s column.
