Ireland need Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney back in the mix for Paris
Ireland and Wales have served up some breathtaking battles over the last few seasons, but this one was special. It was a match that both sides refused to lose, but just couldn’t manage to win. A draw is a horrible result in many ways as it removes the possibility of a Grand Slam or Triple Crown as early as the opening day but the consolation is there is still so much to play for.
The possibility of a third consecutive championship is still very much alive and over the course of the next few days the players on both sides, whose immediate reaction on the final whistle was one of intense disappointment, will come to realise that.
Of the two sides, Wales will probably be the ones to feel slightly more pleased on the basis they fought their way back into the game from a 13-point deficit after only 28 minutes, were playing away from home and have three contests still to come at the Millennium Stadium.
Credit them for having the poise and character to work their way back into the game, despite the enormous loss of Dan Biggar after only 21 minutes — and for managing to keep Ireland scoreless for 47 minutes before the excellent Johnny Sexton levelled the scores with time running out.
Credit both sides too for refusing to accept a draw when the clock went into the red by taking the easy option to put the ball out of play. Both continued to fight for a win to the bitter end.
For Ireland the immediate focus will be on the challenging task of dealing with a six-day turnaround for Paris after a massively bruising contest. That will not be easy but on the basis of this showing and the less than inspiring effort from the French against Italy on Saturday, Ireland can travel without inhibition.
On so many fronts, however, Joe Schmidt has every reason to be proud of what his charges delivered yesterday. Irish players respond best when their backs are against the wall.
To lose players of the calibre of Cian Healy, Mike Ross — who missed a championship game for the first time since 2010 — Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald for the first game of the post Paul O’Connell era required a special response.
In a strange way, a run of injuries like that, especially the loss of O’Brien during the week, can galvanise a team and that is exactly what happened on this occasion. In the absence of O’Brien and O’Mahony, the pressure on Ireland’s back row going into this game was immense against a Lions trio who share 150 caps between them.
In the circumstances the individual and collective performances delivered by Jamie Heaslip, Tommy O’Donnell and debutant CJ Stander gave Ireland a platform that afforded their team the chance to race into that sizeable lead. Their work rate, with and without the ball, was astonishing with man of the match Stander contributing an incredible 23 carries.
They played their more vaunted opponents off the park. The pressure on Stander to deliver after the blow of losing such a talismanic figure and key ball carrier in ’Brien was immense but he delivered like a seasoned international and made light of the step up in the pace, intensity and physicality of test rugby. To think that South Africa deemed him too small a few years ago.
Immense credit, too, to the front five of whom Devin Toner and Rory Best excelled. The scrum was under pressure at times with Wales almost delivering a penalty try from that phase before the most impressive of the Welsh forwards in Taulupe Faletau scored off the base to turn the tide in favour of the visitors going into the break.
reland’s ability to deliver multi-phase rugby from the off — 17 phases in the build up to their first three-point penalty and 15 en route to the second — against a Welsh defensive system that normally suffocates was key. Simon Zebo and Jared Payne ran some brilliant lines and delivered five line breaks.
Also, Ireland’s defence was superb both individually and as a unit. Given Schmidt has taken temporary charge of that key aspect of Ireland’s game until Andy Farrell comes on board once his gardening leave from international rugby ends after this tournament, underlines again how good a coach he is.
Schmidt has delivered some memorable moments in his time at the helm of Leinster and Irish rugby but to choreograph a display of this magnitude, shorn so many key players ranks right up there with some of his finest achievements. That said, to end up with a draw after such a positive start will have left him frustrated.
However, there were so many positives to take from this game he has no cause to beat himself up. If the back row won their key battle, the half-back partnership of Conor Murray and Sexton were also back to their best. The only worry here was the fact, that again, Sexton was unable to finish out the 80 minutes. To land that equalising penalty after taking yet another debilitating knock showed amazing courage from him.
On that front Rhys Priestland also deserves credit when called upon to replace Bigger. Sitting behind George Ford at Bath he has seen little game time recently and hasn’t kicked under that type of pressure for a long time.
With tournament-defining back-to-back away contests to come at the Stade de France and Twickenham, it was imperative that Ireland take something positive out of yesterday’s clash. Wales have a habit of improving over the course of the championship while England showed enough in Murrayfield on their maiden voyage under Eddie Jones to suggest they too will prove a big obstacle over the coming weeks.
The big question now is how much this bruising encounter has taken out of Rory Best’s men and how much France will improve from their initial outing under Guy Noves. While they looked menacing at times in attack and have discovered a potential star in winger Virimi Vakatawa, they were at sea at times in defence.
Ireland showed enough with ball in hand and through the boot to suggest they have the armoury to back up that win in Paris two years ago with another next Saturday.
So much now depends on recovery and getting the body ready for another bruiser. Getting O’Brien and Rob Kearney back in the mix in time for next weekend would also help.
