Midfield magic offers hope of redemption
In circumstances not dissimilar to Sunday, Australia responded to a great Ireland try by Gordon Hamilton to regroup and retrieve victory from the jaws of defeat and go on to win the tournament.
It is a horrible way to lose a game. However, due credit must go to the French. Having just endured the heartbreak of seeing a drop goal from replacement out-half Lionel Beauxis come back off the post, they survived a further hammer blow when Ronan O’Gara converted his last penalty moments later to stretch Ireland’s lead to four.
In the heat of the battle with the real-time clock fast approaching the 80th minute, their restart option was perfect. Given that this was executed by a 21-year-old reserve who also plays second fiddle David Skrela, at Stade Francais, France may have unearthed a longer term solution to their out-half problems. With perfect hang time for the chasing Jerome Thion to challenge, Beauxis presented a fighting chance of regaining possession which they did. The rest is history. Under the circumstances, Sunday’s win is sure to work wonders for French confidence which took a hammering against New Zealand in November.
It was interesting to observe the post match comments of France coach Bernard Laporte in relation to the upcoming World Cup. Historically the holders of the Six Nations championship have always done well in the ensuing tournament. The French hang their hats on such issues and made it clear in advance of Sunday’s contest that they didn’t want Ireland, pool opponents next September, going into the competition with the mantle of European champions. Only time will tell what relevance that particular accolade will have.
While this victory will work wonders for the mindset of the French, the psychological damage to Ireland should be of a very limited nature. When we lost that titanic battle with Australia in 1991, it signalled the end of our World Cup campaign, and with it a number of careers, as tends to happen in the aftermath of the global competition.
However, the current squad have an immediate opportunity to get back on the horse in 10 days time with an even more mouth-watering challenge. England at Croke Park offers the players the perfect opportunity for redemption, and everybody else the chance to relive the spine-tingling experience in a wonderful stadium.
While Ireland and France served up a classic last weekend, the other two Six Nations games were characterised by boredom. Quite simply, they were awful. This was surprising, particularly in the case of the Wales-Scotland clash which normally provides a feast of running rugby. In this respect, the Welsh were a major disappointment given the promising start they made against Ireland at the Millennium Stadium. With their next game against the French in Paris their championship has disintegrated before them.
With one eye on Ireland’s next fixture, I watched the England-Italy game with an expectation that Brian Ashton’s side would raise their level of performance even further from the impressive opening encounter against the Scots. However, if that game represented one giant leap forward, then Saturday’s was two steps back.
With the exception of Jonny Wilkinson, who not surprisingly failed to reach the heights of his comeback game, England looked no better than the poor side we witnessed in the autumn internationals. While they will surely perform better in Dublin, there was nothing in their performance that would cause any restless nights for Eddie O’Sullivan.
With the anticipated return of Brian O’Driscoll, I am sure O’Sullivan will be equally pleased that Ashton has retained a midfield of Mike Tindall and Andy Farrell in the side announced yesterday.
There had been much speculation that Matthew Tait would be recalled to add a cutting edge to what has been a pedestrian looking English centre partnership. Farrell, for all his strength and distribution skills, could be badly exposed by the pace and stepping ability of O’Driscoll and D’Arcy. The recall of Ollie Morgan at full-back is also somewhat of a surprise. I would have thought that playing Josh Lewsey at No 15 and selecting the fit again Mark Cueto on the wing would offer more solidity in defence and increase the attacking options.
The one aspect of last weekend that will worry Ireland’s head coach was the performance of the ‘A’ side in Ravenhill against England Saxons. At least nine of Ireland’s starting team have genuine aspirations of being named in O’Sullivan’s World Cup squad of 30 next August.
On a night when the forward unit in particular took a hammering, no Irish player enhanced his cause or reputation. Of particular concern was the performance of the scrum. The level of cover behind Marcus Horan and John Hayes must now be a serious concern for O’Sullivan.
While our provinces have performed consistently well on the European stage, there has always been that lingering doubt about the ability of Ireland to compete against the top sides when short of four or five key personnel. Wales, England and France in particular have been forced to line out on a consistent basis short an average of four first choice players due to injury.
Ireland have been comparatively fortunate on that front yet it is difficult to escape the feeling that had Brian O’Driscoll and Peter Stringer being playing on Sunday, Ireland would have won.
With the World Cup looming, and so much rugby to be played between now and next September it is inevitable that Ireland will be forced to play without some key personnel in one of the big pool games against either France or Argentina. That is why more ‘A’ games or even a development tour is required in an effort to prepare our younger players for the international demands that lie ahead.
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