How to win a scrap off scraps

THEY never pretended to be the best side in the world even when winning Grand Slams but they must surely rank as one of the bravest.

Ireland, battered and pounded to a pulp at times up front in the second half, simply refused to be beaten.

Living off a meagre ration of ball – the match stats provided by Opta after the game credited Ireland with just 29% territory and possession – they gave England a lesson in how to convert opportunities into points on the board.

When Dan Cole finally scored England’s only try with 19 minutes left to draw level, the pressure was on to see who could close the deal.

If Jonny Wilkinson’s trademark drop goal suggested England had what it takes, the men in green shrugged their shoulders, looked at the match clock with nine minutes left and went about their business. Four years ago, Ireland delivered an amazing victory with the last play of the game when Shane Horgan stretched his massive frame to secure not only a win but another Triple Crown.

Despite a change in personnel in key positions since then, this team knows how to win tight games and on this occasion completed their task with five minutes to spare. Ireland doesn’t do panic. Despite being on the back foot for long periods there is a recognition that when they get into the right areas of the field they have the ammunition to score. Brian O’Driscoll produced it at the death to draw with Australia last November. On this occasion it was Tommy Bowe who, despite seeing very little ball for long periods, scored two visionary tries to underline once more what a lethal finisher he has become. Ironically, his match-winning effort was borrowed from the play book of the Springboks by replicating JP Peterson’s crucial try in the second test against the Lions in Pretoria.

The Beatles told the world that money can’t buy you love, but they never said anything about experience at international level. In the build up to Saturday, the standout factor for me was the gulf between the sides in that most precious of commodities.

SUCCESS at both provincial and national level breeds confidence and an awareness of how to close out tight contests. Leinster did it against London Irish on the same ground only a few short weeks ago. Munster, like Ireland on Saturday, survived intense pressure on their goal line on the same weekend against Northampton to win in similar circumstances.

When under pressure it is comforting and reassuring to be able to draw on those experiences. Even the sight of their heroic captain in distress after he took an accidental blow to the head from Paul O’Connell refused to rattle Ireland. They just get on with the task at hand. It is both gratifying and admirable to watch.

From the first whistle, there was evidence that the pressure was on England to provide not just a win but a performance. As if to prove his detractors wrong Wilkinson set out to show that England could run the ball and passed on the first seven occasions he received possession. He refused to kick but Ireland demonstrated on the first of eight turnovers they manufactured (England managed only one) that they could score from scraps. Jonny Sexton, on his first Six Nations start, was coolness personified and when faced with a two on two executed an exquisite grubber kick for Bowe to out sprint the retreating Lewis Moody.

Ireland were also smarter. Tomas O’Leary, who had a fine game, goaded his opposite number Danny Care by refusing to release the ball and allow him a trademark tap and go. Care reacted and despite the fact that Stephen Ferris should have been penalised for getting involved, referee Mark Lawrence reversed the penalty. It was reminiscent of the penalty that Alan Quinlan extracted from Chris Ashton in that recent Northampton game. England were furious and to add insult to injury from the resultant field position Keith Earls, another to put the nightmare of Paris behind him, touched down brilliantly.

England, for all their possession, huffed and puffed without ever achieving a whole lot. Much of their running was far too lateral and Ireland’s magnificent defence coped with ease. It helped that England never managed to create the type of pace with their attack that France generated in Paris. One missed tackle from 100 efforts says everything about the mindset of this Irish team on Saturday.

The problem though when forced to defend for long periods is that you get physically washed out. Credit to the Ireland management for addressing that before it became a serious issue with a triple substitution in the last ten minutes.

In the circumstances being able to introduce a trio of the quality of Ronan O’Gara, Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings had a galvanising effect on those still on the pitch.

THE performance of the back row unit was one of the main reasons why Ireland emerged victorious. Ferris shook off his recent injury woes to show the watching Ian McGeechan just how big a loss he was to the Lions. He was a colossus with 15 bone-crunching tackles. Beside him, man of the match Jamie Heaslip was equally effective and has now joined hiscaptain as a truly world class performer while David Wallace is playing as well as ever. If the front five were under pressure once again in the scrum the ferocity of some of their counter-rucking made up for that deficiency.

Ireland's line-out is so feared nowadays that teams are now refusing to kick to touch against them. Ireland were only offered two throws in the opening half and a miserly five in total. They had no platform to work off. When they did we saw just how clinical they can be, with both Earls’ and Bowe’s match-winning efforts having their origin from attacking lineouts.

The one concern that Declan Kidney will have is that he won't win too many games with a mere 29% of the ball – certainly not against the top four sides in the world. Ireland have proved on a consistent basis that they have the beating of most of the home nations. While the short term goal now focuses on challenging France right to the final whistle on March 20 in an outside chance of retaining the Championship, not to mention the possibility of another Triple Crown, the longer term goal must be to address the problems up front that are stifling further progress at present.

In the meantime let's enjoy another outstanding weekend for Irish rugby where Ireland's win proved the perfect way to honour John Hayes's century milestone. The U20's produced a magnificent win over a hotly-fancied English side and even the Golden Oldies or Legends as we were embarrassingly labelled, had an equally satisfying two point win over a Jason Robinson inspired English side to win the inaugural Stuart Mangan Memorial Cup in front of 11,000 people at the Stoop on Friday night.

That felt every bit as satisfying as Twickenham.