Plenty to ponder as All Blacks loom

A WIN may be a win, to adapt anoft-used sporting truism butlike the Aviva Stadium announcer ridiculously heralding a record crowd, there is more to the story than just the bare facts.

Just as one can enthusiastically spin the 30,955 hardy fans at the Aviva on Saturday into an all-time best attendance for an Ireland v Samoa match and never mind the 20,000 empty seats, Irish head coach Declan Kidney will not be satisfied with the performance that produced this 20-10 victory.

Winning, of course, is always welcome, particularly after a run of four Test defeats in a six-match losing streak but with World Cup favourites New Zealand in town on Saturday, Kidney was looking for more. Much more.

A try in each half, from Jamie Heaslip and Ronan O’Gara, who also kicked two penalties and conversions apiece, were of distinctly different hues and represented a return to form of sorts and the lineout under the leadership of debutant Devin Toner is functioning once more after a nightmare seven days previously.

Yet the overall performance against Samoa was a different kind of disappointment to the display shown the previous week in the 23-21 defeat to South Africa.

Instead of lineout woe, the Irish pack introduced a troublesome scrum. And while the restored efficiency at the lineout with the throwing of Sean Cronin and calls of Toner helped give half-backs Peter Stringer and O’Gara a platform so desperately missing against the Springboks, there was not the width to trouble the Samoans.

Heaslip’s opening try in the 19th minute brought a welcome return to multi-phase rugby following a lineout with the pick and go from the pack delivering Ireland’s number eight over the line.

A near-instant response from Samoa in the form of a fine try from Leicester’s Alesana Tuilagi helped keep Ireland within reach at 13-7 and a Paul Williams penalty during a long period of Samoan dominance at the start of the second half hinted at an upset before the score that put the game beyond the Pacific islanders’ reach.

That was a great example of turning defence into attack, the ball kicked far upfield by Donncha O’Callaghan, pressure at the breakdown forcing a penalty and a quick tap from Stringer setting up an alive O’Gara to score under the posts.

Yet Ireland never looked convincing against a second-tier side however committed and talented the Samoans are individually. Kidney’s men spent far too much time in their own half.

Maybe it was anxiety that increases with every game lost and an accompanying lack of confidence that O’Gara cited on TV post-match but disputed later by Kidney. Whatever the reason, Ireland cannot be where the coach wants them to be five days out from the toughest challenge of the autumn.

“We’re trying to play with ball in hand a bit more rather than kicking before as we did before,” Kidney said. “You need to be strong in your set-piece to go with that. You’re looking to have options right and left but that depends on how your breakdown work goes and the tempo of the ball that you’re getting. We know there are three areas we need to work on, our base handling, the accuracy at the breakdown and being as strong in set-piece as we possibly can.”

Asked to appraise Ireland’s form halfway through the series of autumn internationals, Kidney added: “We’re not firing on all cylinders to the extent we’re probably turning over more ball than we want. But we’re having a go.

“We could be hanging on to ball better than we’re doing but I’d prefer us to be trying things and making a few mistakes than not trying stuff.”

All well and good in the long-term build-up to next September’s World Cup but not a recipe for immediate success, let alone a first victory over New Zealand. And there’s a difference to making mistakes against Samoa and committing them against the All Blacks. England, Wales and Scotland have already been made to pay for errant play this autumn by Graham Henry’s side but just over a fortnight ago Australia proved New Zealand can be beaten and England put themselves in position to do so but lacked composure and ball-handling to finish the job.

There is much work for Ireland to do this week if they are to put themselves in a similar position.

Scorers for Ireland: Tries: J Heaslip, R O’Gara. Cons: R O’Gara 2. Pens: R O’Gara 2.

IRELAND: L Fitzgerald, T Bowe, B. O’Driscoll, P. Wallace, A Trimble, R O’Gara, P Stringer, T Court, S Cronin, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, D Toner, D Leamy, S O’Brien J Heaslip.

Replacements: R Best for Cronin (61), S Ferris for Heaslip (61), C Healy for Hayes (64), D Ryan for Toner (68), I Boss for Stringer (77).

Scorers for Samoa: Tries: A. Tuilagi. Cons: P. Williams. Pens: P. Williams.

SAMOA: P. Williams, D Lemi, G Pisi, S Mapusua, A. Tuilagi, T Lavea, K Fotualii, S Taulafo, M Schwalger, A. Perenise, F Levi, K Thompson, O Treviranus, M Salavea, G Stowers.

Replacements: J Poluleuligaga for Lavea (69), I Tekori for Levi (71), A Aiono for Treviranus (71), , S Lemalu for Taulafo (77), G. Williams for Pisi (78).

Referee: Keith Brown (New Zealand).