A good week for Irish rugby
Keith Earls was the only one to sample the respective merits of both and I am sure the fact that he matched his father’s achievement in downing Australian colours in the red of Munster went down well in the Earls household. At least he won’t have to listen to his old man going on about that game back in 1992 anymore.
In the circumstances, it proved to be a pretty good week for Irish rugby. The fallout from Ticketgate was put on the back burner, temporarily at least, as a decent crowd turned up on Saturday and were treated to a spectacle of how good this game can be when both sides are tuned in to the possibilities created by the new interpretation of law.
While New Zealand were instrumental in the push for those changes, Ireland finally embraced the opportunity to show that they too can play a bit. The key difference between us and New Zealand at present is that they make fewer mistakes in possession and control the ball better. Their superior skill levels separate them from the chasing pack but by continuously playing at that pace and replicating those conditions in training, Ireland will improve even further.
On Saturday we were privileged to see a genius in action. Dan Carter is the most gifted and influential rugby player on the planet. Here was a guy well worth the €100 entry price. Come to think of it, he was even worth the compulsory €90 for the Argentina ticket as well even if you can’t make it to Dublin again next Sunday.
His composure on the ball marks him out. At one stage in the opening half it looked as if he was going to be smashed having run on to an exceptionally flat pass from his Canterbury colleague at half back, Andy Ellis, but he just stepped inside and unloaded a sumptuous pass to the on-running Ma’a Nonu without a hand being laid on him.
His kicking action both from the ground and out of hand seems effortless and yet is inch perfect at all times. The question remains, however, — and it is one that Graham Henry must be fretting over — how good would New Zealand be without him?
This New Zealand side play to their strengths and recognise better than anyone that the game is played over a minimum of 80 minutes. With that in mind, they are content to play keep ball for long periods, forcing the opposition to expend huge amounts of energy in making tackles, piling into rucks and dealing with the stress of having to defend and make the right decisions without the ball.
I mentioned last week how they have made an art form of the breakdown as a means of generating quick attacking ball and do not get fixated with set-piece rugby. In that, they are poles apart from their Springbok counterparts. In some respects, I think because they meet South African opposition on such a regular basis in Super 14 and Tri Nations and understand that they will never be bigger or more powerful than them, they have perfected the art of generating possession from other phases.
One of those is restarts. They were absolutely clinical in this area last Saturday, winning five in total. The hang time that Carter generates is amazing and the ball travels only an inch over the 10-metre line at most. He offers realistic targets for his forward chasers and it immediately puts the side that have just put points on the board on the defensive.
On Saturday, the game started with a Carter kick off which New Zealand won and went on all-out attack. Had Tom Donnelly straightened and delayed his pass to Anthony Boric — amazingly both second rows were positioned out on the wing — they could have scored a try within 30 seconds of the start. Imagine the psychological impact that would have had on Ireland. That they had to wait until the final minute of the half for Boric to eventually score that opening try said everything about Ireland’s defensive effort.
I don’t think I have ever seen an Irish team make so many vital split-second decisions in defence in the heat of battle as they did on Saturday. It really was a masterclass in defensive organisation, demonstrating not only how good their communication system was under pressure and that every Irish player trusted the man beside him to make his tackle.
Unfortunately that physical and mental exertion came at a price which New Zealand not only expected, but were in a position to exploit when the holes finally appeared.
Argentina on Sunday will certainly be a different type of challenge for Ireland. That in itself is not a bad thing as it replicates exactly what you face in a World Cup. Ireland will be required to tweak their game plan in order to deal with this but the bottom line is they need to produce a winning performance. Two wins from four is the minimum expectation from this November series. As Scotland showed last Saturday, the South African game was the one that got away. The Scots, who along with England are now above Ireland in the latest IRB rankings, will be on a high come Six Nations time and therefore it is imperative that Ireland finish on a high next Sunday.
Final word this week goes to the young guns of Munster who defied the odds once again in producing another memorable performance against a major touring team. Living up to the achievements of the past imposes its own pressure. Perhaps those ill-informed pundits from outside the province, who never get off their arse to watch an AIL game, will now stop worrying about the fact that Munster have no young talent coming through.
Players like Ian Nagle, Duncan Williams, Conor Murray, Billy Holland and Peter O’Mahony have showcased their wares on the club scene for some time now. James Coughlan stands out as a beacon for any player who may have missed the boat at academy level but still has aspirations to make it as a professional. The AIL afforded him the platform to achieve that ambition. In recent weeks, Munster, Leinster and Connacht have all seized the opportunity, in the absence of their internationals, to demonstrate that there is plenty of good young talent out there serving their apprenticeship. Yes indeed, a good week for Irish rugby.
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