Time is running out for Ireland to get it right

LET us just park the illegal lineout controversy by the side of the road for awhile and consider the real reasons why Ireland fell asleep at the wheel in Cardiff on Saturday.

Quite rightly this season and allied to the several new interpretations of rugby’s laws that have come into play, the development of an Ireland side capable of taking on the world’s best with an expansive running game has been the overriding objective of Declan Kidney and his coaching team.

That has inevitably taken the team into some pot-holes as well as down a wrong turn or two but Ireland have proven in patches against New Zealand last November and throughout this Six Nations campaign that they have the quality of player to implement an attractive, effective style of attack backed by a solid defence that is capable of running in tries with the best of them.

Those stretches of clear road, though, have all too often run into more hazardous conditions, such as the propensity for costly handling errors and the frequency of infringements around the tackle area.

That has made life more difficult for Ireland than it should have been and while the penalty count finally dipped into single figures at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, there were other old bugbears that resurfaced against Wales that allowed the Irish lose another game they should have won.

As has been the case throughout the Six Nations this year, Ireland started strongly with an incisive try, a record-equalling 24th championship touchdown for skipper Brian O’Driscoll after clever work and off-loading from Tommy Bowe, that promised a repeat of the impressive attacking efforts in the defeat to France and win in Scotland.

As in those games and the narrow opening win over Italy, the opposition were allowed back into the contest because of penalties, turnovers and, conversely at times, a certain timidity at the breakdown by players mindful of an ear-bending by Kidney and a growing reputation as a dirty side.

Luckily for Ireland, Wales were equal to the indiscipline and Ronan O’Gara kicked the visitors back into a 13-9 half-time lead.

Having been criticised against the French for running too much with the ball, Ireland had reverted to O’Gara at fly-half at the expense of Jonny Sexton for the Scotland game.

The percentage of kicked ball jumped from 15% against the French to 40% in the win over the Scots but that was fine as Ireland still ran in three tries, just as they had with Sexton at the helm.

Against Wales that percentage rose again with Sexton, a surprise replacement after just 50 minutes, just as inclined to punt as to pass, the overall match statistic for kicking rising to 49 per cent. Only this time the tries did not follow.

Add an error count that had been coming down steadily since Rome when Ireland had been criticised for committing 14 of them but reached 17 against Wales, as well as just 13 points accruing from the 35 balls won in the Welsh 22 and you can see that this was hardly a stepping stone to World Cup glory.

“That’s the type of thing I’m saying is in our own control,” Kidney insisted in reference to the failure to convert possession into points. “We got field position, we had the ball a fair few times but it seems to me they probably turned us over a few times, particularly in the second half, and we have to work on that.

“I believe, without having looked at the video evidence yet that (the reason for defeat) was no one thing, because we seemed to turn it over in several different areas, sometimes it was the breakdown, sometimes it was spills, sometimes a kick through.”

And, to be fair, it came down to the embarrassing officiating of Jonathan Kaplan and linesman Peter Allan, the Scot who made the extraordinary claim when asked by the South African referee, that it had been the same ball as was mis-kicked into touch by Sexton that was used by Matthew Rees for the quick throw-in from which Mike Phillips scored Wales’s only try.

Why Kaplan was not able to refer to the television match official for confirmation is a blatant disregard for the technology already in place and rugby’s bosses deserve as much flak as the referee and linesman.

The decision to award the try put Wales back into a lead they would not lose as Ireland failed to score in the second half, although that fact was down to the visitors and they alone.

Going into the final minutes, trailing 19-13 following the addition of a James Hook penalty, victory was still on Ireland and with the Welsh defence stretched to the limit and their fans raising the decibel level to an unbearable din, the men in green finally started throwing the ball around. The try line was in sight as they probed the thin red line of defence until finally finding a gap only for substitute full-back Paddy Wallace to cut back from the left wing and into contact when Keith Earls was unmarked on his outside shoulder with the chance of a winning conversion in the offing.

The chance had gone and Cian Healy compounded the error by dropping the ball in front of the posts as Wales celebrated their turnover and subsequent final whistle.

Two wins, two defeats, and England coming calling next Saturday with a Grand Slam in their sights. It is not the ideal scenario in which to sign off on the international season and with a World Cup just six months away.

“I know we are better than that and I know that most of it is in our own control,” Kidney said. “That is both the frustrating side of it and the satisfying side of it because as long a it’s within your own control I know that we will get better.

“So, that’s what we need to do and work on... let’s the games keep rolling so people will get better as the games go on.”

Alas, those games are running out for Ireland to get it right.

IRELAND: L Fitzgerald (P Wallace, 72); T Bowe, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, K Earls; R O’Gara (J Sexton, 50), E Reddan (P Stringer, 1); C Healy, R Best (S Cronin, 76), M Ross (T Court, 69); D O’Callaghan (Cullen, 76), P O’Connell; S O’Brien, D Wallace, J Heaslip (D Leamy, 70).

WALES: L Byrne, L Halfpenny, J Roberts, J Davies, S Williams; J Hook, M Phillips; P James, M Rees, (R Hibbard, 72), C Mitchell (J Yapp, 13), B Davies, A W Jones; D Lydiate, S Warburton, R Jones (J Thomas, 60).

Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).