Time running out to get it right

DECLAN KIDNEY today pares his squad to the 30 players he will take to the Rugby World Cup and will hope the chosen ones can inject a little more focus into Ireland’s final preparations.

Ireland open their Pool C campaign in 20 days against the United States and with the 14 discarded players leaving camp to return to their provinces, the distractions and pressures of making the team plane to New Zealand next week will have been removed, leaving the remaining selection to zone in on the collective target of getting into the knockout phases.

Next Saturday afternoon’s final warm-up Test, against England at the Aviva Stadium, will point to how successful that has been after three defeats in successive August outings, the latest an error-strewn performance on Saturday that had echoes of the start of this year’s Six Nations campaign.

It took the sight of the English red rose to steel Irish minds back then in the final game to finally deliver a near-complete team effort and the same will be necessary this weekend if Ireland are to begin the World Cup with any measure of optimism.

There were some grounds for that in this home return game against the French, a week on from a 19-12 defeat in Bordeaux.

Ireland had started well in front of 45,165 fans on a warm if overcast evening at the Aviva, capitalising on early French uncertainty with a penalty for Jonathan Sexton. They then fashioned a try in the corner for Cian Healy, the prop finding himself in front of Morgan Parra in the defensive line and making short work of ploughing through the little scrum-half.

Eight points to the good inside nine minutes and Kidney’s team looked set to avenge the previous week’s defeat, as well as that 22-25 Six Nations reverse back in February. Alas for Ireland, many of the faults of that loss resurfaced and France, without too much effort, punished them expertly.

Indiscipline in front of the posts led to a straightforward penalty kick from the left-footed Parra at the start of a run of 26 unanswered points for France. Two minutes later, in 28th, a poor box kick on a dismal afternoon for Parra’s opposite number Tomás O’Leary led to a drop goal from Francois Trinh Duc, who had replaced injured starting fly-half David Skrela after 11 minutes.

Another three minutes on and France were over the line. Off good lineout ball, Aurelien Rougerie stretched the Irish defence with a diagonal run from the right towards the posts, ghosting past Brian O’Driscoll and passing inside to Cedric Heymans, who did the same thing to Gordon D’Arcy on his way to France’s opening try. Parra converted and then added another penalty to leave the visitors 16-8 up at half-time.

There were more French scores to come and more sloppy play from Ireland as Parra stretched the lead with another penalty five minutes after the restart.

Ironically, France’s second try came after Ireland’s best scrum of the afternoon. Having driven the French pack into reverse gear, Heaslip picked off the back but there was a communication breakdown with his scrum-half and once O’Leary scrambled he sent a horror pass in Sexton’s direction that was easily intercepted by Trinh Duc, who scored the try, again converted by Man of the Match Parra.

At 26-8 up after 49 minutes, the French had killed the contest but there were other concerns for Kidney as first Healy limped off with a toe injury and then Felix Jones went off on a stretcher after falling awkwardly under a high ball, a cruel blow for a man who has had more than his fair share of serious injury over the past couple of seasons.

O’Leary had been replaced by Eoin Reddan, who brought some pep to Irish possession while D’Arcy’s road back from ankle surgery earlier this summer was brought to a satisfactory conclusion after 61 minutes when he was replaced by Ronan O’Gara, with Sexton moving to inside centre.

The moves produced a positive ending as the strong start was matched by an impressive finish as Ireland reduced the deficit to four points. First, with six minutes to go, Sexton warmed to his new role to finish off a strong run by Jones’s replacement Luke Fitzgerald, with a try converted by O’Gara. Then, in the 80th minute, after an Irish lineout on the French five-metre line and some sustained multi-phase possession, Sean O’Brien crashed over for a try that allowed O’Gara to close the game with the conversion.

Strong bookends, however, deserve some quality content between them and though there were some other positives, including a strong scrum against a typically robust French pack and a much-improved lineout, there will need to be a big leap forward taken against England this weekend from Ireland’s chosen few if this five-game warm-up series is to serve its purpose.

“We targeted this week starting better, getting a few things right,” Kidney said. “The set-piece, that came right. We need to link that up with some of the stuff we did last week.

“The one good thing is I know we need all these games and I’m delighted we have another one next week. I wouldn’t be afraid of it. You can organise games just to get you over the line but when it comes down to it we now know where we stand. Isn’t that much better now before we travel?”

IRELAND: F Jones (L Fitzgerald, 69); A Trimble, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy (R O’Gara, 67), K Earls; J Sexton, T O’Leary (E Reddan, 57); C Healy (T Court, 49), R Best (J Flannery, 61), M Ross; D O’Callaghan (M McCarthy, 76), P O’Connell; S O’Brien, S Jennings (S Ferris, 61), J Heaslip.

FRANCE: C Heymans; M Medard, A Riougerie (V Clerc, 70), F Estebanez, A Palisson; D Skrela (F Trinh Duc, 11), M Parra (D Yachvili, 78); J B Poux (F Barcella, 40), D Szarzewski (G Guirado, 49), N Mas; P Pape (J Pierre, 61); L Nallet – captain; F Ouedraogo, J Bonnaire, L Picamoles.

Referee: C Joubert (South Africa).