Irish rewrite script but do they believe?

ON Saturday morning, in our national newspaper, the creatively named The Australian, there was a degree of chest thumping about what was to happen that evening in Auckland.

The following analysis was tossed into the public arena.

“When England steamrolled the Wallabies scrum in the quarter-final in Marseilles in 2007, it would have been almost unimaginable that Australia would enter the tournament four years later with a set-piece that commanded respect rather than ridicule.

“It seemed the Wallabies would never change the perception that the scrum was their Achilles heel. Well, somehow coach Robbie Deans has managed that and just in the nick of time as well. The Australians now scrummage not only with technique, but passion and combativeness.”

It got better … or worse.

“The Irish have a much improved scrum but Australia will enter any game with the confidence that the scrum will not only not be a weakness but a potential strength.”

Oops.

Far be it from any of us to ridicule anything when our only evidence comes from that fair weather ally, hindsight.

Indeed, there were very few Wallaby supporters who did not believe our scrum was, if not a thing of beauty, at least something to which the term ‘reasonably efficient’ could be applied.

Time for re-thinking after Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross and ref Bryce Lawrence all conspired to make our optimism appear misplaced.

It is not with bad grace that I include referee Lawrence in that group. The other three (plus their five helpers) did most of the graft, but there is nearly always guesswork involved when scrum penalties are blown, and we did do some head scratching down here at some of his calls. Mind you, Mr Lawrence wouldn’t have been the most popular man in Ireland when he somehow conspired to give the Wallabies a put in to the scrum when a legitimate Irish attacking raid was about to unfold late in the first half. It was nipped in the bud by Wallaby captain James Horwill, who was standing in the position normally occupied by the Irish out-half. Accidental or otherwise, I doubt I’ve ever seen a rugby player more offside and yet the Wallabies ended up with possession.

So like every game since Billy Ellis picked up the pill, there were a few curious calls and while from anyone’s perception the Wallaby scrum struggled, it was only one area of several where Ireland dominated.

In hand-to-hand combat matches such as Saturday’s there are two things that matter. The first is that you have to play smarter than the other team, and the second is that you have to want it more. The Irish were superior in both those areas.

“We played some dumb footy,” said Horwill. Let me give you just one example. Replacement flanker Scott Higginbotham got into a sledging match with Irish lock Paul O’Connell near the Irish tryline with four minutes left and with his side needing to score twice. You want dumb? That’s dumb. I assume the Munster man was giggling all the way to the eventually packed scrum.

That was, in many ways, a thumbnail sketch of the Wallaby performance. The Irish are not always the greatest rugby entertainers in the world but they’re the best exponents of the “rope-a-dope” exercise. Not for the first time, we were the suckers.

It would be remiss of an Australian trying to find any excuse he can muster to not bring up the late withdrawals of flanker David Pocock and hooker Stephen Moore as reasons for the lacklustre showing but while the Wallabies weren’t great, this result was about the Irish taking charge. It’s unlikely Pocock and Moore could have made the difference between winning and losing.

However, in both victory and defeat the same equation remains for Ireland and Australia. Barring major upsets in the remaining pool matches, both are headed for the quarter-finals. The Wallabies are a talented side for whom the World Cup has come perhaps a year too soon. They haven’t yet learned the biggest lesson of all – how to do the business when you’re not playing at your best.

The danger for the Irish is that an upset win in the pool matches might satisfy them. With everyone fit, they have a legitimate chance of winning the whole shooting match. Their problem could be that they don’t really believe it.