Welsh defensive display a real treat
The efforts, which bore all the hallmarks of Warren Gatland and his right hand man Shaun Edwards, are why Ireland’s bid for Grand Slam glory were derailed in ruthless fashion.
Perhaps, on reflection, we shouldn’t be surprised by the intensity the Welsh brought to this facet of play. Edwards, in particular, is a tough taskmaster.
During his days with Wasps he had a rule that if you are injured you get back on your feet and get into defensive line and wait until the ball is dead before you call the medical team. The only exceptions to that are for broken legs or concussions!
Wales certainly followed those instructions to the letter of the law on Saturday as they tackled, got up, tackled, got up and tackled again. According to the match stats Ireland enjoyed 64% possession and 66% territory but still lost by seven points. The reason was that Wales made 250 tackles with a 91% success in a staggering display.
There was some nasty comments in the Irish media prior to the game about Gatland and his game plan. While it is brilliant we have a great team at the moment — a team capable of beating the best in the world — it is important we stay humble and respectful. Gatland has already had a very successful coaching career at club and international level and I think he showed again at the weekend he isn’t to be underestimated.
Tactically, he and his management team, got their analysis of Ireland and their game-plan spot on.
They actually played a style of rugby the first 20 minutes that mirrored what Ireland have been doing to teams. The won the kicking battle and more importantly the contest for the ball kicked in the air with the Welsh back three outstanding in this area. When we tried the little chips and short restarts (areas that have worked for us recently) the Welsh cover was perfectly in place or our accuracy let us down. They knew exactly how to play the match referee Wayne Barnes while Ireland had conceded seven penalties by half time — the same tally they conceded in 80 minutes against England in the previous match.
Ireland obviously adapted to Mr Barnes and his interpretations at half time and we only conceded four in the second half but the damage was done.
Ireland aren’t used to having to chase a match and we looked unsure of our attacking philosophies. Our lineout, so sharp in the first three matches, malfunctioned badly and we lost four crucial throws which will have left Simon Easterby seething. The Welsh defensive lineout was far better and they seemed to surprise Ireland with their targets.
The communication by our support players wasn’t at the level it needed to be to break down the Welsh and get the ball into space.
The most obvious example of this was when Cian Healy knocked on under the Welsh post. Ireland had a five man overlap out wide, but the ball never found its way to them.
The review Sunday night will have been ruthless but that’s the environment theses players what to be in.
Ten wins in a row was outstanding and I actually think we will learn more from this defeat that we did from those wins.
How Ireland evolve tactically will be interesting. I expect England to win easily against a poor French team and they have the advantage of playing after us on Saturday so they will know what they have to do to claim the Championship.
Hopefully we can do enough in Murrayfield earlier that afternoon to put that dream beyond their reach.
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