We owe you one: Eddie Jones’ early warning for Joe Schmidt
Ok, what’s next? It was the question tv’s US president Jed Bartlet frequently asked during ‘The West Wing’ when he was ready to move on. Joe Schmidt did precisely that as Ireland put a hugely successful November Test window to bed.
The Aviva Stadium scoreboard had barely gone dark on Saturday night following the closing minutes of the 2018 Guinness Series and the head coach had cast his gaze towards the 2019 Six Nations and an opening game against England on February 2.
The USA Eagles had been trampled underfoot by the Irish second string to make it a four-game sweep this month as Schmidt’s second-ranked team in rugby rounded out a spectacular year.
His self-imposed deadline of today to make a definitive decision on his future beyond next year’s World Cup may have been, in his own words, “wrecking my head” but that did not stop the New Zealander from reflecting on Ireland’s annus mirabilis and putting it into context for what is to come.
November, and in particular the victory of the All Blacks nine days ago, has set the benchmark for what’s next while squad depth was strengthened in Chicago against Italy and in this eight-try demolition of the Americans in front of a third successive sell-out crowd at the Aviva.
“Delighted,” Schmidt said of the last month’s good work. “Particularly in the context of the number of changes week to week that we made. The most continuity we probably had was from the Argentina to the All Blacks game and that continuity was really important to us because we had a bit of a truncated week leading into Argentina because we got back from Chicago on the Monday morning so it was all a little bit tight and that, therefore, allowed us to springboard from that into the All Blacks preparation.
“It was a bit of a clean sheet this week, we said ‘right, let’s start from scratch and go again’. There were a couple of things out of the All Blacks week, a couple of things out of the Chicago week where we said ‘look, here’s a couple of things we think we can do better and try to build on these’ and at the same time we shuffled the deck again and offered some opportunity. The majority of guys really put their hand up and said ‘we want to keep the pressure on those guys who played last week’ and I think they have, in the main.”
It has all put Ireland in as good a place as Schmidt could dare to have his time as he turns towards 2019.
“It’s funny because we get back to together in about 10 weeks’ time and you don’t know where you are going to be. It’s like that. You could have a few more guys out, potentially a few more guys back...Sean O’Brien could be back by then, Chris Farrell is up and running this weekend, so is Conor Murray and we will be watching that (Zebre v Munster) game with interest.”
“It’s going to be really good to track those guys over the next 10 weeks, along with these 43 guys that we have had in camp. So we’ll get together for a 24-hour get-together just before the derby games (over the Christmas holidays) and just review this so that we can sign off on it so we get a nice fresh start into the Six Nations.”
Whether the beneficiaries of the 14 changes Schmidt made to the team which started the 16-9 win over the All Blacks did enough to convince their boss they are worthy of inclusion when Eddie Jones’s men come to Dublin in February remains to be seen.
The English rounded out their November with an excellent 37-18 win over the Wallabies at Twickenham and they too turned to thoughts of Dublin in a little over nine weeks and the chance to avenge a comprehensive home loss at Twickenham last March 17 when Ireland landed the Grand Slam on their hallowed turf.
“We owe them one,” Jones said on Saturday. “I’m not worried about winning the Six Nations, I’m worried about Ireland.
“We play them first up so it’s the most important game we’ve got coming forward. They’re the top team in Europe now, mate. We want to be the top team in Europe. It’s pretty simple.”
Not that Schmidt needs any warning. He has seen the English regroup since last year’s championship and watched them beat Australia.
“So, England coming here... they had a very narrow loss to the All Blacks in a hotly contested match. They are going to come here very confident, they have got some guys playing really well; guys who didn’t play against us last time - the likes of Henry Slade, I think he has had a particularly good November. Those sort of guys add value, Kyle Sinckler has continued to grow in the jersey that he’s in. His ball-carrying today was incredibly dynamic.
“So, there are a number of players there that are just getting better and better, they’ll have a few others back as well.
“Some of the guys they had in the loose forwards have given Eddie a bit of a headache because they played really, really well and at the same time they have some pretty big hitters to come back into that area of the game as well.
“You know, it’s funny, turning the page already I think we all operate a little bit like that. We’ve ticked this box, let’s move on and have a look at what’s coming next.”
W Addison (S Arnold, HT), A Conway, G Ringrose, S McCloskey, D Sweetnam (R Byrne, 27); J Carbery, J Cooney (L McGrath, 60); D Kilcoyne (C Healy, 60), N Scannell (R Herring, 57), F Bealham (John Ryan, 47); T Beirne, I Henderson (Q Roux, 57); R Ruddock, capt, J Murphy, J Conan (J van der Flier, 66).
I Henderson 23-33 mins.
W Hooley; B Scully, B Campbell, P Lasike, M Brache; W Magie, S Davies (R De Haas, 60); T Lamositele (C Wenglewski, 55), J Taufete’e (D Fawsitt, 43), P Mullen (D Waldren, 60); G Peterson (S Manoa, 67), N Civetta; J Quill (D Tameilau, 68), H Germishuys, C Dolan.
G Moore, R Matyas.
Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand).
Ireland v USA in 60 seconds
Key moment
With the USA cancelling out Ireland’s two first-quarter tries, Joe Schmidt’s much-changed side did not take full control of this game until after the break. Leading 24-14 at the interval, Tadhg Beirne’s 50th-minute try, converted by Joey Carbery finally broke the Eagles’ resistance.
Talking point
Four wins from four in this November Test window and head coach Joe Schmidt can feel satisfied he is building a squad with plenty of strength in depth heading into a World Cup year. The victory over the All Blacks was all the sweeter for the absence of injured quartet Conor Murray, Seán O’Brien, Dan Leavy and Robbie Henshaw while the second string took their chances in big wins over Italy and the USA.
Key man
A hat-trick of tries for Andrew Conway capped a man-of-the-match performance.
Conway could have had more than three tries and assisted both Jack Conan’s first-half score and a disallowed try for Luke McGrath after a high-speed break, chip, chase and gather. He was not the only standout with Garry Ringrose, pressed back into action after his All Blacks heroics, putting in another excellent 80-minute performance at outside centre and looking a class apart.
Ref watch
New Zealand referee Ben O’Keeffe sent Iain Henderson to the bin midway through the first half after the Ireland lock’s blatant collapsing of a maul that merited a penalty try for the visitors.
The incessant resetting of scrums, however, did little for the sell-out crowd’s entertainment.
Penalties conceded
Ireland 5 USA 11.
Injuries
Was Darren Sweetnam’s removal after just 27 minutes a tactical switch or injury-related? RTÉ radio reported from an IRFU source on the touchline that it was the former, necessitating a considerable backline reshuffle, in which case it is bad news for the Munster wing, though Joe Schmidt insisted Sweetnam had been troubled by a tight back. Full-back Will Addison who needed a Head Injury Assessment on half-time break and failed to reappear during the second half. Jack Conan took a knock on a shoulder in the second half and was due to have a scan on the problem yesterday.
Next up
And so another 2018 Guinness Series comes to an end with a memorable clean sweep for Ireland highlighted by a historic first victory over the All Blacks, 113 years after the New Zealanders first visited Lansdowne Road. Ireland’s next game is the beginning of their Six Nations title defence on February 2 when England visit the Grand Slam winners in Dublin intent on revenge for two defeats in succession.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
