IRELAND-28 SCOTLAND-6

GOOD ENOUGH TO GET THERE

Stats aren’t everything in sports, but in rugby union when you dominate your opposition in possession, territory, scrums & lineouts and manage to keep your “penalties conceded” count in single digits, you are always going to give yourself the chance to win well.

Ireland did all of the above in their Six Nations opener and when the chances came, we were able to put them away for what turned out to be a comfortable enough victory over a Scotland side not good enough to break down our defence and unable to sustain their own for the full 80 minutes.

Of course things could have been a lot different had the 6-3 scoreline in the 39th minute made it to the halftime interval!

One of the key facets of the Irish approach, and not just under Joe Schmidt but also going back further, is that it’s vital we put points on the board early.  We all know what happened last season when we failed to do so at Murrayfield, and to their credit they came to Dublin with a plan to frustrate us that was working well.

But when we won a penalty that would have been kickable for Sexton as the clock neared 40m, there didn’t seem to be any hesitation for kicking to the corner.  I got the impression that they didn’t fancy going into the dressing-room without at least try under their belts!  Still, it was good to see them backing themselves and even better to see that faith justified by a score.

Simple lineout/maul, few phases, overlap created, ball sent quickly outside, Andrew Trimble try.  Maybe the Scots’ coverage out wide wasn’t the best but it was still a well worked score and provided a huge sense of relief for the home crowd.

With the conversion missed and the margin only 8, the focus of the halftime punditry was on the “importance of the first score” of the second half.  I have used that phrase many a time myself, but often it can be misleading.

The Scots came out determined to gain any early advantage they could and managed to turn receiving the kickoff into an attacking lineout in our 22.  For me I reckon we did well to restrict them to a penalty at that point, though we still needed to be sure to make the most of the next similar situation when it fell to us.

Just a few minutes later Rory Best pinched a scrum against the head (got a bit of slagging on Twitter for calling it a “counter-hook” but still think the phrase was justified as it happened so long after the put-in) we won another penalty in the corner and once again there was faith put in the lineout/maul and this time it was Jamie Heaslip and Rory Best who combined for the put-down with the skipper-for-the-day credited with the score.

What characterised this overall performance for me was the fact that it was a team effort, and this was most borne out by the nature of the third try which put the game to bed.  The clock read 69:22 when Trimble caught the ball inside his own half at one end of the pitch; his first pass was to Rob Kearney who in the end provided the finish on 70:44.

What happened in between was a joy to watch, with positive involvement from Murray, Moore, Sexton, BOD, Cronin, Dave Kearney, O’Donnell, Toner, and towards the end a neat offload from Tuohy and a strong burst from Henry.  All of which softened up the defence enough for Mr 50-cap Kearney to get from where you see him in the lead photo to the try-line and that was that.

Scotland can take some heart from their performance…their tactics were sound keeping us at bay for as long as they did and despite losing Maitland to what looks like a long-term injury they do have the tools to do some damage (maybe not always the right kind of damage as Ross Ford’s boot got a bit fresh with Sexton at one point).  Their schedule gets tougher as they go through the tournament but they could well cause an upset at some point.

My highlight was the chat between referee Craig Joubert and Scots lock Jim Hamilton : “Every time something funny happens, you seem to be involved” “But I’m just sticking up for myself” (all paraphrased).  Not surprisingly, Jim was substituted moments later!

As for Joubert, he wasn’t perfect by a long chalk but we have to take heart that he only pinged us 7 times overall and only 3 times in kickable areas…he’s our man in the middle when we go to Twickenham.

From a fan’s perspective while the home crowd was subdued throughout the first half, that was understandable given the stalemate produced by the two defences.  Around the 50m mark it was heartening to hear a chorus of Ireland’s Call come from the stands as opposed to the provincial anthems we often hear at that point.

And while many in both print and social media are simply focusing on groups of players from certain provinces, as I have already said the main feature of this display for me was the team effort, and that made the decision for man of the match an extremely difficult one, which has to be a good thing.

As Joe Schmidt was quick to point out post-match, the entire starting back row did extremely well.  Jamie Heaslip took the top accolade and it is true, he put in a typically commanding display from number 8 and handled his captain’s duties well despite them being thrust on him so late.

There must also be honourable mention for folks like Chris Henry, who not only tackled & turned Scots ball over but offered a very SOB-like contribution to the third try, Cian Healy who helped greatly with the scrum dominance and had some trademark bursts of his own, and Conor Murray, who seems to have found an extra gear when we’re on the front foot and had some crucially-accurate box kicks.

But despite all those efforts, if I were to award three stars as they do in ice hockey, the third would go to Sexton, who marshalled the offence brilliantly when he had the chance (including of course the strong broken play charge & precision pass that almost put in Heaslip), the second to Rob Kearney, not only for the try but for leading the “yards gained” stats and being solid as a rock at the back, including a cool as you like bout of keeping the ball in and clearing at a crucial stage in the first half.

Finally for me, a “man of the match” award goes to someone who if you took away their contribution, you probably wouldn’t have had the same result.  With the score at 21-6 the Scots didn’t give up and as they pressed in our 22, it was Peter O’Mahony with the turnover.  When Dave Denton reached the outer limits of our defences and stretched out an arm for the try-line, it was Peter O’Mahony (albeit with help from Murray) who made it around to keep him out. 

He always seemed to be the one to show up when we were being challenged the most so he got the nod from where I was sitting.  Plus, he easily won the “anthem game-face” competition, which is always worth a few points in my book.  Must be a Munster thing…other good exponents of this are the “two Donnchas” O’Callaghan and Ryan!

But it doesn’t really matter who gets the top award - though things weren’t perfect and apparently Joe had some “choice” words for the lads afterwards, I dare say we all would have taken that final score as the game kicked off and it’s great to see glimpses of the squad working so well together at this early stage of the competition and hopefully it can only get better.

Plus, consider the following team :

Jones, Bowe, Fitzgerald, Darcy, McFadden, Jackson, Reddan.  McGrath, Strauss, Moore, O’Connell, McCarthy, Henderson, O’Donnell, Copeland.

That’s a XV made up of players who didn’t start on Sunday but should be available for the rest of this tournament.  We’re going to hear a lot of talk over the coming days about six-day turnarounds, the fact that the Welsh can only get better after a shaky start, all sorts of negative points about our next match, all of which are valid.

But don’t let them go without also feeling some positive vibes because I saw plenty of evidence on Sunday that this squad is more than good enough to get where they want to be.  JLP

Click here for post-match reaction on the HarpinOnRugby Facebook page

Also this weekend

Wales 23 - 15 Italy

France 26 - 24 England

		P	W	D	L	PD	PTS
1	IRELAND	1	1	0	0	22	2
2	WALES	1	1	0	0	8	2
3	FRANCE	1	1	0	0	2	2
4	ENGLAND	1	0	0	1	-2	0
5	ITALY	1	0	0	1	-8	0
6	SCOTLAND	1	0	0	1	-22	0

Ireland 59-0 Scotland (Women)

Ireland 34-7 Scotland (U20's)

SCOTLAND-12 IRELAND-8

This blog is meant to serve as an archive as much as anything else. So before I begin my writeup of the match at Murrayfield on Sunday, I must first acknowledge the amazing achievement of the Irish Women's team in Lasswade on Saturday, securing their first-ever Triple Crown with a 30-3 win over Scotland. Many congrats to coach Philip Doyle, captain Fiona Coughlan and everyone involved...here's hoping their success leads to an even greater growth in both participation & coverage of the women's game on these shores.

BROKEN LINES

“We've got to be honest. We need a big improvement.”

Given the final score, you'd be forgiven for thinking the above post-match quote was from Declan Kidney. Bizarrely, it was actually said by the victorious Scotland coach Scott Johnson.

When the Irish supremo was in front of the mic after the full-time whistle (when you get a much better sense of where they are than at the sanitized press conferences) this is what he had to say :

“Our possession was wasteful. We made the line breaks but we didn’t manage to finish them off unfortunately. We put ourselves in good positions several times, but unfortunately turned over the ball quite easily to them.”

And that's not the only time he mentioned the phrase “line breaks” in the interview. It really seems like he's saying : “Well the coaches did the work to have them prepared to break the line, it's just when they did, they failed.”

Even if that was the only reason Ireland lost yesterday, and I don't believe it was, it demonstrates a monumental disconnect between the head coach and his players, one that has been evident at the very least since the omnishambles that was the announcement of the transferral of the captaincy, but possibly before.

Ireland's 2013 Six Nations campaign is now over – right up to the final whistle in Murrayfield when we had a chance to pinch a victory, the title was still mathematically possible, but now that has gone so anything that happens against France or Italy really can't be considered in the post mortem of our tournament.

For me, the way we have performed overall can be compared to that Keith Earls line break on 24 minutes yesterday. Having burst through the Scottish defence, he got himself into a wonderful position, but there wasn't even a glance over his shoulder to see Brian O'Driscoll running a perfect support line. Similarly Ireland started incredibly against Wales, but from the half-time whistle in Cardiff to now, have contrived to play themselves out of contention.

Of course now I feel I have to make allowances for using the above example. Because you see, I'm a Leinster fan and I just criticized a Munster player. I'd like to take this opportunity to say how absolutely sick and tired I am of all the provincial bullshit we Irish fans put ourselves through when we're talking about the national team.

The fact that the provinces continue to play week in week out during the Six Nations certainly doesn't help, but when Ireland takes the field it's up to us to stand shoulder to shoulder in our green jerseys yet from pundits to journalists, tweeters to bloggers, we just don't seem capable of looking at the big picture. And yes, I know I have been guilty of it myself more than once over the years.

It has gotten so bad that whenever I hear about Conor O'Shea as a possible Ireland coach, I feel it would be an appointment that must somehow first get the “approval” of Munster & Ulster fans, whatever about his more immediate concerns like a Heineken Cup quarterfinal and Premiership title defence.

But when it comes to levelling criticism at Declan Kidney, I feel my record is clear enough for me to avoid accusations of any anti-Munster bias.

I was calling for his appointment during the 2008 Six Nations, when almost 5 years ago today, Ireland ironically hammered Scotland. I never saw Eddie O'Sullivan's Triple Crown achievements as enough for the squad of players he had. Kidney was on the way to his second Heineken Cup and seemed the natural replacement, and at his first crack, got the team the extra few yards for the Grand Slam.

And even though the 2010 & 2011 campaigns didn't exactly go ideally, I still defended him to the hilt. Wait until we play Australia, I said. That will be the defining moment of his tenure, I said. And sure enough the victory came, and we won our pool.

My mistake was in assuming that having prepared for that, the team would also be ready for the knockout stage. They weren't, and got hijacked by Wales.

Since then, the malaise has never gone away, and as it turns out, his tenure doesn't so much have a defining moment, more a defining pattern - whether you look at tournaments as a whole or individual matches, there have been wonderful starts followed by an inability to follow through to when the fat lady sings.

So when trying to pen a writeup summarizing the 80 minutes in Murrayfield on Sunday afternoon, I could focus on Paddy Jackson for dropping his first pass, missing some crucial placekicks, not making a relatively simple penalty touch when 8-0 up.

I could focus on Rory Best for allowing himself to be intimidated by Jim Hamilton’s hand-waving at the lineouts.

I could focus on Sean O'Brien for his utterly ridiculous penalty when clearly off his feet.

I could focus on Ronan O'Gara's crossfield kick in his own 22 which had pundits saying “you can see what he's trying to do” which certainly makes them better men than I.

I could focus on Jamie Heaslip's struggles with a position he wasn't ready for, not to mention the fact he seems to be a permanent resident in Wayne Barnes’ bad books – and we have that same ref again in Rome.

(Have I covered all the participating provinces there? Check.)

But each and every one of those players has performed out of their skins for their province in recent times; yes, even ROG. So when individuals come together and fail on so many fronts, the buck has to stop somewhere.

Of course I can't let this post go without highlighting the positives, because believe it or not, there were some. Two early breaks do not a perfect performance make, but still, Luke Marshall will be fine at 12. Paddy Jackson will be fine at 10 once the placekicking pressure is taken off of him, and there's no shame in that for a test out-half.

And again for the fear of provincial goggle-wearing accusations I feel the need to point out that Jamie Heaslip actually played quite well and DID show leadership with carries, quick taps and tackles, it's just that when awarded a penalty on 76m, the way BOD seized the ball and brought it to the mark himself showed us all where the armband should be right now. Besides...many of those who seem to be “tempering” the Kidney criticism by lambasting Heaslip's captaincy seem to forget who appointed him in the first place!

It should go without saying that Craig Gilroy’s try was well taken, though his reward was then to be taken off which was baffling no matter how good it was to see Luke Fitzgerald back at this level once again.

As for our defence, it has always been fine, even in the second half in Cardiff – without it, we would have lost, and the way Jackson & Marshall combined for a successful choke tackle yesterday showed that everyone is pretty much clued in on that side of things.

Those few positives still don't take from the fact that for the second game in a row, a team hardly playing world-beating rugby has needed only 12 points to beat us. And on both occasions, we started each half playing well but then lost our way.

One quick point about not kicking penalties for goal in the first half...I actually agree with the decision itself because if Ireland considered themselves still in the race for the championship, merely winning wasn't enough, we needed a decent margin. The only thing we weren't considering was the lineout failure, and blame for that doesn't merely fall on Best's darts...it took us four goes to realise a simple toss to the 2 jumper was the only way to ensure possession against a buoyed up opposition.

So clearly for all the x's and o's the coaching staff draws on the blackboard, the squad in general still needs a different type of preparation from the man at the top and looking at the whole squad experience instead of trying to add up the sum of its parts, it seems the lines of communication have been broken beyond repair.

Once more, we have a two-week wait until our next encounter. Once more, I am suggesting that the IRFU give us some clarification on the coach's future NOW.

The pressure is building and building with each passing moment – I say if you're going to give him a new contract, announce it now, otherwise make it clear that he will be stepping down when it ends. Then we will have clarity. Then the pressure will be released.

Instead, I fear the heads will remain in the sand, hoping a decent result or two to end the tournament will act as some kind of salvation. It won't in my eyes, and I really, really, want to make these international writeups about the rugby on the pitch again!

We're the ones who have got to be honest. We're the ones who need a big improvement. And we need a leadership that realises this, pronto. JLP

Click here for the HoR writeup of Leinster v Scarlets

Manus Lappin of Emerald Rugby makes the case for Kidney click here

Also this weekend

Scotland Under-20s 21 - 20 Ireland Under-20s

Italy 9 - 26 Wales

England 23 - 13 France

IRELAND-32 SCOTLAND-14

[update January 29, 2014] This week’s trip into the HoR archives takes us back to the Scots’ last visit to Dublin, which incidentally was one week before the Twickenham Scrum Disaster. 

SUBDUED

Declan Kidney rightly pointed out during the week that Ireland still have much to play for in 2012, with IRB ranking position set to determine seeding for the 2015 World Cup pool stage draw.

Still, I'm not so sure the obscure mathematics used to determine those rankings are the sort of thing that's going to fire up an Irish Six Nations crowd who knew the Triple Crown, Championship and Grand Slam horses had already bolted from the stable.

But  there was still a job to be done, a tough one by the accounts of many Irish pundits leading up to kickoff. The gist of the overall pessimism was that Scots were unlucky not to have at least one in the win column, they came to Dublin with an supreme lineout, plus the home side were suffering badly with injuries all over the park.

And when it came to the supposed crucial “firsts” in the contest, these fears seem to have well founded. The first scrum led to a Scottish free. Our first lineout throw was chucked way too far and ended up in enemy hands. And the first two scoring chances fell to Greig Laidlaw who gratefully stroked both penalties over the bar giving the visitors as 6-0 head start.

However there were a couple of firsts yet to happen. On 11 minutes, Scots lock Jim Hamilton carried it into contact where he was met by (the yet again supreme) Stephen Ferris, Donncha Ryan and Gordon Darcy who clicked straight into “choke tackle” mode, and whatever about Andy Robinson's midweek mind games they were able to execute it perfectly and force a turnover, thus re-setting the tone of the Irish defence which for the most part has been superb in this campaign.

A few moments later, Ireland won a kickable penalty, but Sexton had no hesitation in holding the ball up to his face and and asking his skipper Rory Best if he agreed they should go for a set move. The hooker in turn had no hesitation in approving the plan.

As with any similar situation in sport, the wisdom of such a bold decision is directly related to its success, so when Ryan took a clean lineout, O'Mahony passed it on quickly and Best planted the ball over the line in the corner, it was of course proven to be a stroke of genius.

Then came the conversion, ironically further out than the penalty kick RTE analyst Donal Lenihan suggested Sexton wasn't too confident in making. Well, despite Sean Lamont's best efforts to get in the kicker's head, he got it over the bar, though going by the reaction to his second kick, which also made it, his contact with the ball was anything but perfect. Only thing I can criticise the Leinster outhalf for is not following that old sporting adage “if you screw up but it still works, make sure it looks like you meant it”!

So despite the early hiccups Ireland quickly got themselves into the lead, one which they were never to relinquish. And to be perfectly honest, that wasn't so much down to the Irish defence as it was to the extremely poor Scottish offence, which seemed to lurch from one touchline to the other like a drunken crab whenever it had the ball.

The one try they did manage seemed at first glance like it was a surging line break from an unstoppable Richie Gray. On further inspection you see he breaks the line first by Eoin Reddan, about half his size, going too high with his tackle on one side while on the other Tommy Bowe, who would have easily felled the giant, being taken out of it by the Scottish rookie full-hack Stuart Hogg.

Before my email inbox gets flooded with tartan taunts, I'd like to make it clear I think Hogg's block was accidental. He was simply running a line so as to take a sneaky offload but once Gray had gotten himself some momentum and open space, there was certainly no stopping him.

So now there was just the three points in it and once more Ireland showed a quality that has been prevalent in Leinster all season, that being an ability to strike back immediately after conceding. Sexton's restart caught the Scots napping and before you could sing a bar of “500 Miles” Ireland were back on the front foot in the 22 pummelling with the phases and eventually notching their third try of the evening courtesy of Andrew Trimble right on the halftime whistle.

The third quarter was easily the most subdued of the four. The only real try-scoring chance was that which fell to Tommy Bowe, after his outhalf found him yet again with a perfectly weighted kick. There's all sorts of ways to argus over that incident. If he was deemed tackled, should Morrison not have rolled away? For me the most logical call would have been a stalemate between the two players on the ground and since Ireland had possession they should have had a 5m scrum.

But what got my attention the most in that period was the substitution on 53 minutes. I get that Rory Best was nursing a rib injury so it was probably planned for O'Gara to come on and assume the captaincy. That's fine...but did Tomás O'Leary, who let's face it is a blow-in to this particular Six Nations squad, really have to come on for Eoin Reddan at that moment?

I know I have argued for the provincial halfback pairing in the past and in general I still do, but in this case Reddan was having a fine outing, and his quick distribution topped off by his (dare I say it Stringer-esque) opportunism for Ireland's second try surely had him in the frame for man-of-the-match. When someone is playing so well, no matter what your pre-match plan, he deserves to left on in my book.

The way it played out, he was only made out like a blow-in himself who could do nothing to force his way ahead of Conor Murray in the pecking order, which for me, is no way to run any team in any sport. There was only an 8-point lead for Ireland at that point so it was still very much a contest, and the perception was that Reddan wasn’t up to the task of seeing it through.

In the end it was Donncha Ryan who took the man of the match award, and I won't say it wasn't deserved, but I will say that he played every bit as well as I would have expected him to had he started every game as so many think he should. I can only assume that much like Reddan and probably Peter O'Mahony (who also had an impressive outing), he is merely keeping the starter’s jersey warm for somebody else whatever he does.

So then with the benches mostly empty and the clock ticking into the final quarter, the Scots got themselves some rare front foot ball of their own in Ireland's 22, and there is certainly a case to be made that Lee Jones having his bell rung at this point gave the home side a chance to re-set their defence. Personally, I'd be inclined to think we would have cleared the danger anyway.

Of course everyone is delighted to hear that Jones is making “good progress” after that nasty clash of heads with Trimble - I really feared for the lad as he fell to the turf with his arms by his sides, not to mention when his head whipped off the ground after the fall.

But Ireland were able to clear the danger and soon found themselves back down the other end creating chances again. And here I feel a paragraph or two are required for the Max Evans sin-binning incident.

First of all, though all weekend folks have gone out of their way to bash the officials, I know I may seem one-eyed in this but I challenge anyone to tell me they didn't get the call absolutely right in this case. Earls clipped it forward, Evans tugged at his arm impeding his progress. There was no way to know if a try would have been scored, so no penalty try, and a 10-minute rest for Evans.

I also would like to address those who berated our centre (many of them Irish) for his tumble after the infraction, particularly the notion that he was somehow reacting “like a wimpy soccer player”.

I'm not a fan of exaggerated diving, but I am a fan of professional sport, and I absolutely 100% back Earls for what he did and would encourage anyone else in a similar position to do the same. He hardly went down like he'd been shot, for crying out loud! He simply went with the very obvious challenge and tried to sell it – for all he knew, there could have been a penalty try for him in it.

To those who say there's “no place in rugby” for actions like that, I'd say instead there shouldn't be any place in the sport for such unnecessary snobbery. A little gamesmanship is part and parcel, and if you dislike what goes in soccer, don't watch it, then you won't need to keep making comparisons!

Anyway, back to the match, all that was left was Fergus McFadden's impressive cameo. I have a feeling Luke Fitzgerald's presence in the training squad during the week must have influenced him (afraid to be another shirt-warmer like Reddan & Ryan) and given only a couple of minutes of game time you could see he was determined to make the most of it and was duly rewarded with the fourth try that made the final margin so comfortable.

So as Chris Pollock blew for full-time, not only had the Aviva Stadium crowd been subdued all afternoon, it seemed so too had the Scots who couldn’t change their side of the scoreboard at all in the second half. A good win & performance for Ireland, but with Andy Robinson's side seeming so limited, I still can't be sure how to rate this Six Nations campaign.

So far we have failed once more the Welsh, handily dispatched the wooden spoon contenders, and kissed our sisters in Paris. If only we had the chance to, oh I don't know, stuff the English on St Patrick’s Day in their own backyard – maybe then Declan can get a thumbs up from us? Sorry , but right now I can only answer that question with a subdued “meh”. Come back to me at full-time next Saturday.  JLP

ALSO THIS WEEKEND

Friday March 9

IRELAND CLUB XV 26-21 SCOTLAND CLUBS

Click here for report on IRFU site

IRELAND U20s 26-0 SCOTLAND U20s

Always comfortable for the Wolfpuppies, a super individual effort early on by Shane Leyden opened the scoring, although they found possession hard to hold on to the 2nd & 3rd quarters. MotM & scrum half Luke McGrath darted in for a 2nd and Jack Conan added a third. Jackson had problems with the boot in the first half, will need to sort if Slam to be clinched at Adams Park next week.

IRELAND 20-0 SCOTLAND (Women's Six Nations)

Click here for report on Scrumqueens.com

Saturday March 10

WALES 24-3 ITALY

Had the Italians not come merely to defend this could well have been closer. In the end they tackled themselves to death tho the Welsh were certainly too cocky for their own good, needing tries from deep by Roberts and Cuthbert (my MotM) to pull away. If the French can still smell a Championship next week Gatland's 2nd Slam will be hard earned. George Clancy about as popular in Wales now as Rolland.

Sunday March 11

FRANCE 22-24 ENGLAND

Huge win for England, though Morgan Parra proved when he came on that had he started things could have been very different. Two early tries built a 11pt lead similar to Ireland's last week then the French didnt wake up until the 3rd qtr. In the end a strong finish from Croft sealed it tho the French once more had a late drop goal chance to pinch it but Trinh-Duc's effort fell short.