After all the hype, all the build-up, all the pundits claiming this was a Six Nations decider, the match kicked off and the ball flew into the ait, straight to good old Mr Dependable himself Rob Kearney…
…who knocked it on with the first touch off a green jumper.
From then until the final whistle, you can take your pick of costly mistakes. Cian Hayes’ sin-binning, Jerry Flannery’s fly-hack of Palisson which reversed a possible 3 points for us, Tomas O’Leary’s bad decision to go for a try with time elapsed rather than take the easy 3 right before the half, or Keith Earls’ balls-up of a simple tap-ball, we just plain and simple made too many basic errors on the day.
And the bounce of the ball didn’t help us either. When our players were involved with the padding around the base of the goalpost after D’Arcy’s stunning line break, it went against us, but when Servat dived at it down the other end, they scored.
But when you analyse this match honestly, you have to look beyond our mistakes and our misfortunes and look at what was quite possibly the most flawless 80-minute display of rugby union football the Six Nations has ever seen. Seemingly at will the French were able to surge forward like a TGV train and I very much doubt any team on the planet would’ve found it easy to stay with them.
Of course the scoreline would’ve been a lot closer had we not made so many basic errors on the pitch, but for the first time since he took the reigns I may have to question the wisdom of Declan Kidney’s use of the bench.
Two tries down at halftime and nothing seemingly happening at the start of the second, would it have been ridiculous to throw on Sexton to mix things up? I really think not. And perhaps he was injured, but if not I don’t see why Leo Cullen had to come off; his line-out jumping was one of our few success stories on the day.
But in a desperate attempt to look for a silver lining, it could be argued that this result will do Kidney’s World Cup 2011 preparations more good than harm. There will be performances just like that awaiting us in New Zealand, of that we can be sure, and it’s better to face one now and get a hiding so we can be sure it doesn’t happen again.
I still have a lot of faith in this squad. Sure – the whole “successive Grand Slam” thing may be gone, but the Championship sure isn’t, and the way the other two matches transpired this weekend proves it.
Two decisions turned this match around. First Gatland made one sensible call in hauling off Cooper and replacing him with Rees at halftime. Sure, the Scottish defence was solid in the first half, but the Cardiff Blues #9s inability to get the ball quickly from the base of the ruck virtually neutralised the star-studded backline behind him.
But even with a new scrumhalf for the home side in the second half, you still felt the Scots had done enough to bring it home, particularly with Parks providing more than adequate cover for Paterson from the kicking tee.
Then enter replacement hooker Scott Lawson.
The man is 28 years old. You’d like to think even a schoolboy player would know that if you’re up by 10 and there’s less than ten minutes left in a match, there’s no need to give ANY sort of penalty away around the halfway line, let alone one that could possibly get you a binning. From there, the Welsh got their try and with the Scots guaranteed to be a man down to the end, they were always going to be vulnerable to what happened.
It must be so infuriating for the poor Scottish fans. And for me as well, since I tipped them to win two this year, and surely this was their best chance. Just don’t do it against us!
As for the Welsh, well for 70 minutes they reminded me of Ireland under Eddie O’Sullivan…maybe, just maybe, Gatland has the balls to acknowledge his mistakes and fire them up to take on the French and blow this Championship wide open Friday week.
What can I say about this rancid kick-fest excuse of a rugby game?
It seems Johnson’s men took the phrase “When in Rome…” a bit too much to heart…I see why the Italians kept kicking, coach Mallet is simply doing his best to make the resources he has work in this competitive Six Nations tournament, but what was England’s excuse for kicking it right back to them every time!
The fact that Jonny Wilkinson was happy to kick a drop goal to wrap up the victory says it all. They should have been miles ahead by then and they know it.
And what’s more, the unthinkable upset may very well have happened had Moody been sin-binned for his dangerous challenge on Luke McLean.
It was a shocking performance by the men in white, particularly in the lineout, and if they don’t make the right improvements in the next two weeks, they could struggle against what surely must be a fired up Irish 22 at “Headquarters”.
© JL Pagano 2010
