I know I’ve been banging on about it ad nauseum on Facebook and Twitter the past few days, but I have to also start my blog post by mentioning the Be The Difference competition.
Since I’m going to rant a bit about Ireland’s performance, best get the positives out of the way, and I hope the line between my disappointment at the result and my 100% satisfaction with the NewsTalk/O2/IRFU prize is clear for all to see.
Though the subject matter isn’t too appealing to Irish rugby fans, surely the angle afforded by our seats to snap Dan Parks’ winning kick shows you just how much of an honour it was.
And also before I bitch and moan, I don’t want to take anything away from the Scottish performance. All of us clad in green seemed to think their role on the day was as underdogs who were happy to make up the numbers, get what had been a bad campaign over with and keep the losing margin to a minimum.
Well all credit to them for their actual attitude…they would have been forgiven for taking simple drop goal whenever they could but more often than not they went for the try and were rewarded twice. So despite the numerous things the home side got wrong, the visitors still had to capitalise and they most certainly did and all credit to them.
Now…to the real business at hand. What went wrong on our side of the ball?
Well, we’d have to ask Declan Kidney, and in my book, the answer doesn’t come from his post-match press conferences, it came from his substitutions, or should I say the lack of them.
Even the most fervent Leinster supporter couldn’t claim that Jonny Sexton had a good day at the office. His distribution through his hands was good, but his mojo with the boot seems to have vanished. There was little surprise that O’Gara was going to come on, and he did much to steady our wavering ship when he did.
But here’s my beef with the coaching staff…by making the outhalf switch the ONLY tactical change over the 80 minutes, they were insinuating that our poor performance was totally down to our number ten, and that was nowhere NEAR the case.
· We were being dominated by the visitor's front row which included two Lions…why not bring on Buckley sooner to at least try to counter? And yes, I’d have bought him on for Hayes…clearly the other five nations have read the book on him from cover to cover at this stage?
· Best was far from living up to his name with his darts…why not hand Cronin a competitive debut?
· And most of all…since our own lineouts were failing and possession was at a premium, why not introduce proven poacher Leo Cullen to mix things up on their throw?
On top of those failings, our tackling just wasn’t anywhere near the standards we showed at Twickenham, and with D’Arcy statistically being the biggest culprit, questions must be asked as to just how match fit he really was. Not sure how much a substitution could’ve helped there given Paddy Wallace was his nominated replacement.
Here’s my overall point. Kidney’s honeymoon is over. We won the Grand Slam and that was amazing, but it’s time to take it on. It’s not the end of the world that we’ve lost a couple this time round; if anything it could be a help, given that our primary focus SURELY must be the World Cup in 2011.
If I were Declan, I’d be planning a strategy whereby we target winning our pool ahead of the Wallabies.
I’m just wondering, given his reluctance to use his bench on Saturday, just how many players he feels can achieve that end, and does he hold a similar restrictive view to his talent pool that his predecessor did?
I seriously hope not, because given the potential of the Championship-winning Under 20s squad, there’s a lot to work with to get the balance right before the drama begins down in New Zealand. We’ll see who gets a run down under in the June friendlies.
WALES-33 ITALY-10
FRANCE-12 ENGLAND-10
But now, the Six Nations is over for another year, and all credit to the French for their perfect return. Surely as Irishmen we can appreciate the difficulty in getting that final victory…the English kept them close thanks to an admittedly impressive early try but were never going to threaten much more. Johnson’s lineup changes were too little too late for this tournament.
As for Wales, well in travelling to Croke Park I didn’t see much of the match, though I enjoyed the handbags between Mirco and Phillips as well as Hook’s two late tries. At least they finished on a high though you have to have a measure of sympathy for the Italians getting another wooden spoon…perhaps the Magners League experiment will make them more competitive in future.
Now it’s time to consign the Ireland jersey to the wardrobe and take out the Leinster ones. Much exciting rugby still to come before this season is out, and despite our mounting injury list I’m confident I’ll have some champagne to sip yet.
