Given the scoreline, the time left on the clock and the implications for our chances in the overall Championship, it has to be said that Ronan O’Gara’s winning drop goal was as sweet a strike as you’re likely to see in test rugby.
But to say that moment defined the overall match would be like suggesting that the EU/IMF bailout is the significant player in Ireland’s economic crisis. It’s not about who the saviour was, it’s more about why the saviour was needed.
And when the full-time whistle blew, I was relieved we had won, but I was VERY gloomy about our prospects for the upcoming campaign. We had come within a whisker of losing to Italy for crying out loud…how on earth would we fare against England, France and the resurgent Scots? (sorry Welsh readers!)
But then it came to Sunday morning and it was time to look back over the match. And you know what? Things didn’t look anywhere NEAR as bad, to me anyway, as they had the previous day.
Defensively, in the most part, we were excellent, with one major exception that led to their try which I’ll mention later. The Italians didn’t get meaningful possession in our 22 until the 67th minute. And after the drop goal put us in the lead late on and the home side got possession back on halfway, we showed our trademark resilience and discipline to keep them around 40m out and you could tell from his last-ditch attempt that they were out of Orquera’s range.
Also when it came to set-pieces, when you take out Roman Poite’s scrambled scrum interpretations, ours were nigh-on flawless, so Mike Ross and Cian Healy have to take plaudits for that.
And of the three players who were considered questionable calls, two of them put in polished performances. O’Callaghan was mischievous in the lineout and led the team with 20 tackles. Luke Fitzgerald did everything that was expected of him and more at 15 and clearly earned the same jumper to face France.
Before I critique the third of that trio, I must complement the spirit the Azzurri showed. Any Irish fan would tell you they’d have been cheering Italy 100% against any other opposition. Led strongly by Sergio Parisse they were solid throughout and as Kidney and BOD suggested pre-match, are clearly not far off beating us. Had they not knocked on the restart after their try, they probably would have.
But when you get into the negativity in Ireland’s display, you have to look first at Tomás O’Leary. I wasn’t the only one to raise an eyebrow when I heard of his selection given he was leap-frogging over both Stringer and Reddan to the position.
The reason for his elevation, it seems, was due to his “physicality”. That DID make sense before the match, but after it I have a question…why did he only run with the ball five times? And more to the point, why did he pass it NINETY-ONE times? Is it that we don’t have a better passing scrum-half?
Don’t get me wrong, O’Leary wasn’t “awful”, and he certainly wasn’t the only man behind the scrum to underperform…both centres will no doubt hold their hands up on that score.
But it has to be said that when the strength of our game is the speed and precision of our backline, the tiniest delay in supply from the tight can throw off the rhythm, and never was this more evident than when BOD tried desperately to exploit an overlap and instead fired it over McFadden’s head for the second time. Though the botched pass will make the headlines, in my book it was the initial one that caused it.
And it’s not like we didn’t get a glimpse of what our boys can do going forward. They began the second half as though their lives depended on them scoring a try and they got it. All we want is for them to achieve that level of intensity for 80 minutes in each of the four matches that remain in this campaign, and we know they can.
O’Driscoll’s try, and the play that went before it, cannot be forgotten in the analysis of this game. Sure, there’s some kinks to be ironed out, but remember how Leinster played back in September? It’s all part of a process, this was our first game playing together since November, and the boys have the time, experience AND ability to get it right.
But now we’re back to what could be a problem, at least in the eyes of wannabe “experts” like myself. How can we explain not only the match selections but also the substitution calls being made from the coaching staff?
Jonny Sexton made one howler on the day that could have cost us badly when an ill-advised pass on his own 22 was nearly pinched by Parisse. Other than that, he was solid, and certainly didn’t deserve to be hauled ashore when he was. I mean…I can only assume that Reddan was on the bench to give Sexton a Leinster teammate as an option, but before he lays a finger on the ball O’Gara is strolling onto the field?
Yes, I know how it turned out, and yes, I know Sexton has fluffed a winning DG opportunity this season while O’Gara won the Grand Slam, but did Kidney know that situation was coming when he made the call? And how does it leave our two out-halves now? Does Jonny10 now feel he only has 65 minutes tops in every match no matter what happens? Not sure how I’d feel about that to be honest.
And to complete my negative vibes, though little was said of it by RTE commentators, I have to call Denis Leamy on his yellow card. He played well overall, but that’s not the first time he’s given away a senseless penalty that led to a score this season. There was a clear call of “away green!” and had his Munster team-mate not saved the day this paragraph would be appearing MUCH sooner in this write-up…
But let’s sit back and look at what happened. WE WON. And all we needed to make the scoreline look more decisive was for our backs to click, and the ones that didn’t click are the ones we know CAN click. PLUS although the French looked strong yesterday, they had three tries put on them by a backline that’s at BEST as good as ours.
So what say give the lads a week to sort everything out and be ready to make our home advantage count next Sunday? I have no doubt there’s still much left for us to shout about in this Championship.
Also this weekend…
First, well done to the Wolfhounds, Under 20s AND Women for their excellent wins to make it a perfect Irish weekend!
(both 6 nations writeups done at full-time in each match)
While I’ll always favour BBCs commentators over Ryle Nugent, I had to switch off at full-time because to hear them talk you’d think they’d won the Grand bloody Slam! Very average performance, they only scored tries when either Flood spotted he was faced by two props or when they had an extra man. Wales grafted but should have been put away by a team that supposedly are tournament favourites. Whatever about having 3 in a row at Twickenham, they won’t want to play like that in Dublin. Oh, and Austin Healy should really lay off Twitter when England are playing.
Well that’s round one of this year’s Championship gone, and I’ve seen three teams that worry me when Ireland’s chances are concerned. Good news, we’ve already played and beaten one of them. The other two played in Paris. I expected Scotland to keep things tight on defence yet struggle to get anything going in the try-scoring department. They only went and did the exact opposite! And what’s more, they’ll only do better at Murrayfield. The French for their part showed much flair and had a frightening scrum in the first half. Declan has but 7 days to banish our demons.
