Ireland cuffed the ears of the young pretenders and sent them packing back to England in a bit of a huff. Unfortunately though, the reality is that England are in a much better place than Ireland are at the minute.
Roughing up a pack of school boys is all very well if you back it up with performances against more streetwise teams but Ireland singularly failed to compete up front with the same ferocity against Italy, Wales, and Scotland and they could easily, and some may say justifiably, have lost all three instead of just one.
So, was this game a culmination of what Ireland have been working towards over the last few weeks or just a flash in the pan – one last hurrah against the old enemy?
Unfortunately to me it was one last hurrah made possible by a unique set of circumstances that Ireland are going to find difficult to create against other opponents.
First and foremost Ireland’s pack raised it’s game. Cian Healy scrummaged, Mike Ross got involved in open play, Donnacha O’Callaghan turned up and Jamie Heaslip switched on. In short they did what they were supposed to do and they did it with ferocity.
Secondly, England were particularly vulnerable, missing the wise old head of Trindle in the centre. While the English side may be tremendous physical specimens they are not particularly bright having been conditioned by the formulaic macho crap of the English Premiership. When the Irish forwards set about them as a unit and the backs started running from everywhere they simply didn’t have the wherewithal to respond.
Thirdly, Eoin Reddan and Jonny Sexton did a great job of keeping up the pace of the game sniping and probing and keeping England moving and confused allowing little time for respite. No regrouping for England, even if they had someone sensible enough to call the shots.
Finally we had the “England factor” – a real passion and determination to beat them for a multitude of reasons too, too, complex for a mere Rugby Blog.
The pleasing factor to me was that Ireland played the type of game they need to play if they are going to be competitive in the World Cup. A game executed well by Leinster and aspired to by Ulster. The return of Ferris and the addition of Kearney at full back should complement this type of game but the big question is will they be able to find that extra “England factor” in the more mundane challenges ahead? Sadly our experiences in the World Cup tells us no!
IRELAND: (15-9) Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan. (1-8) Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donnacha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Sean O’Brien, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip. (16-22) Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Leo Cullen, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara, Paddy Wallace
Wise up mote! Way too many consecutive comments there – if you want to send in an article regarding Ireland’s performance in the Six Nations send it in and if it’s readable I’ll post it but really catch yourself on with the number of comments.
I’ll reply to your comments individually once I’ve had my tea!
Further Thoughts to ponder
Firstly
The Irish pack suffer in the first game against Italy in the set scrum due to the fact the referee allowed the Italian props to bore and bind illegally the referee penalised in England for those offences early in the match and they only got away with it when Court game on when the referee assumed the scrum dropped and the Irish front came up because Ireland had changed props.
Secondly
Ireland suffered in the first three matches due to lack of clarity as to how the referees were refereeing the ruck giving away too many point scoring penalty opportunities which cost us the game against France
Thirdly
If Kaplan had paid attention and disallowed the Welsh try ( as he should have ) Ireland would be have been playing for the Triple Crown on saturday
And lastly
This is not going to please the Paddy Wallace fan club but I would like to see Cave playing outside Spence next season because I believe that Paddy is not the future of Irish Rugby at the age of 32 and I consider Cave is currently the second best 13 in Ireland at this time and Spence could develop into the next Irish 12.
O Driscoll has basically got 1 maybe 2 more seasons at International level provided his Ham strings stay the distance D’Arcy is currently a player of mixed form and is a similiar age to O’Driscoll I don’t see Earls as a 13 and McFadden will challenge Cave for the 13 shirt but there is really a shortage of 12s.
England will always be in a better place than Ireland on the Rugby pitch not because they have better players but because they have more players many of which are of a similiar standard .
And while the English media talk of the current English side as being a young team the fact is most are not that young but have few caps for England due to the chopping and changing of the English team since 2003 which reflects the fact that many of their players are of similiar standard.
England like Ireland put in one real performance during the 6n against Italy when Ashton was being spoon fed gaps by Tindall
Johnstons biggest problem is he lacks centres and a reliable centre duo and they will find success difficult with out Tindall . In the World Cup they will be a hard side to beat because of their forwards but the team will not be world beaters either.
The point I was making was up until the game with England tt wasn’t just individual performance was problem it was the fact we were playing Internationals where half the pack were not match ready and the backline was a mismash of players who were either coming back from injury and /or uncomfortable as a unit. Mcfaddan is not a first choice winger for Leinster fitzgerald is not a first choice full back for leinster Earls is a pacey individual but lacks awareness of players around him.
The alternatives
Flannery injjured-Buckley tried and found wanting- Touhy injured- Toner and Cullen both “one trick ponies” great lineout players of little influence in the loose – Ferris injured – Ruddock and Faloon untried and untested at International level and both have yet to prove they are the equal never mind better than Wallace
Backs Kearney injured- Murphy injured- Cave injured-Bowe injured- Trimble injured – Paddy Wallace plays a different mode of defence to Leinster midfield and therefore not a desirable choice of first preference.
Spence not yet his time and best retained for the future.
I don’t think Kidney had any other option than to play the incumbents .
@mote – In reply to your comments
With the French defeat Ireland were always going to win bugger all this championship.
Irish injuries – there are always going to be injuries in rugby especially when we have a coach who is going to wheel out the old guard when not fit rather than give younger players an extended run
Front Row – Court and Cronin should have been used in at least three full games this series.
Second Roy- Toner and Cullen should have been used in at least two full games each in this series.
Backrow – Faloon should have been blooded, Henry should have had at least one full game at 8. Ruddock blooded.
Scrum half – Isaac boss should have had a least two full games.
McFadden, Darcy, Wallace and O’Driscoll should all have had equal game time in the centres.
There are 4 warm up games which should be used to finalise the team, now we will be using them looking at alternatives because we haven’t looked at any unforced variations over the last two years.
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Ireland have been in a better place than England for the last three years.
England have realised this and tried to change accordingly.
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Your further thoughts to ponder are just bollocks. Referee’s are part of the game and Ireland’s failure to do their research or even to respond to what was in front of them throughout the match was lamentable. Wales would more than likely have scored anyway the lineout was just co-incidental as the momentum was with Wales at the time.
I agree about Cave but he won’t get a look in with the current Ireland set up unless D’Arcy and O’Driscoll are both injured.
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Finally I reiterate what I said about the comments. They should generally be short, concise and to the point in this section. If you want to include a full match analysis then sit down write it out and email it to me and if it’s legible, coherent and relevant then I will publish it. This goes for any contributor, not just mote 🙂
The likelyhood is that quite a few will be injured between now and the world cup which makes it all the more baffling as to why no alternatives have been tried over the last 12 – 18 months.
Ireland have always been able to match teams for one off games. It’s relatively easy to pull one big performance out of the bag now and then – just look at Ulster over the last 10 seasons. It’s doing it match after match that will be the problem for Ireland and Kidney’s reluctance to use any alternatives unless forced to has compounded the problem as the present incumbents know they can stay in place with one good performance in three.
ThIs 6n gives the viewer much to think about some may dispair like yourself and others may take a realistic approach and consider the facts
Forwards
Ireland went into the six nations with Ferris sidelined by injury and O’Connell Best and Heslip short of match fitness and Wallace only really capable of playing 60 minutes. not being over blessed with alternatives basically 3 players starting were only firing on three cylinders and a forth ending on three .
Backs both the first and second full backs Kearney and Murphy. were injured as were two of the contenders for the wings Trimble and Bowe and d’Arcy and o Driscoll I believe had missed a few games through injury and Fitzgerald’s form was extremely mixed.
Definitely not the way to enter a 6 nations.
During the course of the games the fitness levels and mental approach of the forwards improved and Kidney ended the series with his best available backline and as you so rightly point out the England game provides motivation like no other and these factors I think provided the basis of the performance on Saturday which was helped by the lack of Tindall in the English backline Banahan is a really a poor substitute while having a good top speed he lacks acceleration and can’t time a pass he is not a centre he is a wing.
I believe that the Fitzgerald bubble has burst while he has a great deal of talent he is prone to panic and Marshall like monents of enthusiastic stupidity definitely not the most desirable traits for an International player.
Earls has a very motivated approach to his game combimed with pace but if Paddy Wallace has a habit of failing to pass and lack awareness of players around him Earls has it in spades( as they say in bridge circles) due to his ability to cover wing and fullback he is a natural for the bench instead of Wallace
Going into the World Cup Irelands major worry and requirement is to ensure that the squad remains injury free.
With a fit full squad we can match and give most teams a game and get results the weakness is the lack of depth to the squad when games are played in quick sucession and we are unable to rest players.
Corrections, comments or questions?