The road to glory: Ireland 22 France 26

by

, ,

After tootling along on the road to glory, with a few miss-fires along the way, the Ireland engine gave up the ghost yesterday with a cough and a splutter as an MOT ready France zoomed past without needing to engage top gear!

That Ireland managed to close the gap at the end had more to do with France putting it in neutral and coasting for the line than any of the highly tuned Irish components actually firing in unison.

The question for the Ireland management team is, “Will a simple re-tune correct the problem or do some of the components need replaced?”

Unfortunately, for Ireland, they have left any rebuild, in preparation for the World Cup, too late, preferring, in the past, to patch it up and push it out time and again, so it looks as though a bit of tuning of the available parts is the only realistic option.

Ireland’s issue is that some of their more exciting players can also be a bit of a liability. Outside of O’Driscoll, O’Connell, Heaslip, O’Brien and O’Gara ( and possibly Ferris) and I’ll maybe include Ross in that lot, the rest of the team . . .

You will need to log in or register to read the rest of this article. If you have not already registered you can click here to register.

In 2022 we added 102,631 new images in 510 galleries with a gallery breakdown of 263 Rugby, 217 Hockey and 30 Athletics. Your registration and subscription will help us to continue.

Thanks.


3 responses to “The road to glory: Ireland 22 France 26”

  1. the mote

    John while you say the score is an irrelevance and to some extent I agree with you in so far as the purpose of the games is to bring players up to match shapeness but a score line is indictive of player performance.

    As I have stated above I am of the opinion that at the heart of yesterdays mid game collapse was the form and short comings of our scrum half once Ireland were unable to go into the ruck and maul going forward everything had an apathetic feel .

    It is easy to forget that yesterday was the first game for both centres since early May . It also should be remembered that not once to date has the same backline taken the field in the four games played The combination Sexton/O Leary while having been tried previously was not sucessful on the prior occassion and in my opinion a serious mistake by Kidney I hate positive/ negative analysis of games because no two games are alike . In the fist two matches against Scotland and France the impressive feature was the defence but we seriously lacked the ability to score trys by either backs or forwards. Yesterday was an improvement in that respect.

    MY major concerns are not the failure to play to game plan or lack of form but a serious lack of depth in the squad and an out an out open side wing forward other than Wallace.

    If the major pupose of the games is bring players up to match shapeness then the existance of a game plan could be counter productive to that purpose similiarly if the purpose is to establish and Identify players to include in the squad the existance of a game plan may inhibit players to exhibit their abilities.

    Questions as yet unanswered Do we have four front row forwards ? Do we have four second row forwards? Do we have an alternative pairing midfield to d’Arcy and BoD ? Will Wallace and Bowe be fit ?

  2. the mote

    When considering the game it is easy to forget the first 20 minutes and the last 10 minutes and concentrate on the 50 minutes between. It is also easy to disrespect the scoreline which was 22 -26 a four point difference and forget that Ireland out scored France 3 trys to 2.

    So what went wrong after 20 minutes well in my view it all went wrong before the kick-off by the selection of O Leary at scrum half he functioned well in the first 20 minutes for the simple reason Ireland were playing “go forward “Rugby but once France started to stop that forward momentum he revert to the form indecision at the foot of the ruck and his inability to put any length on his pass with out lobbing the ball causing all the problems for the backline and first receivers.

    History was being repeated the O’Leary/ Sexton partnership was a failure against Italy and Scotland what made Kidney believe it would work against France?
    All France had to do was insure they put pressure on the half backs which they did aided by a referee who let the French fringe a little off side at ruck and maul.

    Those who were surprised at the defeat really shouldn’t be it was I believe inevitable the corner stones of any team performance are the half backs provided you have forwards to provide the ball.

    Ireland cannot afford to entry the World Cup with a scrum half who gives away 10 points. One a kick out of the 22 in field giving the receiver all the time in the world to drop a goal . Two a telegraphed lobbed pass in field giving the easiest of interceptions and try close to the posts . It was the act of a headless chicken if any 13 year old school boy did that his private hobby would be made public . One of the first rules for defence was always if under pressure or in doubt PUT IT OUT.

    The problem with a player in that sort of form is that he undermines the confidence in the rest.

    Thus the improvement in play when O’Leary was substituded was not surprising.

    I for one await to see who makes the final thrirty with the hope that O’Leary is not included.

    .

    1. John

      The score is an irrelevance, as are, to a large extent these matches. The truth of the matter is that France were a much better side over two games without really having to try too hard. I don’t think that’s a surprise for anyone? It’s not the lack of form of individuals that worries me but that so many appear off form and lacking the confidence and ability to maintain a game plan.

      I suspect that Heaslip and O’Leary were playing to orders to keep the ball alive when they combined to give away the decisive try. Unfortunately it’s a strategy that I don’t think Ireland can maintain except against all but the weakest teams.

Corrections, comments or questions?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.