Ireland’s Six Nations defence put to the test
By Stuart Condie, 13 Feb 2010 Stuart Condie is a Roar Rookie
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Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll concedes his side will need to improve dramatically on last week’s win over Italy if it is to keep its Six Nations title defense on track against France.
While England goes to Italy looking to build on last week’s opening victory, Ireland has the toughest possible game to follow its uninspiring 29-11 win over the Italians.
France was already tournament favorite before blowing away Scotland in its first match with a dominant first-half performance at Murrayfield.
“We’ll get better as the competition goes on but there’s plenty to improve on,” Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll said.
“Our ability to create fast ruck ball is the winning and losing of games against sides like France.
“We need to work on that.”
Ireland eased into a 23-3 lead over Italy but was unable to stamp its dominance on the match.
But coach Declan Kidney resisted the temptation to change a winning lineup and will give the players who went unbeaten through 2009 another chance.
Ronan O’Gara has recovered from a leg injury that forced him off the field against Italy and will continue at flyhalf, with Jonathan Sexton on the bench.
France is protecting a 10-year unbeaten record at home against Ireland and looks to be the biggest obstacle to the visitors’ attempts to defend its first Grand Slam since 1948.
France have brought in wingers Vincent Clerc and Alexis Palisson for the injured Aurelien Rougerie and Benjamin Fall in the only changes to the side that beat Scotland 18-9.
“You don’t change a winning team, with the exception of the two injured wingers,” coach Marc Lievremont said.
“The pack gave us great satisfaction, the front five were extremely good.”
Ireland beat France 30-21 last year on its way to winning the Grand Slam.
Possibly the most intriguing clash will be in midfield, where giant center Mathieu Bastareaud, who scored both France’s tries against the Scots, will be up against O’Driscoll.
Scotland couldn’t get its attacking game going against a fierce French defense and could find itself under severe pressure Saturday against a Wales side stung by its 30-17 loss at England.
Wales was undone by the yellow card given lock Alun-Wyn Jones for tripping, with England scoring 17 points while it had a man advantage.
“We have got to cut the errors in our game, because we know when we are accurate we are a very good side,” Wales flyhalf Stephen Jones said.
“We have to give England credit because they played well, but the problem from our perspective was that we took so much away from our own game just from our own inaccuracies.”
A 15-man Wales side in good form should be too strong for a competitive but limited Scottish team, Welsh coach Warren Gatland making only minor changes to his side.
England finally found its try-scoring form against Wales and should be even stronger in that department with last season’s leading try scorer, Riki Flutey, back in the starting lineup after recovering from injury.
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February 14th 2010 @ 3:20am
Pothale said | February 14th 2010 @ 3:20am | Report comment
Oh dear. Not looking good. 17-3 to France at half time. Healy sin binned and Ireland fail to score when twice camped on the French line.
Don’t think Ireland are going to have any answers in the second half. France are on fire.
February 14th 2010 @ 5:55am
Viscount Crouchback said | February 14th 2010 @ 5:55am | Report comment
That was a veritable beasting. As I thought, France’s maximum performance was far too good for Ireland. The Irish performance was reminiscent of their efforts in WC’07 – notable for lamentable performance of basic skills under pressure. I’ve never quite understood the widely held belief that Ireland are a good attacking team. They’re absolutely not, and they’ve gone backwards since Kidney took over and installed the useless O’Leary at scrum half. Poor old Peter Stringer must wonder what he has to do to be given a chance. O’Gara, too, is surely finished. Four terrible performances in Paris in his career might be passed off as unfortunate; five, surely, tells us that Rog simply isn’t that good.
I also think that the new ruck intepretations work against the Irish. As Parra pointed out before the game, Ireland won a Grand Slam by slowing down opposition ball (often by cheating, but they got away with it, so fair enough) and forcing turnovers. It’s much harder to do that this season. This really favours teams with big brutish forwards who can punch holes in the opposition defence. It also favours teams who can play a bit in the backs.
Wales – France should be a cracker. I hope France keep their game heads on for the remainder of the tournament. It’s fantastic for European rugby that one of the big boys is finally stepping up to the plate. It will raise standards across the board. Hopefully England can follow suit.
February 14th 2010 @ 6:12am
Wavell Wakefield said | February 14th 2010 @ 6:12am | Report comment
A few brief points, VC:
(i) A maximum performance from any side in the top 6 of the IRB rankings should be enough to thrash another side in the top 6 if the other side simply has a very poor day at the office. We saw that last season when England thrashed France and Australia thrashed SA, and this season when Australia thrashed Wales. This result, standing alone, doesn’t necessarily indicate a huge disparity between Ireland and France.
(ii) Ireland had the impetus and control of the game until the sin binning in the first half.
(iii) O’Gara has had too many good games for Ireland and Munster to be judged solely on performances in Paris
(iv) I don’t think Ireland have gone backwards under Kidney. They have been conservative and measured, but they clearly have improved which is why they went unbeaten in 12 games.
All things considered, France played well but there was nothing magnificent to suggest a French resurgence. France thrash another good 6N team most seasonsand then get their usual tonking off England. That doesn’t mean England is better than France.
February 14th 2010 @ 6:54am
Colin N said | February 14th 2010 @ 6:54am | Report comment
So who do you think is the better side? Ireland or France?
Ireland were woeful today and they are a negative side.
France bested them up front and it will be a very interesting match up at Twickenham next week, especially as England have a far superior line-out than France.
February 14th 2010 @ 7:27am
Wavell Wakefield said | February 14th 2010 @ 7:27am | Report comment
I don’t agree that Ireland are a negative side. If you recall the recent Australia test they were criticised for going wide too often. I happen to think that France are a negative side, but who has players who can perform individually.
I would suggest that if Ireland played France 10 times, with five games being played at home then each side would win their home games. It’s hard to say which side is better but I wouldn’t expect Ireland to ever be so bad again. It’s not as if they didn’t produce any chances during the match, and that France spurned countless chances.
February 15th 2010 @ 10:53am
Colin N said | February 15th 2010 @ 10:53am | Report comment
“I don’t agree that Ireland are a negative side. If you recall the recent Australia test they were criticised for going wide too often. I happen to think that France are a negative side, but who has players who can perform individually.”
That very same argument could go for the French – they opened up against New Zealand, which played into the All Blacks hands.
And in the first year of Lievermont’s reign, they were very attacking.
But for the most part, Ireland under Kidney have taken a pragmatic style, based around a good kicking game and big forward pack.
France also like to play in opposition territory, but seem to be slightly more clinical and look to take more risks than Ireland
February 15th 2010 @ 8:19pm
Wavell Wakefield said | February 15th 2010 @ 8:19pm | Report comment
France play Traille. Traille kicks and kicks. That’s enough for me. Ireland don’t have a Traille, Colin, and they don’t have a pack like the French. France rarely ever take risks.
February 14th 2010 @ 9:22am
Viscount Crouchback said | February 14th 2010 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Come on, WW, that’s head-in-the-sand stuff. This result alone might not indicate a huge disparity – but absolute tonkings on Ireland’s last FIVE visits to Paris absolutely does indicate a huge disparity. The scary thing for Ireland is that they didn’t play all that badly. They actually won 59% of possession, which no one would have predicted before the game, and yet still they got hammered.
Ireland just don’t have the talent pool. They eke out the maximum by being savvy and cute, but they tend to be exposed when they come up against the big boys in top form.
I think their attacking game, not their overall game, has gone backwards. When was the last time Ireland really cut loose? Kidney is an inherently conservative coach – compare Rob Kearney’s performances for Kidney (catch and kick) to his performances for McGeechan (superb counter-attacking).
O’Gara is just an average player with a decent kicking game. He’s not quick, he can’t beat a man, his passing (especially from his left hand) often goes haywire under pressure, and he can’t tackle. He’s played so many games for Ireland because they had no one else. Now they do, and Sexton must play.
There will always be question marks over France mentally but you must be blind if you can’t see they are on a massive resurgence. Winning in NZ, beasting SA, beasting Ireland – that’s seriously impressive form. I think they’ll batter England in Paris.
February 14th 2010 @ 9:32pm
Wavell Wakefield said | February 14th 2010 @ 9:32pm | Report comment
I think you’re being far too black and white, VC.
Losing in Paris does not indicate that Ireland are that far behind France. As I said, England have had the edge on France for a good few years and yet nobody would dare say that England is currently better than France. As far as I’m concerned this is typical France. This France side is not vintage, it has the ability to inflict damage on most sides, but also has the ability to look incredibly fragile, as we saw during the recent NZ test. Ireland made a lot of mistakes and France capitalised, therefore I think this result is completely arbitrary in the sense that I don’t think it would happen again. Personally I believe that England will win in France. Simply put this current side has too many erratic players to maintain such form: Servat/Szarzewski, Harinordoquy, Trinh-Duc, Bastareaud & Poitrenaud and once you match France up front (which I don’t think Ireland did), then they start to panic.
The Ireland attacking game didn’t click over the autumn, nor during the past two tests, but I don’t think you can say it has gone backwards. If you’re basing that assertion on the form of Kearney then you must also consider the form of other Lions players who starred, i.e.Stephen Jones, Jamie Roberts, Tom Croft et al. France always does well post-Lions and a lot of Lions players haven’t got into their groove, so to speak.
I don’t think O’Gara is an average player. He has achieved far too much for that label, and even recently we saw him dictate terms in Perpignan. I also disagree that he isn’t fast. I think O’Gara has a nice turn of pace. However I do agree that his tackling is weak, but then Sexton has been injured, so why avoid a man who has won nearly everything? Regarding the game I think the biggest mistake was that Ireland lacked a physical option in the midfield. I would have considered O’Driscoll at 12 and Bowe at 13. I see D’Arcy as the biggest problem. His running is too obvious.
As aforementioned, I think this is a typical French side. France has beasted SA quite a few times during their recent meetings, and France has beasted Ireland a few times during their recent meetings, so what’s changed? Nothing really. And I think that was confirmed when France received their annual thrashing off the All Blacks.
February 15th 2010 @ 4:17am
pothale said | February 15th 2010 @ 4:17am | Report comment
I think Ireland stuttered yesterday based on one key injury. Kearney went off, Wallace came on at 12, and the whole backline fell out of balance. Earls is not a sufficient substitiute at 15. Darcy got put on the wing – a position he hasn’t played for a long time at club level never mind test level.
I suspect that Ireland has so many stuctured ‘unstructured’ responses and plays that they lost all coherence when the fulcrum players moved out of position or were lost. Bowe’s direct running talents are being lost.
I agree with WW on the 12 position. I think BOD should look to move there and bring in Bowe at 13. Shaggy on the wing, along with Earls or Trimlble, and Kearney at 15.
Only problem for Ireland is that Kearney is likely to be out with injury for the England game, and Flannery will get cited – dead cert. Might be suspended for rest of 6 Nations, I suspect.
Kidney’s conservatism may just abate now that the back-to-back Slam monkey is gone. I’d bring in Boss and Sexton at 9 and 10. Court, Best and Healy in the front row. Keep Cullen even if O’Callaghan has recovered. (He was brilliant in his lineout performance yesterday.) They have nothing to lose at this point, particularly in their next match in Twickenham.
Ireland will certainly take heart watching the performances at the Italy/England game today. If Ireland are only a good team, as VC fairly attests, England are somewhere near shambolic for being one of the supposed ‘big boys’ in European rugby. Despite having the best backline combo at his disposal to date, Johnson’s team made Italy look good. Indeed, Italy flourished with England’s ineptitude. To be squeaking home with a drop-goal and defending your try-line in the last minute against Italy is not where England should be if they want to get ahead in the ranks. Surely they cannot be as bad as this again?
France are far out in front, with Ireland in their tailwind. And possibly Wales, who could kick into another gear after their much improved second half performance against England, and the comeback against Scotland to win it at the death. They have found their feet and will give France a tough time in Cardiff.
There’ll be a few more surprises before this championship is out. If France v England still turns out to be a Grand Slam decider for either team in the final match, I’ll eat my hat. Without salt.
February 15th 2010 @ 4:35am
Wavell Wakefield said | February 15th 2010 @ 4:35am | Report comment
England played badly (poor kicking) and made errors but still created double the amount of line breaks that Ireland did versus Italy, pothale, and also made far more metres gained. Realistically were it not for Wilkinson’s woeful kicking they would have won by a tad more. The point is that innacuracy teased this game out. It isn’t as if the English backs struggled to actually create anything a la Ireland recently. Added to that Italy played one of their best games in years. I think the English team was arrogant and each player expected another to create a match winning situation, however that doesn’t suggest anything drastic needs to be done. If England can do little things better here and there then they should be OK. I’m already looking forward to the next test. I forget who England are playing though?
February 14th 2010 @ 10:08am
Dublin Dave said | February 14th 2010 @ 10:08am | Report comment
France is always the team that makes Ireland look ordinary at best and downright poor at worst. The performance in today’s match tended more towards the latter, but by the standard of some of the tonkings Ireland has taken in Paris, it was not the worst. It was a most professional display by France, beating the Irish where they knew they could especially in the scrums and at the breakdown, and coping well in the areas where Ireland had the better of things, such as the lineout.
But France never cut loose as they have done in the days of old when Irish visits to Paris were as one-sided as a bull fight.The fact that France’s coups de grace came from dropped goals rather than a flurry of tries in the last few minutes was a compliment to the quality of this Irish team and indicative of the respect which the French have been forced to accord them over the last few years.
The possession and territory statistics at half time seemed bizarre when one considered the scoreline was 17-3 to France. Ireland had spent the majority of the half in French territory and in possession. They had pilfered several French lineouts. They had forced France to make the much higher tackle count. They had come within an unfortunate bounce of scoring the game’s first try after some brilliant work by Gordon D’Arcy. But yet France fully deserved their lead.
They deserved it because they had kept their heads at the vital moments and taken their chances when they arose. They also had the players to execute their game plan: a mean pack of forwards to take the Irish on up front and a pair of centres with the pace and power to score from close range when play approached the Irish line.
By contrast the Irish backs knocked on or passed the ball to ground with frequent abandon. Much of this was down to the deficiencies of the half backs. Before the game, Irish pundits were looking forward to Ireland cutting through the French out wide because the pace of O’Driscoll, Earls and Bowe, on the evidence of France’s defensive performance against Scotland, would exploit the gaps in the indisciplined and unco-ordinated French Blitz.
What this analysis failed to take into account was the fundamental change in the shape of the Irish team brought about by the emergence of Tomas O’Leary at scrum half at the expense of Peter Stringer. O’Leary is a big strong rugged runner whereas Stringer was a one-trick pony who had a great pass but little else in his armoury. However, the talented Irish backline of the last 10 years was ideally equipped to benefit from Stringer’s service; it suffers from O’Leary’s. Where Stringer would whip out passes like a harpoon, O’Leary lobs them like hand grenades. And even then, only after he has waited an age for the ball to emerge from scrum, ruch and maul. The static play of the Irish backs was meat and drink to the French defence. Ireland had as much penetration as a bunch of eunuchs.
When France got five metre scrums they scored; when Ireland got them, they tried to bash their way over from close in and invariably knocked or or got turned over. They were not helped by Cian Healy’s sinbinning, which was deserved but unfortunate. He might have got away with it. What was inexcusable was Flannery’s brain fart a few minutes later with the score still at 3-0 and Ireland awarded a kickable penalty. As play continued after the penalty was indicated, he lunged at a French player with a knee high kick that would have done Roy Keane proud. The penalty was reversed and a good chance to equalise turned into a French siege of the Irish line which resulted in a try. A 10-point turnaround.
In the second half, France turned the screw and from a strong forward platform, their backs ran with power and confidence. Apart from the single passage of play which produced a try for David Wallace, Ireland’s attacking efforts were laboured and ineffective. Yet they hung on well and denied the French the sort of carnival massacre that they used to inflict on Ireland in the 80s and 90s.
The Grand Slam dream is in ruins. The likelihood even of retaining the championship has been reduced because of the big points difference France racked up and it is difficult indeed to see who will stop them this year. England have to play in Stade de France and Wales will host France in Cardiff. Even given the delicious unpredictability of this championship, you would have to fancy the French to win both of those. And there is no way Italy will be able to do Ireland any favours.
The bookies had long ago established France as tournament favourites. It seems like they will be proved right .
February 15th 2010 @ 12:31am
pothale said | February 15th 2010 @ 12:31am | Report comment
Ditto. No more to be said really. Learn from it and move on to next match against England.
England’s match against Italy today will tell a lot. Eight minutes in and it’s 0-0. Italy will need to be worn down before England can get into scoring mode.
And inevitably, Wilkinson has the first kick of the match. And puts them ahead 0-3. But one minute later, Bergomasco replies and it’s 3-3.
February 17th 2010 @ 2:26pm
Viscount Crouchback said | February 17th 2010 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
Superb analysis, old bean. I wholly agree about Peter Stringer. The poor fellow has been treated abominably by the Irish selectors. Mr Kidney seems to be a rum cove. He has lots of very odd favourites – Donncha Ryan, Keith Earls, Kevin McLaughlin – and lots of seemingly non-favourites – Quinlan, Casey, and half of Ulster.
O’Leary is a dreadful player. Like Danny Care, he epitomises everything that is wrong with modern rugger selection, i.e. selection based on physical qualities rather than rugger qualities. Morgan Parra would win neither a strength test nor a speed test, but he is a superb scrum half nonetheless.
I must say, though, that the Irish are fundamentally a one-dimensional team. Their ball skills and spatial awareness are quite dreadful. Truly great teams simply do not make the amount of basic handling errors that the Irish made in Paris. The Irish players are a canny mob, but they are not consummate athletes by any stretch of the imagination. The Irish public needs to recognise this fact.
February 17th 2010 @ 9:53pm
Dublin Dave said | February 17th 2010 @ 9:53pm | Report comment
“I must say, though, that the Irish are fundamentally a one-dimensional team. Their ball skills and spatial awareness are quite dreadful.”
That’s a bit of a sweeping generalisation, to be fair. They were made to look very bad in Paris, and indeed they did make numerous handling errors, but this was untypical of this Irish team, even if it would be a fair comment on many Irish teams of the past.
I have watched D’Arcy and O’Driscoll for many years at both Leinster and Ireland and they usually show much more dexterity than that. Kearney, to be fair, is having an erratic season when it comes to catching the high ball. Whether this is a bad run of form or a fundamental weakness in his game only time will tell. It would appear that it is a moot point for the rest of this season however because he has injured some knee ligaments and I would be most surprised if he plays again in this championship.
So why did IReland fumble so much last Saturday? You might say the freezing weather in which the Irish team chose with all the intelligence of Biffa Bacon to wear short sleeved T-shirts, in sharp contrast to the more sensible wrapped up French team, might have had some effect on their manual dexterity. But it’s fairer to say, I think, that they were under tremendous pressure from the aggressive French “in-your-face” defence. This was exacerbated by the slowness of service from the set piece and breakdown.
There’s a clip on Youtube of the play leading up to Flannery’s kick on Palisson. Have a look at O’Leary’s pass from the ruck. It’s like a chip with a sand wedge, whereas a proper scrum half would have fired it straight and fast like a gunshot. They weren’t giving themselves the best possible chance with that selection.
” The Irish players are a canny mob, but they are not consummate athletes by any stretch of the imagination”
I’m not sure whether it is any part of a rugby player’s goal to be a “consummate athlete”. The best teams are a mixture of brain, brawn and skill. It’s where you allocate the various amounts of each that is important.
Looking forward to taking on England in a couple of weeks. Even with a depleted team. We still have grounds to be confident.
February 15th 2010 @ 12:46am
pothale said | February 15th 2010 @ 12:46am | Report comment
And it’s a fantastic contest according to the BBC commentators as Italy slow walk to the next lineout on the 20 minute mark. Except for a burst down the touchline, there’s not been much to quicken the heartbeat. Still 3-3.
England now in the Italian 22, is there a try coming? Well, they’ve got a penalty. Will they run it?.
Nope, it’s good ol’ Wilko again slightly to the left of the sticks and about 20 metres out. And……. he’s missed it.
Apparently, he’s playing with a Mitre ball which the commentator offers us as a possible excuse.
February 15th 2010 @ 12:51am
pothale said | February 15th 2010 @ 12:51am | Report comment
So far, Mallet’s target of not losing by more than 15 points is well within range.
Italy seem to be setting out to bore their opponents into playing the same game as them.
Ireland were out of sight at this stage of the game last week, England need to wake up. And quickly.
February 15th 2010 @ 12:56am
Wavell Wakefield said | February 15th 2010 @ 12:56am | Report comment
Commentary seemingly tinged with the scars of the France game, pothale. England do need to wake up and stop making silly errors but that Ireland were out of sight last week is somewhat irrelevant. Ireland only made 4 clean breaks against Italy, so if England produce any more is it a good day at the office?
February 15th 2010 @ 6:41am
pothale said | February 15th 2010 @ 6:41am | Report comment
Probably WW.
Frustrations abound – on both sides of the Irish sea.
February 15th 2010 @ 8:14pm
Wavell Wakefield said | February 15th 2010 @ 8:14pm | Report comment
You’re not wrong there, pothale, and those frustrations are likely to be doubled in two weeks for one of us. But for whom will the bell toll? Oh, the anxiety!
February 15th 2010 @ 1:07am
pothale said | February 15th 2010 @ 1:07am | Report comment
And England finally force a a scrum near the Italian line. The shove comes on, but Italy turn it round and turnover. And they win a penalty.
And I thought that Ireland had the worst scrum in the 6 Nations….
And back up the other end of the pitch, and it’s Italy now playing all the rugby. They win a lineout and the ball practically whizzes out the back line. They go ground, and England concede a penalty in front of the posts.
Bergomasco has more nerves than Wilko apparently – he gets it. Italy 6-3 with 5 minutes to go to half-time.
Time for a hard England reply and a try before the break. England guily of being offisde, but ref hasn’t picked it up yet.
The Italian backline doesn’t move the ball forward much, and it breaks down with an English put-in. Play stops with an injury to Simon Shaw.
England attempt to pick and go, and get turned over by Castro who brilliantly wins the ball back. Italy not committing many men to the rucks, and have plenty in defence.
Moody now down injured, but he’s up again.
Italy win another lineout cleanly, and they box-kick. England burst up front with Flutey breaking into the 22. Italy concede a penalty. They keep scrapping. And ref blows his whistle. Presumably, England will take the kick to even things up for the halftime break.
And he does. And it’s over, just. And the players head for the tunnel at 6-6.
Roll on the second half. I’m off to a hockey match.
February 15th 2010 @ 2:17am
Pothale said | February 15th 2010 @ 2:17am | Report comment
12-17 final score. Scotland will be licking their lips after that one.
It’s 2-1 in the hockey semi-final so far. And a bit more exciting…
February 15th 2010 @ 5:18am
Ian Noble said | February 15th 2010 @ 5:18am | Report comment
Mallet in his post match interview said Italy had worked very hard on their defence duing the last week. In thw future he was looking forward to working on their attack. Give them some credit they had a game plan and executed it pretty well, England were not good enough to break them down.