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A win is a win is a win. The Irish management and the players will be
wheeled out to the media this week to talk up Scotland and what an
achievement it was to win over there on Sunday. We also got our betting blog
off to a great start on here at Betpack with 3 out of 3 selections winning.
Let's hope we can continue that form over the next few weeks. While I have
huge admiration for this Irish teams work rate and determination we just
can't ignore some of the evidence on show. In my opinion Scotland have gone
backwards over the last few months. I had fancied them going into the
tournament on the back of a decent November series but they have failed to
score a try in Edinburgh since 2009 and against us their attack was as blunt
as a knife in a prison canteen. Their defence has become porous and they
have a habit of conceding tries in the first ten minutes. In fact Jaime
Heaslips try in the 6th minute was the 7th match from their last 9 that they
have conceded a try within 10 minutes. That's a recipe for disaster at this
level.
Eoin Reddan got a well deserved try from a Jamie Heaslip pick and go off a 5
metre scrum not long after and if the Scottish back row who have been
nicknamed the "Killer Bees" keep defending like this they will be christened
something less complimentary. Both our first 2 tries from set pieces near
the Scottish line. How we got there was through the tried and tested right
boot of Ronan O'Gara. Rog had a brilliant game. He was awarded Man of the
Match and scored Ireland 3rd try which came about after a really patient
build up and O'Gara handed off the Scottish Hooker Ross Ford to barge his
way over the line. O Gara was quoted afterwards about his feelings about
being dropped and regaining his place and he quipped "its not what you have
done, its what you are going to do that matters". He certainly played with
the air of a man who is determined to get as much as possible from what has
been a superb career already. It was noticeable how relaxed he was during
the match, he played with a smile on his face and it worked.
The big debate about the merits of selecting O'Gara over Sexton being would
Ireland revert to the kick for territory style that we have played
traditionally. With Sexton at Out half for the France and Italy game we
played a fast paced game with the ball being passed immediately to the
outside backs. Declan Kidney when asked last week whether we would persevere
with the "ball in hand" tactic under O'Gara said "if we clam up and Crawl
under a rock we'll actually go backwards. Risk nothing win nothing". On the
evidence of Sunday we did revert to type and it will be interesting to find
out if that was agreed beforehand. It seems that O'Gara using all his
experience and leadership qualities decided that he knew how to ensure we
won the match and took control. Having players who will take ownership on
the field is what all coaches strive for as they are the ones who will make
the team successful in high pressure games.
If the Management decided that we should abandon the game plan then I feel
that we have a problem. The reason that we changed to a more attacking brand
of rugby is that the laws now suit that better. Its far harder to force
turnovers in the modern game and hence if you kick you need to be prepared
to defend for long periods. To play a kicking game exclusively you need a
pack that can dominate all areas of the set piece and a back line that can
out muscle its opponents. We don't have those qualities. Our team rely on
our foot balling ability mostly derives from the players GAA background and
we need to out think and out worn our opponents to win. We will get away
with the kicking game against the Welsh, Scots and Italians, but against
France and England and the 3 Southern Hemisphere teams we will struggle.
There was always going to be a bedding in period while the players adapted
to the tactic and while I feel we may have got the balance wrong in the
first two matches I feel that we kicked too much against Scotland.
The reason that we need to kick so much at the moment is that we are a
better team without the ball. This is because we have a serious problem with
our discipline. The coaches were at pains last week to point out that we
don't have a problem and that we are just on a bad run with referees, but
Sunday was the 13th game in a row that we gave away more than 10 penalties
and our average over that period is 12.4 per match. The penalty count from
the Scottish game was 13 penalties and 1 free kick conceded to 4 penalties
won. The referee Nigel Owens is one of the worlds best and is very
favourable to Irish teams usually. He refereed the quarters, semi and final
in both Leinster and Munster's recent Heineken Cup wins. If he is penalising
us that much we have a problem. I feel that the only way to sort this is to
drop the serial offenders as you can be sure that it has been addressed at
team meetings but the players are playing lip service to it.
The positives from the game were the performances of O'Brien, Reddan and O
Gara. The fact that Tommy Bowe got 80 minutes international rugby under his
belt again and the fact that all the bench got reasonable game time apart
from Paddy Wallace. For Declan Kidney, who he plays at Outhalf and the
tactics employed against Wales will be very interesting.
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