Sean Farrell reports from the Aviva Stadium
THE ACCEPTED WISDOM says that you must go in search of tries, and lots of them, if you want to beat New Zealand.
That theory was underlined and put into bold type by Ireland’s high-scoring history-making win in Chicago.
However, Saturday night on Lansdowne Road was a true tight, tense Test match and Ireland’s ferocious defensive effort ended a 23-year try-scoring streak for New Zealand against northern hemisphere nations.
Just as the combined team of the Lions managed last year, Ireland denied the All Blacks the lifeblood of tries, or the space to create them in an enthralling 16-9 win.
“You could ask Andy Farrell, he’s delighted,” said Joe Schmidt as he happily sat through media questions post-match.
Farrell, of course, is the common factor in the Lions’ feat and Ireland’s two wins over their 113-year history of facing New Zealand.
“You get up, you form a line and you get off it to make tackles. it’s not rocket science,” Schmidt says of the defensive system after Ireland fought their way through 156 successful tackles. But he hailed the approach of Farrell and the diligence of players investing in the system.
OptaJonny / Twitter
OptaJonny / Twitter / Twitter
“I think (the key is) everyone understanding their role, it’s everyone committing to their role and trusting that other people will do their role, so you don’t get chasing somebody else.
There were times we did get severed. And the great thing about Faz is that he will look at those and he’ll say here’s a couple of solutions, what do you think?
“He’s doing a super job, great job and I’ve really enjoyed working with him.”
With that said, this wouldn’t be a Schmidt team if there was no room for improvement to be found. And the Kiwi admits Ireland rode their luck and needed to scramble to grab a rare northern hemisphere clean sheet against the back-to-back world champions.
“It’s so seldom that the All Blacks don’t score a try, but there were three potential tries we managed to scramble on.
“On a given day, they might get a couple of those and it’s all different. They’re the narrow margins.”
Margins shaded green.
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He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)