JOE SCHMIDT SAYS Ireland have still not received clarity on the final scrum penalty Wayne Barnes gave against them in last Saturday’s Six Nations defeat to Wales in the Millennium Stadium.
Ireland were penalised in what was essentially the final action of the game, despite appearing to have legally turned the scrum 90 degrees thanks to a huge drive from replacements Cian Healy and Iain Henderson on the loosehead side of their scrum.
While Schmidt insists Ireland are all about “about going forward now,” with this weekend’s final round visit to Murrayfield looming large, the Kiwi head coach did appear to underline the Irish set-up’s unhappiness with Barnes.
“Obviously Wayne was on the touch against Italy and made a scrum call in that game [too],” said Schmidt when asked about Barnes at Carton House this afternoon. ”He was refereeing in the French game and he’ll referee us again.
We’ve seen a fair bit of Wayne during the championship and I think it’s important that we keep trying to work with the referees so they understand what we’re trying to achieve and at the same time we try to work on what they’re doing as well.
“The only conversation I’ve had with referees is trying to make sure we keep working together to try to get a really good consistency and understanding about those facets.”
Ireland have made a change at loosehead prop this weekend, with Healy replacing Jack McGrath in the number one shirt, but Schmidt underlined that he has no concerns over how referees are interpreting McGrath’s scrummaging.
Jerome Garces is the man in the middle for Saturday’s clash with the Scots at Murrayfield, when Schmidt will be hoping for more reward at scrum time.
“We don’t believe that there are,” said Schmidt when asked if there were misconceptions around Ireland’s scrummaging. “We believe that Jack is very correct in the scrum; he tends to keep his hip in, tends not to take the angle.
It’s difficult for any loosehead if they’re dominating that side of the scrum, it’s inevitably going to come up.
“There’s pressure on two shoulders on the tighthead, only one on the loosehead so there’s a natural tendency that the axis of the scrum will turn up on the loosehead side.
“If you’re dominating on that side it’s very difficult. We just challenge ourselves to keep the axis balanced and try to power through both sides, but it’s difficult when the opposition are moving around in front of you.”
The scrum battle will be followed more closely than ever in Edinburgh this weekend.
Good piece and great to see him doing so well, Munster are certainly in the upper tier of teams in Europe and a real handful at home but the crunch needed against the power teams in a semi or final they are a bit away. This new setup will take time and will have its down days but with the right acquisitions and leadership they could be there in a couple of years.
@mrbryanrussell: What Munster have been missing from the past 8 years is what it is needed to win a Champions cup/ Heinekin Cup – a world class 7 and world class 10. Unfortunately Munster have have just a series of bad luck in this department – constant injuries to TOD, Bleyendaal and now Cloete and Carbery have knocked their season and when you’re relying on 2nd and 3rd choice players in these positions it is highly unlikely you will make it all the way to the final in May.
There’s always a reaction when Munster don’t do well, especially from certain quarters within and outside rugby who like to twist the knife when they get the opportunity.
However Munster are still not far off making a breakthrough but there are a few things needed for that to happen in my opinion.
The new coaching staff and shift in playing style needs to bed in.
We desperately need some players of the right quality to come through the academy. When I say “the right quality” I don’t mean simply international quality but players made out of the same stuff as Clohessy, Galway, Foley, Quinlan, Stringer, ROG etc.
Players who are 100% Munster and would see pulling on the red jersey (of Munster!!) as the greatest honour imaginable.
It might be a big ask now that we’re so removed from the amateur era but a couple of players like that would be gold dust.
We need to shift away from the notion that the HC is the only thing that matters. Too many times in recent years we’ve shot ourselves in the foot by putting ourselves in a poor position in the Pro14 by going after a European Cup we were never likely to win.
Build towards making ourselves as good as anyone in the league, win it and evolve from there.
We need to ensure that any players that are brought in from outside, either IQ or not, are of the required quality and willing to give 100% to Munster.
And probably above all else we need a bit of luck, especially with injuries.