JOE SCHMIDT SAYS Ireland have received confirmation from World Rugby that three of the offside penalties awarded against his team in last weekend’s shock defeat to Japan were incorrect decisions.
Schmidt criticised referee Angus Gardner two days before Ireland’s clash with the Japanese and then hinted at his frustrations with the Australian post-match too.
Having submitted his usual deeply-detailed referee review to World Rugby in the aftermath of the game, Schmidt has received the nod that some of the nine penalties Gardner awarded against his team were wrong.
“We did put ourselves on the back foot and partly went onto the back foot,” said Schmidt today when asked what he has learned from the Japan defeat.
“We were penalised for offside four times and we’ve now got the feedback that three of those were incorrect calls. People were asking us about our discipline.
“It’s pretty hard to keep getting off the line and onto the front foot when you are getting those calls. Two of them were from an AR [assistant referee, Jerome Garces] who is going to be refereeing us on Thursday, so we know we’re going to have to be on our best behaviour.
“One thing I would say about this team is that, generally speaking, it’s unusual for us to have a higher penalty count than our opponents, so it’s frustrating.
“I thought Wayne [Barnes] did a super job [in Ireland's first game against Scotland].
“I know that, to a degree, Scotland were happy with how Wayne went in the first game as well. That’s our fault if we were on the wrong side of the penalty count there but I do think we’ve got to try to look after that as best we can.
“We’ve got to make sure that we don’t become passive in a game to an opposition that are playing in front of their home crowd. You’d have to be really impressed with the way that Japan got themselves back into the game.”
French referee Jerome Garces, having called in two of those incorrect offside calls to Gardner last weekend, will now be the man in the middle as Ireland look to bounce back against Russia in Kobe on Thursday.
Schmidt has made 11 personnel changes and two further positional changes, with Johnny Sexton named captain for the first time.
Jordi Murphy starts at number eight having only linked up with the squad yesterday as an injury replacement for Jack Conan, but Schmidt feels the Ulster back row is ready.
“He trained unbelievably well today,” said the Ireland boss. “He is straight off the flight, he got in late Sunday, so he’s at least had a couple of nights. He was feeling good yesterday.
“One of the things is that it is a 7.15pm game so that’s around midday in Irish terms [11.15am], so he doesn’t have to recalibrate himself too much to get out and play the game, hopefully.
“We’ll give him the weekend then after that. So we are just asking for him to do the best he can for us. The one thing with Jordi is that you seldom get anything other than that. He’s a really good performer for us and we’d have a lot of confidence about him being able to slot straight in.”
Ireland trained against the Kobe Steelers today, with Schmidt very pleased with the session against the Top League champions, who are coached by Kiwis Wayne Smith and Dave Dillon.
“They were brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” said Schmidt. “We regularly train against the Ireland U20s and it was a relatively young Kobe side. They didn’t have some of their big overseas stars there like Dan Carter, but the energy they brought, and not only that but they counter-rucked us a couple of times and gave us a good old bashing.
“It just reminds us that we’ve got to be big enough to look after our own ball. Even if the entry is coming in the side, for us to get our wide base and drop our height and get our hips down to make sure that we’re in a really strong position, it was an ideal hit-out for us.
“Sometimes energy is contagious in training like that and they brought plenty with them.
“Obviously, Wayne Smith is part of their coaching line-up but so is Dave Dillon, who spent a bit of time in St Michael’s [in Dublin].
“He would know Luke McGrath and James Ryan pretty well from his time working at St Michael’s so it was a nice Irish connection for us and a really good session with an energised group.”
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.