JOE SCHMIDT HAS hailed the character of his Ireland players after they squeezed out a 27-24 win against the Wallabies in Dublin to finish November with three wins out of four games.
Ireland lost Sean O’Brien to injury before the game had even started, with Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Jared Payne all forced off before the second half of this evening’s contest.
The backline injuries meant replacement scrum-half Kieran Marmion played the entire second 40 minutes on the right wing, while Joey Carbery won his third cap at fullback and Keith Earls was shifted to outside centre.
The reshuffle saw the Wallabies bring renewed attacking threat in the second half to edge 24-20 in front, having trailed 17-0 at one point in the first half, but Ireland manufactured a brilliant try for Earls to seal their victory.
It certainly, for me, would be one of the proudest days that I’ve been on the periphery of the team that have shown immense character,” said Schmidt post-match.
“Kieran Marmion on the wing… His impact tackle on David Pocock to dislodge the ball forward was phenomenal.
“I think Simon Zebo said it was like the crèche out here. He was the old guy looking after the kids running around. I think it’s probably reflective of how much control he has as a dad, because the kids were all over the place!
“I thought Joey Carbery did a great job. Garry Ringrose again stepped up. And it wasn’t perfect but you probably can’t expect perfection when those young guys step up or attempt to.
“I think we managed to get the edge because the boys up front did a great job. I thought the front row, obviously Besty playing his 100th cap, it’s incredibly special for him but I think it was probably made more special by the occasion.
“Tadhg Furlong continues to grow into the [tighthead] position. Jack McGrath was again really strong. I thought the front row that came off the bench were good again. Pete O’Mahony, it was great to see him out there.
“You lose a player short of the game, like Sean O’Brien and his replacement gets man of the match. It’s exactly what you’re looking for in the squad. Someone who can step up and Josh van der Flier continues to do it.”
Schmidt confirmed that O’Brien had a tight hip flexor and said it was not a serious issue. Indeed, the Ireland coach expects O’Brien to make a return to playing for Leinster next week or the week after.
Andrew Trimble was forced off with an ankle injury that needs to be assessed fully by the Ireland medical team.
Rob Kearney appeared to sustain another head injury a week after doing the same against the All Blacks, but Schmidt said his removal after 11 minutes was precautionary.
“I don’t actually have that information, I haven’t had a chance. Rob is absolutely fine, so I don’t know what happened there. I think he might have been taken off as a precaution, because he obviously had suffered a concussion last week.
“While he had passed all the steps along the way, they just didn’t want to take a chance now. He’s absolutely fine at the moment and I haven’t really had a chance to chat to the medical team.
“The one thing that they know is we’ll defer to the least risky option, particularly around head injury. I’ve no problem with Rob coming off, and we had a ready-made replacement with Simon having played a lot at fullback for us.
He just didn’t realise that he was going to be required to shift to the wing then, and Joey to fullback, and Kieran to the wing.”
As for Payne, Schmidt said the outside centre sustained a rib injury, having struggled with a dead leg in the build-up to the game.
“He was actually ok, but we had a number of pretty sore guys from the week before,” said Schmidt. “He got hit by Sam Whitelock on the front of his leg at one stage, he had a dead leg, he had a pretty sore all-round body.
“As a result, he was middling coming into the game, but he’s an important voice for us, so he worked his way through the first half. He got a decent whack in the ribs at one stage, which is a totally new injury, but it didn’t really help his sense of wellbeing.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
I was thinking the same yesterday. Can you imagine a player like Aidan O’Shea was left on the bench for a whole game. There would be a mutiny the day after their championship campaign ended.
@Ned Flanders: cheap shot. O’Shea showed he is the ultimate team player by switching to a totally new position over the last 2 games to help the team get over the line. I guess haters are always gonna hate though
@Pepper Brooks: ultimate team player? That particular tactic nearly blew up in mayos face. In the replay he was soloing around his 21 half way through second half and trying 40 yard outside of boot passes that ran out over the line. If kerry hadnt panicked and had taken points earlier rather than going for goals when 7 down it could have been a very different
@Pepper Brooks: O’Shea wouldn’t make the Dublin bench.
Juniors maybe
@johnnyA the game is also about opinions,for you it’s bitter and twisted against Dublin,while us Dublin fan’s are enjoying every minute of this great Team,so happy days for us Ha Ha ha
@alan dodrill: *fans
It’s a great achievement to show humility when you’re strolling through the championship. Fair play to the Dublin/AIG players for being such good winners. If Gavin exerts such control he must endorse or at least turn a blind eye to the playacting. Cooper at it again yesterday. McCarthy and McCaffrey at it the last day – good footballers but while their fans have brought the worst aspects of UK terrace culture to Gaelic Games the players have brought Neymar type playacting into our national sport. Great lads all the same.
@Johnny A: Why not just enjoy the football instead of always having a bitch , life is too short
@Tony Talbot: the football championship used to mean something. Now it’s completely hollow. Very few meaningful contests – certainly none when Dublin/AIG are involved. Instead of mitigating their natural advantages – population, money, home advantage – the GAA have bolstered these and set them in stone. Teams like Tyrone and Monaghan now come up to Croker with ridiculous defensive systems just to keep the score down. The GAA have to look at the population and reconsider a split – for example Dublin North/AIG & Dublin South/HSBC. There should be an equalisation process with the corporate loot – they should be allowed keep 20-30% with the rest being redistributed. And they should be kept out of Croker a lot more – why not make them play an away semi final for example. I’ll enjoy it then.
@Johnny A: have to hand it to you mate you have bitterness to a new level. Short memories like most non dubs. This golden era has more to do wirh jim gavin than anything else.Maybe he should only be allowed manage smaller counties?
@Johnny A: explain 1995 – 2011??
If you split Dublin now you’d risk an all Dublin All Ireland final and that would be worse! Did you see the bench. Dublin A Vs Dublin B would be some game!
Other counties need to stop making excuses… Kerry has the same population as Wicklow as is the most successful football county by far
Also, let’s split Kilkenny into North & South and actually while we’re at what about the most successful football county, Kerry…well over due a split!!
@Brendan Farrell: if you think a 2 way split isn’t enough and they’d still be too strong then a 4 way split would be ideal. Could be 4 Dublin zones – AIG1, AIG2, AIG3, AIG4. Have their own provincial championship. The metropolitan cup or something like that.
@paddy: I wouldn’t call it bitterness – more like constructive hate.