WHEN JOE SCHMIDT got the job most people assumed Ireland would at some point play magnificent running rugby with original backline moves, counter attacks, multiple phases and lots of offloads. The reasoning was obvious – when he was on board with Clermont and Leinster both were loyal to the beautiful game, and wildly successful with it.
His sides were seen as a force for good because they proved you could win while also entertaining. It’s now becoming clear that Ireland may not follow that blueprint, and may never need to.
On Monday, after a couple of days of reflection, Johnny Sexton said that Schmidt would be the first to admit that what worked for the New Zealander at club level may not necessarily suffice in international rugby.
When Schmidt was weighing up his options before the last November series he would have factored in various things such as personnel available, lack of time with players, injuries, panel depth, the kind of athletes other teams had available, opposition coaching philosophies and where scores come from in the big World Cup and Six Nations games.
The reality is that even if Sean O’Brien, Cian Healy, Iain Henderson and Andrew Trimble, to name some of the more explosive absentees, were all to become available at once, Ireland would still have less powerful ball carriers than New Zealand, South Africa, France and possibly England and Wales too.
What they do have, though, are lots of great decision makers, which is probably even more important. They also have a lot of players in the backs who can kick well. If you look at the backline chosen for the South Africa game Ireland had three fullbacks (Kearney, Henshaw, Payne) all who have a varied kicking game, Murray and Sexton (arguably the two best kicking halves in the world), Zebo (who is brilliant at clearance kicks, chips and grubbers) and Tommy Bowe, who doesn’t kick that often but is good when he needs to be.
Also, the reality is Ireland did try to run the ball at times, but in the two big November games the only ones to properly break a tackle were Jamie Heaslip and Peter O’Mahony. Rob Kearney made ground going against the grain, Sexton made a break leading up to Bowe’s try against South Africa, and Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne partially broke the gain line the odd time but it was only occasional and nothing a coach could rely on and build a gameplan off.
Even Paul O’Connell, Ireland’s man of the match against Australia, who made a huge number of brilliantly timed tackles, didn’t have an exceptional moment in attack, carrying eight times last Saturday, for a cumulative gain of seven yards.
Maybe the most interesting and most encouraging side effect of the way Ireland currently play is they resemble a team fighting for its life in a World Cup quarter or semi-final. The squad are, deliberately or inadvertently, preparing for the tighter, more nerve-racking games when offloads evaporate and smarter sides with better defences win out.
This ‘big game’ factor applies on an individual basis as well as a collective one. Andrew Trimble had the greatest season of his life last year, and he gives Schmidt a fair bit of the credit for that.
The Ulster player believes that the advice his coach provides is actually even more beneficial in big games than it is in smaller ones. In international matches, Trimble says, you don’t get as many chances to make an impact so your job is to be involved in every aspect of the game; to hit rucks, to chase garryowens, to run decoys, and above all, to never make a defensive error. When all 23 players follow that line of thinking, you end up with a very consistent team.
The side issue of entertainment doesn’t really apply to Ireland at the moment. They still score tries and lots of points, they still launch attacks, they defend like wild dogs and the crowd in the Aviva have been more engaged over the last 12 months than at any stage since the stadium reopened.
Success provides its own cheer, and with nine wins from 10, the last year has been one big party.
I don’t even find it ugly. Technical and tactical brilliance is beautiful. The strike plays are beautiful.
Nothing gave me as much pleasure as how we suffocated Wales in the 6 nations this year. Playing incredibly low risk, but superbly executed rugby.
All that said I thought we did try to bring it wide a fair bit against oz.
Ain’t nothing more beautiful than winning
If that’s how Ireland wins games, then so be it. Joe is proving to be a tactical maestro, and opposing teams seem unable to deal with it. Ireland looked a bit sloppy when playing a more open game on Saturday. Once they went back to what they knew, they looked unbreakable. Look how shattered the players were at the close and still held out for victory. Sure, it ain’t pretty. But I’ll take an ugly win for Ireland any day. Besides, I’m sure there are plays the team have in the bag that we haven’t seen yet.
I’m not convinced that Ireland’s game plan is limited. If the scrum performs better (more clean possession), and the lineout operates nearer 100% (more planned 1st phase attacks developing), then opposition defences will work harder. This will lead to players tiring and Irish strike runners like O Brien, Healy, Bowe, Kearney, Sexton, Madigan, Trimble etc, finding half gaps. It’s then and only then that the magic happens. Schmidt must be delighted along with the players that the defence is so watertight. I believe the tries will come, and not in the style of the Aussies- that won’t win a world cup. Look at the all blacks. Fundamentals right, pressurise, patience, never falter from game plan. A good Six Nations with a nudge down that road of development will put us in great form for the summer. Great times.
When England won the World Cup they did so with a collective effort of taking what ever points were on offer and by what ever means. They didn’t always play flamboyant rugby. JS whether pre planned or not is instilling in Ireland the ability to play 80 mins and win games whether by 15 points or 1.
I thought Ireland played great, tactically excellent against SA. Although went wide in the first half against Aus they switched tactics in the second half to play a very tight game and won. Both matches a beautiful example of how to play successful rugby. But then beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
After the England loss last year Joe probably realised that the top tier teams implemented exceptionally fast line speeds making running rugby from the ruck and set pieces difficult. To beat top tier teams Ireland needed an accurate kicking game to expose space and turn defenses. The accuracy of Irelands kicking game has improved considerably from the NZ game. However the high balls are still an issue of concern because when too long or uncontested it is a turnover.Now that there are now more kicking options along the back line running rugby can be played off the back of that and increased use of the grubber and the “barrett” chip will open up defences.Top tier defences are so congested that if a kick can create a line break then running rugby is on. However isolated line breaks from running rugby are going to ground and causing turnovers when a kick into space could create secondary pressure on the opposition.That being said it will be interesting to see how further along Cheikas introduction of the Rugby League hit and spin off load is at the World Cup.
Healy and sean o brien wud walk onto most teams and to say eng hav better ball carriers??? Maybe water carriers u meant!!
South Africa won a World Cup playing basic rugby it wasn’t pretty bud it was sure effective they played to their strengths which was crash and bash rugby we play to ours and the sky’s the limit trying my best to keep my thoughts off a World Cup win I still remember what happened last time.
Until the point when sh teams and specifically the aru realise that they need to bully the irb to go for more elv trials to speed up the game to make it more favourable for league type approach.
So I guess we can look forward to uncontested scrums. Nh teams wear blindfolds, count to 3o and say ‘coming ready or not” questioning by nh team of ref means getting sent to naughty corner and no half time orange slice etc etc