‘RECOMMENDATION FOR the Harrow Governors: heavy machine guns for fullbacks.” Once again General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett is on to something, and in a sense that’s exactly what fullback Lee Byrne required to defend his line.
However, after Byrne received yet another dumb Welsh yellow card he could have turned the gun on himself. The Welsh struggled throughout the pitch in many aspects of their game, most notably their lineout and, when it mattered most, their scrum. But it is in the top six inches they fight their toughest battle. Turnovers and yellow cards have cost them hugely this Championship.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget how hard Six Nations matches are to win and Saturday was no different. The pre-match build-up had a Jackie Healy-Rae type character on the large screen in Croke Park where he managed the wonderful oxymoron, “come on Ireland – backs to the wall, going forward”. Ireland rarely had their backs to the wall, but at times Ireland were devastating going forward. With the All Blacks around the corner, how can Ireland produce more go-forward ball?
One way will be from the ever evolving Tommy Bowe. In the opening quarter Bowe popped up out of position four times, all of which led to major advantages for Ireland. His first carry broke Jamie Roberts’ tackle, but his role in Keith Earls’ second try was fantastic. It was a carbon copy of his try in Twickenham but this time he was a decoy.
Tomás O’Leary carried brilliantly. Likewise Earls, through carrying or deft punts. Jonny Sexton was another to add value. Over the coming months his team-mates will maximise his comfort on the gain line.
Bowe appears to be tuned into it as he showed from yet another turnover Welsh lineout on 21 minutes. Sexton took the ball flat and Bowe sprinted from the blindside to cover 30 metres. A penalty resulted, 6-3 Ireland.
Again the Irish backrow were very industrious and I can’t wait for their clash with the equally excellent Scottish backrow next weekend.
Earls’ first try came from a quick O’Leary tap penalty, but it was when Leigh Halfpenny countered from his half that Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip tackled him and David Wallace stole the ball. The subsequent box-kick led to the penalty, but the backrow won the ball.
To be fair to Wales, they have been decimated with injuries in key leadership and ball-carrying positions, hence my confidence in the win. As a result they never managed to maximise the penalty count.
Quite how referee Craig Joubert could ping Ireland so often at the breakdown without binning someone is a mystery.
That said, Ireland out-tackled Wales by double scores for a reason. Ireland continue to operate with minor possession. With the Southern Hemisphere challenges ahead, this is not good.
Paul O’Connell and his partner Donncha O’Callaghan managed 22 tackles, their captain O’Driscoll contributed 12 – of which 12 were monsters. But the monster Ferris produced 17, and whenever Shane Williams was bouncing around it was Ferris who felled him.
Although Hook squeezed through the odd weak shoulder the Irish defence stood firm. Jamie Roberts provided the only real go-forward and did serious damage on the inside channel, but the Welsh backrow and, in particular, English Premiership “star” and number eight Gareth Delve, weren’t able to add value to the breaks.
Shane Williams ducked and dived, knocking on the Irish defensive door, but the Irish wouldn’t let him in.
With a former All Black hooker as their coach it continues to be a wonder why his department of speciality is so bereft. Clearly injuries have not helped.
Looking at Luke Charteris’ performance is telling. At 6ft 9in he should be towering in the lineout. Huge criticism has been levelled on both Welsh hookers Matthew Rees and Huw Bennett, but it is the speed over the ground by Charteris and others that kills the lineout.
Charteris’ role in rugby life is to win the lineout ball. To do this he needs to get into the air ahead of his opposite man. Unfortunately he takes languid steps before throwing his body into the air. The first Welsh lineout ignored Charteris at the tail and blindside target Jonathan Thomas slowly moved forward into the air. The throw was perfect but the speed of O’Connell and O’Callaghan allowed them both to contest. O’Connell won it. Charteris won the second and was ignored again on the third, which they lost.
To contrast Charteris, O’Connell’s role in O’Leary’s try and Earls’ second was brilliant. For O’Leary’s, he first lifted O’Callaghan and then offloaded to O’Leary from the subsequent maul.
For the second, O’Callaghan was stacked at the tail and the ball arrived perfectly from Rory Best.
Saturday was another well-worked win that continues the hunt for trophies for this extraordinary team. The match revolved around the yellow card, the lineout and the key Welsh tactical decisions of electing for a scrum off one penalty and kicking to the corner from another. On both occasions they got nothing.
A good win but more possession and go-forward ball next week please.
PS: The interpretation of the breakdown is worth an article in itself. With around 200 breakdowns per match it is ludicrous to change such a monumental part of the game mid season. But more of that anon.
