RUGBY ANALYST:To get to a game that will challenge the Southern Hemisphere sides, Ireland must embrace adventure

I'LL START as I finished last Monday's article by asking: was it a good championship for Ireland? In answering, I'm reminded of the "gentle" chit chat between Jules Winnfield (Samuel L Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) in Pulp Fiction: "If my answers frighten you, Vincent, then you should cease asking scary questions."

The scary question remains for Ireland: are they moving towards a game that can challenge the big southern guns? If so, this year’s Six Nations was very much a success. If not, with no silverware the championship was a failure.

By winning the Grand Slam in 2009 they proved that tight games against quality opposition can be won. They also answered the consistency question. They did this by playing an extremely pressurised game with lots of kicking and rucking. Ronan O’Gara controlled field position and, crucially, the match tempo, regardless of the opposition, through tactical kicking. And when the occasion arose they scored tries from lineouts and from close fringe plays, such as Brian O’Driscoll’s brilliant effort against England. Their defence during all this withstood everything.

But there were limitations. The backrow, for one, played a ball-carrying role with little continuity. The back three provided precious few counter-attacks. And in winning the elusive prize, coach Declan Kidney used only 19 starting players. Excluding the Scottish game, which had four changes, Ireland used just 16 starting players throughout the championship of 2009.

My point is that, for Ireland to win the Grand Slam, years of hard-fought matches by the provinces and Ireland building a culture of fewer than 20 men playing injury-free, precise, high-pressure rugby was required.

This, of course, is no bad thing, as winning is an extraordinary gift this group has given us. But we know they want more. Along the way they have to ask big, scary questions of themselves and be prepared for the frightening answers that may come with them.

The main question Ireland asked of themselves last Saturday and against France was one of style. Could they play a high-octane, high-possession running game using their full array of players and win? Due to the loss of the Triple Crown, it is easy to conclude the answer is no.

But that is far too simplistic, as tries by Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls testify. To get to a game that will challenge the Southern Hemisphere, they must embrace adventure.

With it will come errors, and embarrassing ones at that. The Irish dropped six simple balls in the opening quarter. This will happen, and should not be a cause to return to the kicking game. So it is balance that is required. Ireland simply went from game plan A to Z without going through B, C . . .

The French, conversely, have all their plans wrapped up into one ever-evolving, organic game. When they so choose, it’s up the jumper, but seconds later Mathieu Bastareaud has it. Then there’s a Morgan Parra kick followed by a Clement Poitrenaud counter-attack.

Right now we play one way or the other.

The French, in winning the Grand Slam, lost 23 per cent of their lineouts; Ireland lost only 19 per cent yet won nothing.

In embracing the change, Bowe and Earls have been very active, which is a massive plus. When Rob Kearney bounces back, which he will, this back three will have youth and growing experience on their side to really attack the World Cup.

But as Jamie Roberts, Bastareaud and Graeme Morrison proved, Ireland need to augment Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll with bulk.

The next obvious question is based on the scrum. Not the old tighthead situation, but the platform. Obviously more options in personnel are needed.

In the meantime, Ireland have created precious few opportunities from this attacking platform, primarily due to the quality of ball arriving to Heaslip.

But there’s something worse. Ireland have had an excellent return from their 18 scrums, winning 100 per cent. Yet the opposition have notched up 29 scrums, losing two. But that only tells part of the story. Contrast this with the Irish lineout, which has provided five-pointers at will. Regardless of the quality, the question remains: why have Ireland earned only 35 per cent of the total scrums on offer?

Worse still, the Six Nations produced 151 scrums. Ireland had the fewest, with 18, or 12 per cent. Is there something about our style that leads to scrums against, particularly against the top opposition?

The concession of the put-in killed Ireland. Against France, Ireland earned four scrums but the French had 10. Their opening two tries (14 points) came directly from the scrum. So we must cut down the number of opposition scrums.

Another question is the bench. Not so long ago the bench was seen as a serious demotion by the players. In other words, you weren’t good enough to start and felt a second-class citizen. To some degree the players would be justified in believing this today. Tony Buckley arrived with 60 seconds to go against Scotland, and Seán Cronin, Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings and Eoin Reddan were not used.

Cullen, with his bird’s eye view, leadership and understanding of the lineout, could have immediately improved Rory Best’s throws.

Ireland need to build a substitution culture that allows the bench to effect change and within which the starting player does not see being substituted as a negative.

In summary, the Six Nations has been a valuable success in that it exposed Earls, Bowe, Tomás O’Leary (returning from horrible injury), Jonny Sexton, Cian Healy, Stephen Ferris and, crucially, the returning Leo Cullen and rejuvenated O’Gara to the top-class arena.

Kidney asked the question of style and discovered that we require a much more honed balance between kicking and running to beat Scotland and France. As we simply can’t compete with the French resources we may never be able to achieve their style.

But with the Under-20 Championship in the bag, Allen Clarke, Michael Kearney, assistant coaches Colin McEntee and Nigel Carolan and captain Rhys Ruddock deserve enormous praise for not just producing silverware but a quality of performance; so the seniors shouldn’t stop trying.

liamtoland@yahoo.com