Putting the lessons into practice

INTERVIEW DAVID WALLACE:PAST THE mid-way point and with a weekend's respite before the final two rounds is a good time to take stock. Viewed strictly on the evidence so far, you could make a strong case for citing next Saturday's Wales-Ireland game as a play-off for third place, and with Wales better placed.

Each have beaten the two wooden spoon contenders on the road – and Wales with a little more room to spare – while each has lost at home to the supposed superpowers, though the Irish conquerors, France, have looked less super to date.

“Yeah, they’re improving unfortunately, aren’t they?” said Declan Kidney of Wales this week, almost wearily rubbing a hand over his right eye. “Against England, that’s a difficult match to start with all the time, and it didn’t quite work out for them. But I think they’ve come on well. They started really strongly against Scotland, built up a lead, and managed to hold Scotland at bay then. Certainly their defence has got even stronger; that’s quite an aggressive defence at the moment and that’s a big plus for them.

“Against Italy it wasn’t dissimilar to us, which I suppose, if you like, is a credit to Italy. They had a few try-scoring opportunities but Italy scrambled quite well and held them out.

“Cardiff is a great place to go and I’m sure after the last two years,” he added, in reference to what must have been particularly galling defeats for Wales, “they’ll be trying to do a job on us. No different to us. We’ll be trying to go about our business in our normal way as well. They’re just playing well.”

Underneath the surface, Irish rugby would seem to be in a far better place. Not alone are the provinces performing better in Europe and the Magners League, but Rob Kearney’s decision to commit to Leinster this week completes a clean sweep for the IRFU. By contrast, the Welsh union and their regions have struggled to fend off the covetous and well-off French clubs, with Lee Byrne (Clermont), James Hook (Perpignan) and Regan King (Clermont) all set to flee the coop at the end of the season, while Clermont and Toulouse are reputedly targeting Shane Williams and Alun-Wyn Jones. Craig Mitchell is even heading to Exeter.

Yet not alone are Wales buoyed by successive away wins, thereby ending a winless Test run of eight matches, but Adam Jones is set for a recall after a quicker than expected return for the Ospreys against Glasgow today, Andy Powell is back in the mix and so too, most likely, is Jonathan Davies. Jones and Davies could well start against Ireland, with James Hook reverting to outhalf at the expense of Stephen Jones, with Powell on the bench.

By contrast, Ireland’s walking wounded remain sidelined save for the possible return of Tomás O’Leary, which if anything further clouds an already murky half-back scenario. Andrew Trimble is pushing hard too, though Keith Earls had his best game to date in Murrayfield.

Ironically, the debate rages in both countries as to whether they should go with the game management of a more experienced outhalf or the potential and individual running game of a younger 10. Furthermore, the likes of Jamie Roberts, Mike Phillips and Shane Williams have publicly bemoaned the Welsh penalty count, which has largely been the fault of the forwards.

But whereas their two wins have alleviated the pressure on the Welsh team, not so Ireland. Here, the volume of criticism has mounted over the perception that a talented team is not playing to its full potential.

Compare and contrast the following barometers. “We have played three games, two away, one at home, and we are second in the table,” said Welsh hooker Matthew Rees last week. “The boys are excited. There’s a great feeling in the camp at the moment and the boys are really looking forward to being back at the Millennium Stadium.

“We are in good frame of mind. There are a lot of players in the squad playing good rugby. The attacking players we’ve got in our back line are world-class and I think we’ve proven that with the tries we’ve scored recently. We fear nobody at the moment, which is great. The only people who can beat us is ourselves.”

Yet, with the same win-loss record, when David Wallace was asked during the week if people should be a little more positive about Ireland’s results so far, his immediate reply hinted as to the pressure this group of Irish players is feeling from outside.

“I suppose if we’d lost at the weekend I am sure the fallout would have been unbelievable,” smiled Wallace wryly. He’s long since become acquainted with the heightened demands that have come with playing for Munster and Ireland over his remarkable career which, after all, dates back to the less bountiful 90s. And he is not of a mind to kid himself.

“It’s been a difficult time since it (the Murrayfield game) for us I suppose, but, yeah, two wins out of three, looking at results, you’d say it’s good, but it would be remiss if we weren’t looking at the actual games. There was a lot to take from those three games and improve on ourselves.”

Penalties, penalties, penalties. They’ve been a curse for Ireland to date. Admittedly, there’s been a similar lament in Wales (who have actually conceded one more, 36, in their three games) these past few days, and arguably what’s been just as costly is that Ireland have been awarded the fewest penalties – just 17.

Italy, by stark contrast, have been awarded a scarcely believable 48 penalties, which would certainly suggest old biases against them have been diluted.

But controlling the controllables, as the saying goes, could see Ireland reduce their penalty count. Having outscored their opponents by seven tries to two, it is, as Wallace concedes, driving the team as nuts as it is their supporters.

“It is frustrating because I suppose it’s a bit like Groundhog Day. You’re working very hard on and off the ball in defence and getting into good positions, scoring tries, you’re doing the hard work in games, and, like I said, it’s Groundhog Day, you’re under the posts and they’re invariably kicking the ball over and you’re kind of saying: ‘they might have got six points and you might have got seven and you’ve obviously worked, or seem to have worked, harder for them’. It is frustrating.”

Of course, we’ve heard such sentiments before from the Irish camp in the last few weeks, and many times over. This week’s review of the 13 penalties conceded against the Scots deemed that four were avoidable.

By rights, opensides are usually the biggest offenders, but although Wallace had a clean rap sheet against Scotland, he could still recall one penalty he conceded against France. He reproached himself for that and for not assuming some of the player leadership on this issue.

“Maybe I do, but I probably don’t and maybe that’s poor of me. Maybe I need to speak up a bit more.”

Hmm, let’s not mention communication issues, eh?

The new tackle law hit at the source of the defensive system which was the bedrock of the Grand Slam campaign, and specifically the ability of several Irish players to earn turnovers or relieving penalties at the breakdown. The defence has adapted well in this Six Nations, perhaps most noticeably against France when the concerted double tackling effectively negated the French offloading game.

Then again, the high penalty count is in part related to their prevailing failure to release ball carriers after the tackle.

And in all of this, Ireland could also become too obsessed with staying on the right side of the law, for there was evidence against Scotland of the defence becoming noticeably more passive than, say, in the Grand Slam campaign.

“It’s a danger and a worry that (if) you back off and don’t force the issue you can give teams an easy run of it,” admitted Wallace.

“But when you’re on the other side of it, as we are, bordering on the other side and making referees aware that we are dealing with it, showing that we are trying to be as disciplined as we can in that area. Because, you give a dog a bad name, referees are going to focus on one team.”

The penalties have also been a manifestation of other ills, such as playing too much rugby in their own territory, or a lack of accuracy and discipline at the breakdown, both in attack and defence.

Their game management improved in Murrayfield, but as Wallace revealed: “One of the things we’ve talked about is the breakdown, and actually it’s a bit of an aside to the penalties because that’s where a lot of them have come.

“So being more accurate, more efficient, more aggressive and better body height going into the breakdown situations, getting on the man quicker, will hopefully cut out a lot of the penalties as well.

“The more 50-50 ones, if you’re more efficient there you won’t actually give away the penalty there because no one goes off their feet and that’s probably one area we’ll be focusing on.”

The impression is conveyed of Gert Smal and co echoing the brutal rucking sessions conducted by Jim Telfer, barking “lower, lower” as players clear out tackle bags which are placed literally flat to the ground.

Putting the lessons learned so far into practice holds the key. For the success or otherwise of this Six Nations campaign, something which still hangs in the balance after three games, now hinges on beating Wales.

And they are comparatively upbeat.

“You’re working very hard on and off the ball in defence and getting into good positions, scoring tries, you’re doing the hard work in games, and, like I said, it’s ‘Groundhog Day’, you’re under the posts and they’re invariably kicking the ball over