Don’t believe the hype, Ireland still need to adapt and evolve

As the nation bathes in the blissful afterglow of Ireland’s exceptional victory over the Springboks, the spectre of the failings from 2019 still looms large.

Under no circumstances can Irish rugby allow itself to rekindle the disastrous attitude of superiority that developed after the win over New Zealand in November 2018. The team, the media and the community mistakenly believed that Ireland held all the answers to all the questions.

The train smash that was 2019 was the result of such arrogance.

Four years on and the truth is this Irish team are in the middle of a long journey towards next year’s World Cup.

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A journey that started last November when Andy Farrell radically changed the attacking plans and selection policy. Those crucial strategic decisions have resulted in a year of astonishing success. Defeating New Zealand three times, while leaving England, Wales, Japan, Italy, Scotland, Argentina and now South Africa in their wake.

In overcoming the Springboks, Ireland finally laid to rest the myth that Irish teams cannot handle big physical opponents.

It has been a popular theory but one I have never believed. The truth behind the myth was that teams such as Saracens, La Rochelle, France and England employed cleaver tactics that starved Irish teams of possession. Without the ball, the Irish were forced to endlessly tackle big men.

At its core, Ireland defeated the Springboks because their forwards set-piece was rock-solid and gained quality possession for their attack. As Ireland’s scrum and lineout won valuable possession and their maul defence held the giant Springbok pack, so the theory that Irish teams were unable to match so called ‘bigger teams’ died a spectacular death.

Ireland’s scrum coach John Fogarty and the lineout and breakdown coach Paul O’Connell deserve huge praise.

The scrummaging of the Irish front row was exceptional, especially Finlay Bealham’s career-changing second-half display. However, the match-defining scrums early in the second half, when Furlong was off the field, was when Andrew Porters’ class shone brightly. Porter put in a world class shift at loosehead prop and his scrummaging was destructive to the point of match-winning.

Ireland’s unsung heroes were their second rows, who generated the huge amounts of power required to counter the foundation of the Springboks forwards-dominated game plan. James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne and Kieran Treadwell were immense against their huge South African counterparts.

Their lineout jumping, defensive mauling, scrummaging and tireless work at the breakdown provided the essential dirty yards of selfless work required for an Irish victory.

Eben Etzebeth is the world’s premier lock. At the Aviva, he delivered a masterclass in secondrow play and was the outstanding Springbok player by a considerable margin. Yet even his exceptional individual brilliance could not cast a shadow over the collective efforts of the Irish pack.

We all know Irish society loves a good myth, so no sooner had the empty pint glasses from Saturday night’s celebrations been placed into the dishwasher than another great rugby fallacy started doing the rounds. Everyone is now worried that Ireland have peaked too early.

This sits alongside Donald Trump’s belief that a quick internal spray of bleach killed Covid. Let’s debunk this rumour with sports science.

Individuals who compete in Olympic sports peak at specified times in their calendars. Like Ireland’s brilliant rowers, they can select which events to target across their four-year cycle. Along with their coaches and sports scientists, they then plan their training programmes to physically peak at a specific major event such as the Olympics or a World Championships.

In rugby, this detailed planning is close to impossible because rugby players do not just have two or three major events every 12 months. Rugby players must perform consistently for both their clubs and their country. Irish players compete for selection to play in the URC, the Champions Cup, November Internationals, the Six Nations plus the summer tours.

For an international rugby team to emulate Olympic athletes and create a physical peak for one series of games is close to impossible.

Ireland’s physical fitness under strength and conditioning coach Jason Cowman is among the best in the world, so in 2019 it was Ireland’s mental approach, not their physical conditioning, that deteriorated. After defeating New Zealand in 2018, the team’s mindset stopped developing, adapting and evolving.

Once again, the sage words of Charlie Darwin must be heard.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

In 2019 Ireland were strong but they failed to adapt and change.

The Ireland team of 2022 is a different beast. Despite the late withdrawal of Robbie Henshaw and injuries during the match to Conor Murray, Stuart McCloskey and Tadhg Furlong, Ireland were able to adapt their tactics to overcome South Africa’s unique challenges.

Here let us take a quick reality check. Since Ireland last played South Africa in 2017, Australia have played the Boks 10 times, winning all but one on home soil. One win against the Springboks at Lansdowne Road guarantees nothing.

We also have to acknowledge that if Handre Pollard was on the pitch he most likely would have kicked the simple penalty goals missed by Willemse and Kolbe, which would have delivered victory to South Africa.

If we also consider that the Pumas defeated England, the Wallabies came within seconds of winning at the Stade de France, Fiji ran Scotland close for 50 minutes and a few weeks ago Japan pushed New Zealand, we must accept that on any given day there are very fine margins between the world’s top 10 teams.

So here is the counterintuitive reality of where Andy Farrell and his Ireland find themselves. The win over South Africa must be praised and celebrated, then put firmly in the past.

The team has been infused with momentum, self-belief and energy but victory over the Springboks was a significant milestone on a much longer journey.

Performing against Fiji and the Wallabies in this window, then against England and France in the Six Nations, are the next important steps along the way.

Ireland’s future holds no promises or guarantees. Only the opportunity and necessity to grow, adapt and evolve.