Rugby World Cup: Five things we learned from Ireland’s win over Scotland

Especially in a Rugby World Cup, it’s emboldening to see a talented player hit form at the right time. Garry Ringrose, a first pick at 13 for several years, had one of those games where he showed the attacking edge he possesses as much as the defensive roles he has been asked to carry out by Andy Farrell.

It was Ringrose who dummied Grant Gilchrist before triggering the crucial break via Mack Hansen for James Lowe’s try. Ringrose took a big hit from Finn Russell just after releasing the ball outside. It was Ringrose, who also put Keenan through for his second try of the match and again was body slammed by two defenders.

Poise and level-headedness came through in his performance when he ran back to collect a kicked Scotland ball into the Irish half. Instead of picking up and risking a knock-on or fumble a stretched boot killed the momentum of the ball and allowed him to make a controlled pick up.

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There was a slim mathematical chance that South Africa could have exited at the pool stages. For that to happen, Scotland had to beat Ireland by a margin of 21 points or more, with both teams scoring four tries to earn an attacking bonus point. Then everyone would have 15 points after four matches and the Springboks go home.

‘Boks coach Jacques Nienaber wasn’t impressed by a French reporter’s suggestion that the teams could collude. “That would be match-fixing. It would be extremely disappointing,” said Nienaber. With Ireland 26-0 up at half time and motoring, all the theorists had left was a flimsy conspiracy that couldn’t hold water.

Ireland’s defence tackle their socks off

The collective Irish defence was again one of the outstanding aspects of the win over Scotland and winning Pool B. When Scotland had early momentum and territory in the first half and could have shaped how the match and scoring sequence unfolded, the Irish tackling and organisation and connection stood firm.

It was also the case against South Africa that the high-tempo, fully committed defensive play was pivotal to the 13-8 win. This was born out by the 88 per cent tackle success against Scotland reported on a French rugby website.

That high number came from 202 Irish tackles which were the second highest number of tackles ever recorded by an Irish team since they started to keep detailed statistics back in 2009. That number came in second only to Ireland’s performance against England in 2018 when the team made three tackles more, with 205 in total.

Ireland’s schedule plays its part in performance

Ireland’s two-week break came at just the right time for their final pool match and they performed like they were rested. Scotland played one match on September 10th, losing to South Africa 18-3, and then had to sit it out for two weeks before winning their second match against Tonga on September 24th and beating Romania the following week.

They had a week to prepare for Ireland. Down at their base in the south of France, Scotland had been mumbling that their World Cup had become disjointed in that they played one match and instead of building momentum into the tournament they had to sit around defeated before they were able to get up running again.

Ireland had their toughest match against the Springboks and went into a two-week rest period before the final pool match. In hindsight Ireland got the break even though Scotland made 12 changes for their one-way win over the Romanians.

Scotland’s 6-2 split backfired in the backfield

The split on the bench used to be an arcane aspect of matchday teams but has now come a front of the house decision by coaches and an important tactic in deciding outcomes. South Africa used a 7-1 split against Ireland that didn’t work, while Scotland also favoured a big bench and went into the match with a 6-2 split against Ireland.

However, when Scotland fullback Blair Kinghorn suffered a HIA after seven minutes and had to leave the pitch for Ollie Smith, all Scotland had on the bench to cover all their back positions was replacement scrumhalf George Horne.

That gamble did not pay off. Scotland winger Darcy Graham hobbled out of the game with a hip flexor injury. That meant that Horne had to come into the action and played on the Scotland wing until the end of the match as Scotland chased a game that was always out of reach.