Were those 41 phases a window into the world of Irish rugby – being sucked deep down in the French trenches where, but for terrible French discipline, we may never have been extricated? Or was it the flowing exchanges in the opening quarter when Ireland went wide with a series of ambitious, aggressive plays, and where Jacob Stockdale's first touch was an entry off his left wing way out on the right tram tracks? His first pass was to his right winger Keith Earls.
Yes, that was an ambitious start in which there was much to admire. But, as expected, Ireland were always going to be sucked in or voluntarily enter the trenches in an effort to get an all-too-rare away win in Paris. Being sucked in is one thing, leaping in is another, but there’s no doubt in my mind that those 41 phases are far more valuable to Ireland than the copious phases Wales executed against the hapless Scottish.
Remember, this used to happen to us: Australia in RWC 1991, France in Dublin in 2007 and of course New Zealand 2013 in Dublin. What a discipline Joe Schmidt has beaten into his players that they are now plotting a win from a certain defeat. To go through 41 phases in those conditions with that level of exhaustion bulging in the legs. How Johnny Sexton simultaneously summoned the mental clarity and physical execution after 80-plus minutes of the fiercest international rugby only he can tell. But that the platform was laid with precision 41 times in a row is testament the hours of painstaking squad practice – no, perfect practice.
On Friday I dripped some Six Nations stats out such as Johnny Sexton is the least likely to kick the ball of any of the Six Nations' outhalfs. I also noted how Ireland take a long, long time to score a try, a concern allied to the French resistance, which is the best in the competition.
Quandary
This forced Ireland into a quandary. Do they chase, exhaustingly, tries or do they chase, even more exhaustingly, French indiscipline? As the clock ticked by the latter became the route. We can park for some time the net effect of this switch but, reflecting the uniqueness of this competition, Ireland’s spoils are huge in how they did make the switch.
An away win, in Paris; momentum; three home games to follow with a real prize on Paddy’s Day very much a possibility. The worry and momentum impacts other teams too, where it’s impossible to establish accurately Wales and Scotland’s chances. Scotland will improve if they inject rugby brains into their half backs and Wales are not as good as they looked.
James Ryan was magnificent. Let's start with those bone-crushing scrums in the first half alone. None were easy and, as the tighthead scrummaging second row, his energy levels to compete cruelly drained with each passing second. Add to that the dirty ball both he and Iain Henderson carried from the second row, which was invaluable to their team.
But the lineout had huge variety, namely from the five targets available to Rory Best where either a backrow or second row would pop up into the air. France were expecting a maul from Ireland and set up defensively to attack on the ground. But Ireland are becoming an off-the-top team and, within certain parameters, they will launch width on the ball.
What France did expect, and did get, was the carrying style of Ireland: close and heavy. To be fair the French came with a plan, as seen when CJ Stander carried once again into heavy traffic on 33:39 with his opposite man Kevin Gourdon peeling the ball from him. The foot rush led to an error, with France getting their first three points. A small point, but expect more down the track – similarly Stockdale's defensive position off Teddy Thomas's scoring line break.
Dan Leavy had a massive impact where backrow balance affords Schmidt the options to vary game styles; more anon.
Precision
The style eventually employed proved the difference between the sides. France simply couldn’t compete in an environment requiring such degrees of precision and discipline. It’s one thing to concede penalties but it is entirely another when the same player – Sébastien Vahaamahina – concedes multiple times for similar indiscretions. This is at best extremely dull play from the French second row and extremely costly for his team.
Ireland do concede penalties, but minimally and almost never by one person racking them up; they wouldn’t survive the Schmidt onslaught. It would be unfair to say Ireland simply ground the French down, but it’s not far from the truth. After 57 minutes, with the score at 12-6 to Ireland, the top five tacklers were French (84 tackles between them); hooker Guilhem Guirado was on 24 tackles himself, with the match yet to cross the hour mark. That’s enormous.
At half-time Ireland had 50 per cent more carries than the French but, as expected, Ireland worked way harder for that outcome because the French – with far fewer carries – were making considerably more metres ball-in-hand.
Can we continue to rack up the close carrying numbers – 2.5 times more passes than France, forcing 2.2 times more tackles, with 2.2 times possession and over twice as long in the French half – to be behind on the scoreboard as the clock ticked into the red? Every statistic points to Ireland having superior fitness, superior focus and superior fight. Is this a worthy statistic for Paris (yes) or is it one for the championship proper? Only time will tell, but the rewards are rich and the cost to us all exhausting.
PS: HIA??? You’re having a laugh . . .
liamtoland@yahoo.com
