Take 5: What we learned from Ireland’s heroic win over France

It was a bittersweet triumph, the delight of victory diluted by the tournament ending injury to Peter O'Mahony, and Ireland captain Paul O'Connell. The Jonathan Sexton prognosis may be a tad less bleak.

The imperfections of a victory don’t niggle as much in the aftermath; winning is enough in the short term. It guaranteed Joe Schmidt’s team in the quarterfinal they wanted - no one is underestimating Argentina’s quality - albeit that it came with a hefty price tag given the injuries.

Ireland return to the Millennium stadium next Sunday and face, on form, arguably a Pumas team that has been the second best behind Australia in terms of the rugby they have played in the tournament.

Schmidt will now look to choose carefully in calling up replacements because it can’t be a case of simply bringing players from home simply to hold tackle bags in training. There are no more pool games left to give players a run; it’s knockout rugby.

So can a Rhys Ruddock, Mike McCarthy, Andrew Trimble, Fergus McFadden, Felix Jones, Jack Conan, Dan Tuohy, Stuart McCloskey or a Dave Foley go from outside the squad to making the match 23? Will one potential recruit include a direct replacement for the role that Sean O'Brien performs if the latter is suspended?

Whatever the permutations, Ireland can go into Sunday’s game against Argentina buoyed by several positives from the victory over France, while at the same time acknowledging that there are areas that still require some work.

Footwork

There were several excellent examples of Ireland players using their feet going into contact, rather than trying to bullock their way through tackles. Cian Healy offered one lovely demonstration. Dropping his shoulder as if to take contact, a French tackler hunkered down but then Healy stepped off his right foot and left his would be assailant marooned as he stepped past him. Robbie Henshaw did the same to Mathieu Bastareaud, leaving his clutching thin air in what is colloquially known as 'the toilet position.' Iain Henderson was definitely the poster boy. The intelligence with which he carries and his ability to step, twist, spin and feint as well as use raw power allows him to breach the gain-line time and again. Keith Earls, Peter O'Mahony, Dave Kearney and Ian Madigan also offered some good examples.

Set-piece

In headline news, Ireland lost their first lineout of the tournament, which was essentially a unit failure as no one managed to get into the air and on one other occasion, Devin Toner, got his hand to a ball that was probably thrown a little low and could only bat it into touch. There was one scrum where the ball squirted out the side on an Irish put-in but other than that Ireland’s set piece has been really excellent throughout the tournament and that’s good because it’s an area that Argentina will apply an honours level examination on Sunday. And on a related subject the intelligent manner in which Ireland defended the French maul bodes well for the Pumas match. Also a hat-tip to Defence coach Les Kiss for his work in coming up with a system to neutralise the French.

Squad depth

Irish rugby’s equivalent of horror stories were any suggestion of injuries to captain Paul O’Connell or outhalf Jonathan Sexton and the catastrophic consequences it would have on Ireland’s aspirations. Joe Schmidt’s team lost both in one half of rugby and a further heaped dose of misfortune soon after the re-start when Munster captain Peter O’Mahony suffered the twisted knee, that will sideline him for the rest of the tournament. Iain Henderson, Ian Madigan and Chris Henry stepped forward - along with the rest of the bench - and proved that Ireland do have depth and also players with the ability and mental toughness to fill even the biggest shoes.

Narrow in attack

There is still a tendency for Ireland to get very narrow in attack after going through a few phases making it easier for their opponents to defend. Pods are stationed quite close to rucks where the defence is most massed or one-out runners become isolated and require rescuing. There are occasions when Ireland need to fill the full expanse of the pitch and try and stretch the defence and also look wider than the immediate fringes of rucks for opportunity. Conor Murray’s teammates could do him a favour and be his eyes and ears. What Ireland were improved at was the use of the inside ball; Robbie Henshaw to Tommy Bowe a case in point but there were other occasions when they sought gaps where there was more room.

Tough calls

Joe Schmidt made some tough calls in selection ahead of this match and what deserves to be acknowledged is that he was spot on, eliciting the performances he'd hoped for from the players in question; none more so than Devin Toner, who produced a brilliant performance.