ON RUGBY:Ireland were made work desperately hard for scores while France capitalised on mistakes to breeze over for their killer tries, writes BOB CASEY
AS IRELAND have learnt, and it was brutally reinforced in Paris, a large dollop of luck and an injury-free run are essential components to achieving a Grand Slam.
Denis Leamy went down last season but Stephen Ferris was beginning to carve out his legacy on the blindside. When Ferris became the only major casualty in Cardiff, Leamy was fit enough to come back in.
That was it really on the injury front in 2009.
The list this time around does not make for easy reading. Donncha O’Callaghan has succumbed to a knee problem after years of uninterrupted service; Ferris, Marcus Horan and the frontline hookers are just back (granted, Jerry Flannery looked like he was never away); Leamy and Luke Fitzgerald are gone long- term while Geordan Murphy is just returning from the lonely world of rehab.
And then Rob Kearney goes down with a worrying leg problem at a pivotal moment in Saturday’s match – basically as Mathieu Bastareaud came bursting through midfield.
That is nine of the Grand Slam 22.
We will never possess the French playing numbers and without the bounce of the ball for Gordon D’Arcy’s early break it was always a case of little reward for so much effort. Ireland were made work desperately hard for scores while France capitalised on mistakes to breeze over for their killer tries. Of course, the French are masters of making it look easy with the two drop goals coming as casual rebukes to Ireland’s brave resistance.
Without some luck going our way we were never going to question France’s notorious mental fragility.
Really, it just looked like one of those bad days at the office where world-class players were making mistakes we have not seen for 15 months. The unforced errors and turnover count were the highest for a long time but I still don’t feel the need to be critical.
The lineout was excellent with Jamie Heaslip, Paul O’Connell and Leo Cullen all getting up to pinch a French throw, to deliver a second week of excellent aerial possession. This is a positive lifeline to build upon ahead of Twickenham.
I know Brian O’Driscoll said they would love to be straight back playing next week but with the luckless injury reports recently, and considering the bruising and battering inflicted by the French pack, a fortnight’s recuperation seems welcome.
It was also shown again how damaging the loss of a forward to the sin bin is at this level. Seconds before Cian Healy’s return, after sacrificing himself for what looked a certain seven points, France ensured 10 points were registered in his absence.
There were shades of Alun Wyn Jones’s yellow card at Twickenham in how the game swung dramatically against the 14 men. The difference was Wyn Jones’s act was ludicrous in the extreme and England scored 17 points in those 10 minutes.
In fairness to Wyn Jones, he produced a passionate performance during the amazing defeat of Scotland at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday but it was interesting to see Wales coach Warren Gatland not following through on the initial threat to drop the Lions lock.
Why say such a thing on live television? It just shows the value of taking a moment to regain your composure and get your emotions in check after such a disappointing defeat. Gatland was clearly furious after the England game but he didn’t drop Jones so it wasn’t beneficial for him to make such comments in the first place.
The rumblings over here in London about Danny Cipriani making the switch to the new Super 15 franchise in Melbourne seem a distinct possibility. It is increasingly apparent that with Martin Johnson as England head coach, the Wasps outhalf will remain in international exile.
The thinking makes sense as he can return after the World Cup, still only 24, and a better player for the experience. I could imagine a few worse days off than chilling on an Australian beach with Kelly Brook.
Seriously though, it just shows how one man, in Cipriani’s case Martin Johnson, can hold your sporting destiny in his hands. If a head coach doesn’t rate you there are few grounds to appeal. Just look at Andy Reid’s form and how it failed to alter Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad selections.
The proposed Cipriani move is becoming an increasingly familiar reversal from Northern to Southern Hemisphere with Carlos Spencer the most recent number 10 to follow Juan Hernandez and Frederic Michalak to South Africa to play Super rugby and Currie Cup.
Be it Sydney, Melbourne or Cape Town, it looks a more tempting prospect than seeing out one’s twilight years in the lower divisions of England or France or even Italy.
Finally, while I would love to be involved in the Six Nations, my focus is firmly on the Guinness Premiership and the visit of Bath this afternoon (Sunday that is; thought I’d bank the column first!).
I remember when I first arrived at London Irish we never lost players in February/March but the Armitage brothers, Paul Hodgson and Romanian prop Paulica Ion are all away on international duty. Nick Kennedy and Sailosi Tagicakibau are injured. Bath, on the contrary, are boosted by the return of Butch James while Matt Banahan and Shontayne Hape were released by England.
