RUGBY/ SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: IRELAND'S FAINT hopes of retaining the RBS Six Nations were all but extinguished yesterday when France routed Italy by 46-20 in the Stade de France.
Not only would Ireland need to beat Scotland next Saturday and hope England deny the French a Grand Slam in Paris (a fanciful notion in itself), they would also require a 51-point swing on les bleus in points difference.
Nevertheless, there remains a fifth Triple Crown in seven years to be won and second place in the championship, which gives Ireland silverware and something tangible to aim for in their farewell to Croke Park.
Not to be sniffed at. Plenty of legends of Irish rugby were never fortunate enough to win one Crown.
With that prize at stake, coach Declan Kidney is unlikely to take an experimental approach to the Scotland game. Whether the team remains unchanged for the third game running may hinge on Gordon D’Arcy’s recovery from what was initially diagnosed as a heavy dead leg, though the full extent of his injury won’t be known until today. Keith Earls (tight calves) and David Wallace, who received an accidental scratch to the eye, will also be monitored.
When D’Arcy departed in the 24th minute on Saturday, Brian O’Driscoll switched to inside centre and Earls moved from wing to outside centre, with Rob Kearney coming on at left-wing before then exchanging positions with Geordan Murphy at full-back.
Despite such reshuffling, the Irish backline kept their shape defensively and offensively, holding the talented Welsh backs in a vice-like grip, while also sharply executing two tries.
On the occasion of the great one’s 100th cap, O’Driscoll gave one of his low-key but typically selfless team displays, punctuated by excellent defending and a key hand in two of the three tries.
Were D’Arcy ruled out, the Irish management could opt to start with that same combination, but a more likely solution would be to promote Paddy Wallace in an otherwise unchanged 22. Why move the world’s best defensive outside centre from the most important defensive position in the backline?
Despite his clear satisfaction with the performance and the result, Kidney was still clearly perturbed by the new diktat from IRB referees’ chief Paddy O’Brien regarding the breakdown. It takes a lot to ruffle the Irish head coach, but he could scarcely conceal his annoyance with a new interpretation at the breakdown in the middle of the Six Nations.
In keeping with the approach of referees in the Super 14, which started three weeks ago, tacklers who help bring a player to the ground must release the ball-carrier before re-engaging.
The most striking example of this was in the 55th minute on Saturday when O’Driscoll and David Wallace double-tackled Jamie Roberts, with Wallace immediately trying to wrestle the ball from the Welsh centre while staying on his feet. Up until a couple of weeks ago, this was regarded as classic openside play. On Saturday it led to three points for Wales and a lecture for a bemused Wallace and the Irish captain.
Kidney revealed that the first he knew of the new directive was when O’Brien telephoned him after the defeat to France in round two on February 20th.
“We met him on Thursday and said it was unsatisfactory that midway through a championship the emphasis on a particular law should be highlighted. If you emphasise one, do you get the balance on all the other ones? There would be a big debate about that.
“We met Craig Joubert on Friday. He’s the man with the whistle and he confirmed it. He did exactly as he did. I thought he had a good game. When you meet a referee and he does exactly as he tells you he’s going to do, I’d have no complaints.”
The new edict would also seem to dilute Ireland of one of their primary strengths, as well as rugby union’s distinctively varied flow of possession. “It’s more to do with the game really, the game in general,” said Kidney, who traced previous edicts regarding the breakdown and the trialing of the ELVs, before declaring: “I thought we had a good game.
“It seems to me they’ve been talking about this down in the Super 14. They talked about it two months before the season started. The season got up and going. We (the Northern Hemisphere) are in the middle of competition, not just the Six Nations but the Heineken Cups, Magners League and a load of others. Now if this is going to be changed, it presents challenges.”
Ireland adapted pretty well in the circumstances, but have now conceded 30 penalties in their last two games, and against Scotland they will have their third South African referee in a row in the shape of Jonathan Kaplan. The net effect was to reduce the contest for the ball at the breakdown which, if continued, will see more and more recycling and fewer players committed to rucks, instead fanning out across the pitch.
Saturday’s game featured just five scrums and 21 lineouts, while there were almost 150 rucks. This, no doubt, is what the Southern Hemisphere wants for the Super 14 and for the rest of the world: quasi rugby league. It contributed to confusion and anger among the Croke Park crowd, as well as longeurs in the action. Paddy O’Brien and the IRB ought to be ashamed of themselves.
In the circumstances, Kidney felt this made Ireland’s defensive performance all the better. “The players held their composure, to have that number of penalties against us but they didn’t get upset. I couldn’t speak highly enough of them right now.”
With Paddy Power having offered 12 to 1 on Keith Earls being the first try-scorer, Mother’s Day expenses in Thomond and Young Munster were well covered this weekend.
Having taken his tally to three in two games, the Thomond flyer is now the leading try-scorer in the 2010 Six Nations with one round to go, ahead of a posse of nine on two tries, including Tomás O’Leary and Tommy Bowe.
