RUGBY:As the world rugby watched, Ireland afforded Tuilagi far too much space, writes LIAM TOLAND
OUTSIDE CENTRE and behemoth Manu Tuilagi received the ball with four minutes or so on the clock. It was a gentle pass and his friend, space, was in abundance. Facing him was Keith Earls, who is a technically sound and very brave defender, but the odds were stacked against him. Tuilagi eats up yards and simply burned past Earls, with enough time for a Jamie Heaslip celebration special, one arm wagging in the air, touching down unopposed.
The stadium felt for Earls for he deserved better and a horrible pattern that was so obvious in that moment continued throughout the fixture. However the damage (and pattern) was not done out in midfield, it was done in the trenches. Far away from Tuilagi, Andrew Sheridan did the damage in that fourth minute and our two secondrows aided and abetted. Ten metres from the near touchline, it was Sheridan who carried into our two secondrows and powered through their weak tackle, gaining a very cheap seven metres. It was Sheridan who went to ground with a great ball transfer and moments later it was Tuilagi who ran around Earls. Could Earls have tackled? Possibly, but Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan were dominated by the English tighthead Sheridan, and that afforded Tuilagi the space.
That’s where Saturday’s battle was lost and Earls was made look like a child as a result. At outside centre, Tuilagi is five inches shorter than O’Connell but is 3lb heavier and considerably quicker. We simply can’t have a player like Tuilagi afforded the space as world rugby was watching. But for Mike Ross and his colleagues, Tuilagi would have wreaked havoc off every attacking scrum. But to Ross’s considerable credit he did enough to disrupt the English put-in. One wonders if Tony Buckley was playing how many opportunities would have come Tuilagi’s way.
There are other reasons but boys against men is why I am worried. After three years, this England team is made in Martin Johnson’s likeness. They are a brutal bunch who will take some beating from any side as they have the ability to strangle the life out of the ball and beat you up to boot. Technically they are very sound on the lineout and the subsequent maul and have a scrum that will survive. They have a kicking game and certainly big ball carriers throughout. And when in the mood their breakdown is both technically brilliant and ferocious. Countless times our “big” men were pummelled out. Steve Thompson, in particular, focused on O’Connell, tossing him at will. Thompson’s substitution weakened the English scrum no end.
Weaknesses in England’s game do exist and that has me even more worried. Firstly they only created one try off Tuilagi. Australia will not be as forgiving if they unearth an obvious weakness. They will plunder it to the death.
Ireland (and Earls, Geordan Murphy and Ross) deserve much credit for limiting Tuilagi’s influence but England will be disappointed in not exposing more from the light midfield in green.
Secondly, England are very slow to realign off turnovers where the transfer of the ball is pedestrian at best, each back looking awkward on the ball. They should have scored after Murphy dragged Tuilagi down; but muddled it. No such problem exists in the Wallabies. And finally although Englands breakdown did Ireland untold damage they lacked a groundhog at seven to maximise the work. You guessed it, Australia have a cracker at seven in David Pocock.
I arrived into Heuston Station on Saturday in time to catch the second half of the Australia, New Zealand game. The score stood at 20 points to 3 for Australia. Wow! Having missed the first half I was intrigued to spot a pattern to why Australia had raced in front. For the next 20 minutes it was all All Blacks, who reverted to type of multi-phase, powering up the middle through soft rucks, forwards interchanging with backs all with one common denominator: they gained ground every time. It was patient but effective and then the All Black 10, 12 and 13 took the game. Firstly Dan Carter sucking in defenders to release outside centre Conrad Smith for five points before Ma’a Nonu at inside centre powered his way in for five more. Nineteen minutes into the second half and the All Blacks were back (20-20) and it was a combination of ferocious, patient forward work interchanged with backs to create the space and simple but effective back play to exploit the space. Sound familiar? Afraid not. Nowhere was this more evident than when Ireland had an extra man. For 10 minutes Ireland failed to dictate play and execute a game plan to expose Mark Cueto’s yellow card absence.
Ireland have a game plan which unfortunately dies on contact. Several times Denis Leamy and Ferris ran off a short lineout into the heart of the English. Each time they met a wall and suddenly the attack fell silent. I’m convinced these Irish players are better than they are showing but never mind the Wallabies because the Eagles and Italians will hit us where it hurts; in the trenches. Stop it, slow it down and the Irish have no plan. If there are any cards up the management sleeves then we need them pronto. I wonder what Les Kiss, Ireland’s defence coach, thinks of our attack, of our use of the ball? After all he was an Australian rugby league winger. Would he be satisfied with the play inside if he were in the 11 or 14 shirt of Ireland? I fancy not.
The only player on the Irish team that has both the physique and skill set to match all comers is Ferris. That’s it. The remainder have their strengths but weaknesses. Our first kick-off reception was dropped, as were others. We earned six lineouts in the English 22 and lost all but one of them. Consequently we couldn’t create any tangible momentum to threaten the English line. But for Eoin Reddan’s back-door flip to Murphy and Ronan O’Gara’s “Ollie Campbell” exit from his 22 there was precious little inventiveness. We play neither the Munster way nor the Leinster way. We are now playing a horrible mutation of both.
Declan Kidney is Ireland’s most successful and decorated coach and deserves our total respect, but is coaching a team who are also the most decorated and talented we’ve ever seen but are playing very poorly. With the return of Brian O’Driscoll, Seán O’Brien and the rustiness of the stars slowly ebbing away much more can be eked from this talented bunch as there remain many positives. Such as England are as tough as it gets. Thompson is as big as hookers get . . . but more of that on Friday. In the meantime I for one would be very interested in Les Kiss’s opinion.
PS: To David Wallace I give you Dylan Thomas. Do not go gentle into that good night . . . rage rage against the dying of the light. Likewise Ireland.
