Ireland’s performances were mostly underwhelming
Overall, the All Blacks, Argentina, Fiji and Australia offered Ireland three wins from four outings. Andy Farrell will probably be happy with that, although there was a sense that Ireland were too often underwhelming. They provided the zip in their game only fleetingly and not at all against the team they needed most to do so, New Zealand. Beating a young Australian team in an arm wrestle of a match that Joe Schmidt believed could have gone the other way had Australia scored the first points after half time and all in all Ireland didn’t appear to get into top gear for a sustained amount of time in any of the matches.
Winning was important but as ever Ireland are now judged on World Cups, not the Six Nations Championship. They will have to consistently play with tempo and verve, not grind out wins, if the team are ever to get past a quarterfinal place in the rugby show piece every four years.
Establishing Hugo Keenan’s backup at fullback is a priority
One thing that has been left hanging at the conclusion of this Autumn Nations Series is what player will back up Hugo Keenan as Irish fullback. Jamie Osborne was forced out of the starting team after 27 minutes when he was handed a start at 15 against Fiji. Still being treated for an abductor injury, he was not available to face Australia and it’s likely Andy Farrell, although saw what he could do in the two test matches in South Africa last summer, didn’t see enough of the 23-year-old this time out to come to a firm conclusion.
Nor was Ciaran Frawley on the bench against Australia with Garry Ringrose and Jack Crowley the two players chosen to cover the back positions with Craig Casey the specialist scrumhalf. Both Osborne and Frawley are valued for being able to play across various positions at Leinster. Probably just one will do that for Ireland.
Joe Schmidt working towards a brighter future for Australia
Of the Australian squad 27 players of the 36-man travelling squad were in their 20s and of that group 15 players were 25 years old or younger. Joe Schmidt is obviously building a side with an emphasis on youth. Their winger Max Jorgensen, who scored the first Australian try after 18 minutes is 20 years old. The outhalf who converted the try, Noah Lolesio, is 24 years old and the player who replaced him but had to leave the pitch with a HIA, Tane Edmed, is 24 years old.
The hooker, who came on for them on 56 minutes, Billy Pollard is an AC Brumbies 22-year-old, while Jeremy Williams, who started the match in the secondrow is 23 years old. Andy Farrell did well in bringing on Sam Prendergast, Gus McCarthy, Tom O’Toole, Tom Clarkson and Ulster backrow Cormac Izuchukwu. One of his tasks is to look into the future and visualise what his team will look like heading to the 2027 Australian World Cup.
Ireland need to improve their handling
One of the frustrating things about the final match was the Irish handling errors and what caused players to make so many in one game against Australia. Ireland made 28 handling errors against the Wallabies, who themselves made 19. In another one of the metrics, Ireland conceded 20 turnovers to Australia’s 15. In those two metrics it was the worst performance of the four matches Ireland played.
Against New Zealand, Ireland made 21 handling errors and had 11 turnovers and against Argentina, Ireland had their best outing with handling errors with 16 and 13 turnovers. Against a poor Fijian team Ireland had 19 handling errors and 15 turnovers. Compared to Fiji those numbers did not compare well. Although Ireland beat the Fijians, 52-17 the losers made 12 handling errors and coughed up nine turnovers. Improving on those two areas alone on would be a percentage gain.
Healthy competition ahead for Prendergast and Crowley
So, has Simon Easterby, who steps in for the Lions-bound Andy Farrell, seen enough of Sam Prendergast to pick him as a starter? Or did Jack Crowley bringing some energy into the game against Australia when he came off the bench towards the end of the match influence him? Ireland’s next competitive fixture is against England in the Six Nations Championship at Aviva Stadium, not a game to blood a new outhalf.
Overall impressions are that Farrell was right to give Prendergast a run so that the young player now knows what the detail is, when Test match opposition make a point of targeting him and his time is cut down. A higher tempo to Test matches is something new players must adjust to quickly. Whatever way it plays out next year, the two young players (Prendergast 21 and Crowley 24) are in for a highly competitive international career not unlike the saga Owen Farrell and George Ford essayed for the England number 10 shirt.
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