Down and out in Dublin and Cardiff
THIS HAS BEEN A STRANGE and unsatisfactory season for Ireland. Two matches, two defeats is bad enough, but the problem for the Irish team is that there seems to be little that can be done to radically improve its performance. Paddy Agnew on Ireland's 1981 international season.
By naming an almost unchanged side for the game against England, the Irish selectors would seem to be admitting that they have run out of players and/or imagination.
The unsatisfactory nature of the season was evident as far back as October, when Ireland played a match against Romania. This game served the useful purpose of bringing the squad together early in the season, but, that apart, the Romanian game told the selectors little that they did not already know. The Romanians approached their play with the caution of a bomb disposal expert. They attempted little that was not glaringly obvious and seemed unaware that in rugby it is both permissible and feasible to run the ball all the way along the back line. As a scrummaging unit they were ordinary and apart from the big number eight, they had no outstanding lineout jumper.
All this meant that a key question remained unanswered. Would the Irish pack, who with an average age of thirty were getting no younger, be able to maintain the form shown against Wales at the end of last season. The Romanians had not tested them seriously in either scrums, lineouts or mobility across the field.
Despite the unsatisfactory nature of the game against Romania, it was hard to suggest that Ireland had done anything wrong. Thus a mixture of perennial Irish optimism and memories of that overrated victory against Wales
last March meant that Ireland went into their first match of the season as unworthy favourites. Yet in the end they played like favourites winning the forward battle comprehensively (see statistics) and losing the game only be. cause their forwards gave away 12 of France's 19 points.
Luck has been conspicuously absent from the team this season. If anyone had suggested, one month ago, that Ireland with both Ollie Campbell and Tony Ward available would convert only three out of twelve kicks at goal in their first two matches, then that person would have been regarded as a little strange. An analysis of the scoring in the French match illustrates just how much, though, Ireland have contributed to this bad luck.
Nine French points came from unforced errors by the Irish forwards. Six French points came from Laporte's two speculative drop goals, scores which he is unlikely to repeat in inter. nationals. Thus the only score which France genuinely created for themselves was their try and even that came from an unfortunate drop out from Campbell that was neither long enough or short enough. It went straight to Bertranne who was able to run the ball back at the Irish and linking with his forwards Revailler and 10inel set in motion the overlapping back movement for Pardoe to score. On top of all that there was another fortuitous moment for France when Bertranne joining in the movement for the second time failed to catch the ball properly but was still able to send it on via his wrists into the hands of Mesny. Quelle bonne chance!
By contrast, Ireland made 10 out of their 13 points and were only given one unforced French error. Twice well-controlled heels won penalties from the French. On the first occasion the French scrum-half Bervizier was offside and on the second occasion a perfectly controlled Irish heel drive forward forced the French to deliberately collapse the scrum to avoid ending up in Pearse Street Station. Ireland's try too, came from a well placed up and under into the box by Campbell, which Pardoe was unable to field properly. In the resultant maul, Ireland won the vital ball easily when Duggan dispossessed Pardoe in the manner of an Alsatian stealing a bone from a poodle. From there the ball went out to MacNeill for a fine try.
Apart from giving away penalty points, what went wrong with the team against France? Tom Kiernan felt afterwards that the crucial period came after Ireland had taken the lead at 13-12. Until then Ireland had used the up and under with considerable success. But at this stage of the game, Kiernan felt Ireland might have secured victory for themselves if rather than attempting to disrupt the French defence with further up and unders, they had instead concentrated on pinning the French in their own 22. Twice during this phase of the game Caussade failed to find touch with clearance kicks and twice Ireland failed to pin France back in their own 22. The first kick was fielded by John Robbie whose up and under went into touch directly. Hugh MacNeill fielded the second kick and attempted an ambitious drop goal.
Seconds later Ireland were under pressure from the French. Again the tremendous control of the Irish scrummage won a penalty for Ireland when France had had the put in right in front of the Irish posts. Instead of settling the side down, Campbell chose to run the penalty. He made some ground before passing to Frank Quinn who was caught. From the resultant maul Ireland conceded a penalty. Laporte missed with the penalty but it was from the subsequent drop out that France collected Campbell's ill-judged drop out and .ran in for the try that won them the match.
However the luck was not with Ireland. Right in the opening minute of the game, a delicate chip from Campbell had sent McLennan through but at the last moment when a touch down try seemed definite, McLennan was knocked over by Caussade. The Frenchman had done nothing very illegal, but on the same afternoon Gareth Davies conceded both a penalty try and his place on the Welsh team for doing precious little more to Andy Irvine in a similar situation at Murrayfield.
Reaction to the defeat against France was extreme. But disgruntled Irish supporters had only themselves to blame for making Ireland such ridiculous favourites. Looked at in sobriety, there was much to be pleased with in the Irish performance. Above all the pack had done very well and it appeared as if the great expertise of Ray McLoughlin was going to reap rewards for the rest of the season. T'was not to be.
At the beginning of this year two of the contentious areas of any potential Irish selection had to be full back and out half. By the time of the Welsh game both these problems had been resolved in a manner that must have been beyond most Irish supporters (and selectors) wildest dreams. Hugo MacNeill has settled any few doubts about his steadiness and ability to do the basic chores of full back defence. On top of that he has shown a happy knack of being in the right place to score tries. On balance his performance in his first two games has s~t himself a standard which will be hard to maintain in the long and distinguished career on which he now looks launched. Just one example of his play is enough to underline his calibre. In the opening minutes in Cardiff, John Robbie was dispossessed by Gerard Williams of the heal from an Irish serum a few yards from the Irish line. Williams managed to get the ball to Jeff Squire, who stormed for the line. MacNeill dashed in and stood so firm in Squire's way that the Welshman stopped still and fell back like a drunk who had just run into a lamp post.
At out-half Tony Ward, finally got his chance. Ward has always been a player who works hard and thinks long about his game. The experience of playing with the Lions last summer has obviously done him much good. His reaction to all the criticism about his inept tactical play in South Africa was to improve his game. He has always been an elusive runner. Now he seems able to link with his men having made the break, and Ireland's two tries came directly from his magical improvisation.
Meanwhile Ollie Campbell was having a more than satisfactory game in the centre. There has been a body of opinion which felt that Campbell would never be hard enough to make a good international centre. The number of times he knocked over the burly Ray Gravell, not to mention the Welsh flankers, Burgess and Lewis, gave the lie to that view and it now seems feasible that Campbell will make a fine international centre. His good handling and good running are sure to prove an asset if and when Ireland win some ball up front.
There's the rub. The good Irish forward performance against France disintegrated into a humiliating literal walk-over by Wales. (see match statistics). In the line outs and the serums, there was total Welsh dominance and if Ireland did relatively well in the rucks/mauls, it was little compensation. It has been suggested that the Irish back row are lucky not to have been reshuffled. But the fact that Wales failed to cross the Irish line is proof enough of the good covering job that is being done. Slattery and O'Driscoll knocked over the Welsh back line regularly and contributed strongly to the ineffectiveness of the Welsh backs.
If it is complained that they did not win much line out ball, then that is fair enough, but none of the above three has ever been considered a line out specialist so it is hardly surprising that they failed to win much from Alan Martin, Jeff Wheel and Jeff Squire. The overwhelming onus of responsibility for the side's failure must rest with the front five who were pushed around like a group of schoolboys wearing gym shoes on a wet pitch.
Ireland cannot really complain that they gave anything much to Wales. Two penalties were conceded by collapsing the serum, but such was the dominance of the Welsh that the Irish had to do this to avoid push over tries. The Welsh drop goal came from a well worked move - a - short line out thrown long to serum half Williams who turned the ball to prop Graham Price. Price made good ground and set up the ruck from which Pearce had all afternoon to slot over his drop goal. It was play full of the control that Ireland had shown against France and so palpably lacked against Wales.
The front five must be lucky to maintain their places in the side. The one change made, Brendan Foley in for Donal Spring, would have been enforced anyway due to Spring's injury. Anyone who watched England v Scot. land must wonder what this Irish pack is going to find within itself to withstand what are probably the two best packs in the Championship. The wooden spoon awaits us.
It has long been a tenet of Welsh rugby that if you cannot win by means fair, then there is nothing wrong in winning by means of any other sort at all. Law 23, Section (I 6) Touch and Line Out, of the International Board Laws and Rules of the game states:
"The act of jumping for the ball can include a step if it is a simple movement in endeavouring to catch the ball."
One wonders whether the jumping of Alan Martin, who took many fine catches during an untroubled afternoon's exercises, really conforms to the rules. A step is permissible, but two or three steps of a veritable run: were they legal? However legal or illegal Martin may have been, something should have been done to curb his enthusiasm. Since the referee seemed to be paying scant attention to the rule about holding, pushing, shouldering or obstructing an opponent, perhaps someone ought to have investigated the strength of Martin's rib cage. Such is the language of forward play in rugby.
But that does not answer the scrummaging problems. It would seem on the evidence of the first two internationals that the Irish front five may not yet be at peak fitness. How else can one explain their poor second halves in both matches? Perhaps with greater fitness they will improve, though it was ominous that right from the start against Wales that the Irish scrum was in difficulty. On several occasions Whelan did well to get the ball back at all, but the lack of con trol meant that Robbie had a very difficult time.
Two years ago just such a wild uncontrolled heel caused Colin Patterson to concede a giveaway try to Wales. So it would be unfair to criticize Robbie for not making a better job of a bad service. Since the retirement of MacBride and McLoughlin there has not been an Irish pack of consistent ability and at the moment it would appear that the Irish selectors feel there is a shortage of front five talent in the country. The addition to the pack of Michael Gibson in the dying minutes of the game did not seem to make any difference to the Irish either in the serums or in the line outs. It would appear that the only option left to the selectors is to take a leaf out of the FAI's book and head to England in search of players eligible to play for Ireland on the percentage rule.
In the meantime perhaps something should be done to compensate for the, pack's inadequacy. Why for example did the Irish not attempt any short lines out during the Cardiff debacle? Perhaps it would have made no difference but it would have been an acknowledgement that things were not right. Otherwise Ireland's best back line in years will starve through Ireland's least successful season in years.