Five takeaways from the Ireland win over France in the Six Nations
Hype is a word seemingly not in the vocabulary of Andy Farrell, which is a pity as it would be great for the sport if he started playing up this mighty progress of Ireland with him at the helm. Two years ago he was accused of being asleep at the wheel. The Irish had lost to France in a dispiriting fashion in Dublin and the optics were concerning for the head coach just 10 games into his reign.
The attack was non-existent, assistant Mike Catt failing to make any strides forward. The defence, instructed by Simon Easterby, had multiple crossed wires. Even the pack was just muddling along, with forwards coach Paul O’Connell having only joined the management ticket.
That behind-closed-doors setback against the French left Ireland zero from two, a championship blank that hadn’t been experienced since 1998. Brian Ashton paid for that particular stalled start with his resignation, paving the way for a then-unknown Warren Gatland to pick up the pieces.
This time around, the coach wasn’t for budging and just look at the splendid flourish that has since materialised now that Farrell has finally got his head around head coaching and accepted that he needed to forge his own path and stop trying to reheat what he inherited from Joe Schmidt.
Nineteen wins in 21 games since then is an epic transformation. So too their world ranking trajectory from a desultory sixth to a much-deserved first. The assistants have been empowered, the players hugely upskilled, yet Farrell keeps playing it cool, refusing to cheerlead in a year where they are tipped to win the Six Nations and then achieve like never before at the World Cup.
“I know it is boring for young guys,” he said, playing spoilsport at his post-game media briefing when asked about the giddy hype now surrounding Ireland. “But we are just onto the next one, we are. Because the same points are available against Italy (as against France) and we have got to make sure that we learn our lessons.
“It’s just about us improving as a group, a realisation of where we were at and where we need to get better and how hungry we are on daily basis to try and achieve those goals. Everyone talked about the performance last week (against Wales), but I asked the guys on Wednesday after all the reviews, ‘What do you think?’
“To a man, everyone thought that the performance wasn’t good enough. We’ll do exactly the same with this one [the French review] and we will keep pushing the standards. That is all that matters to us really.”
Red, not yellow
If there is one thing that has grated about Irish rugby in recent years, it’s the hesitancy to publicly call out foul play. In a climate where safety is such a hot topic, X-rated incidents should be candidly commented on rather than play the diplomat.
We had it in 2016 when the All Blacks repeatedly went in high on Ireland in Dublin a fortnight after the famous Irish win in Chicago. Schmidt disappointingly played down the controversy rather than call out the foul play.
It was similar with regard to Farrell’s vanilla response about the gruesome Uini Atonio collision that put Rob Herring out of the game. “The referees are paid to make those decisions. Wayne (Barnes) and his team of four, they couldn’t get any closer to the big screen to see it as it was. You have got to trust that call,” shrugged Farrell, sidestepping the invitation to openly say it should have been a red-carded foul, which it was.
If there wasn’t a high degree of danger in the collision, as alleged by Barnes in his TMO review, then why was Herring gone for a head injury assessment that he failed? Atonio’s tackle tech, with no dip in height or a wrap of the right arm as his right shoulder made head contact, was criminally poor.
It should have been more heavily punished by the officials… and should have merited a far tougher comment from Farrell in the aftermath. When it comes to player safety, leniency of any kind isn’t acceptable.
Highlights from an ASTONISHING encounter between Ireland and France. #GuinnessSixNations | #IREvFRA pic.twitter.com/u2LsLHdfIz
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 11, 2023
Attacking the imagination
It’s said that defence wins championships but this Ireland team appears to be on a mission to show that attack is the most decisive ingredient. Their haul against the Welsh was more grunt than finesse, with three tries by the forwards coming from pick-and-go at the line to add to a James Lowe intercept.
The variety in their scores on Saturday, however, fired the imagination. Yes, there was still grunt evident in the Andrew Porter burrow, but the trick play from the goalline restart for the Hugo Keenan score, the acrobatics of Lowe at the corner, and the quick hands to put in Garry Ringrose for the clincher were all emblematic of an attack bustling with creativity.
“Lovely to see things like that pay off,” said Johnny Sexton about the sleight of Finlay Bealham hand trickery at the heart of the Keenan try. Rugby needs more and more of that captivating invention, examples that this sport can be played in so many attractive ways. As for the Lowe acrobatics, Sexton was flabbergasted – just like everyone else watching on.
“Incredible finish to jump at the right time and keep the ball under control. World-class. I’ve seen Keith Earls practice it in training with pads and stuff, I don’t think I have ever seen him [Lowe] practice but he does a lot of things that probably just come really naturally to him. He is a phenomenal player… I love playing with him, the energy he brings, the way he goes about his business.”
The Algarve hunch
The spate of injuries that Ireland are registering isn’t pretty. The frightening bang suffered by Herring and the crumpled heap Tadhg Beirne wound up in were concerning, and you also have to generally wonder if there is some element of their own collective conditioning leaving them prone to suffering so many hamstrings issues.
And yet, in Saturday’s aftermath, came a different type of training ground story, an encouraging yarn underlining the growing sense of depth that now exists in this Farrell squad. So much so bench use was essentially the clinching of the win versus the French – Ross Byrne and co vibrantly adding to the mix rather than undermining it.
Farrell wasn’t in the least bit surprised given the hunch he lapped up under the Algarve sun last week. “I remember Johnny in Portugal, we got up to speed after a week and had a training session, 15-on-15.
“The team was already picked and he got the lads in after the session and said, ‘You wouldn’t know which is the first team, the Irish team that is playing at the weekend’. That is where we are at, so therefore the belief is real and you actually get to a point where you are pleased that people are able to get an opportunity to see whether they can take it or not because that is the stage we are at, we’re trying to find out about each other.”
Minted Murray
Conor Murray’s career as a 30-something has been rocky. All that repeated box-kicking under Schmidt and on into the early part of the Farrell era had damaged his reputation, generating the impression that he had become a one-trick pony who had little else to his game.
That erroneous perception, though, has now been exposed, Murray showing in the recent wins over South Africa and Wales that he does have variety in abundance but wasn’t able to show it due to the tactical diktat he had operated under.
The shackles are now loosened, enabling him to look more polished, but his effort against the French was especially top-notch as it came just four days after his father was seriously injured in an accident.
To be able to shut out that distress and produce what he did in a direct head-to-head with Antoine Dupont was sublime and what Sexton had to say about him was fully deserved. “Unbelievable really, a mark of the character of the player.
“In my eyes, he has always been a class operator and has always been world-class in his position. He changed the game in many ways for scrum halves and yeah, just amazing that he could just show up and be so calm and put in the performance that he did.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Will rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to comments