Preview: End of the Schmidt, Gatland rivalry has made for a very different Ireland-Wales build-up
It’s been an Ireland-Wales build-up with a marked difference to what had become the norm. No verbal bombs from Warren Gatland. No gritted teeth riposte from Joe Schmidt either.
Gatland is now busy with the Chiefs, Schmidt less so although he is currently spending a fortnight offering technical advice back on an old stomping ground in Clermont. When they used to clash at Test level it was nearly always an intense week of claim and counter-claim.
With Wayne Pivac and Andy Farrell the new men respectively in charge of Wales and Ireland, the lead-in to Saturday’s showdown has contrastingly been all sweetness and light after too many years of tetchiness and rancour, the sort of nonsense that has this week instead dominated the build-up to the Calcutta Cup match in Edinburgh.
The only stormy note about the Aviva Stadium encounter has been the weather forecast and what impact the anticipated windy conditions might have on the exchanges. Early February Test rugby is seldom pretty, as teams can be slow to pick up the thread again following their winter lay-off.
But adding to the mix winds that are expected to reach 40kph around kick-off time and you potentially have a recipe for some low frills, up-the-jumper rugby.
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Jim Hamilton breaks down Ireland vs Wales at the Aviva Stadium
This was something Ireland struggled containing last weekend, Scotland’s more robust, confrontational approach leaving the result hanging through to the final whistle.
Farrell’s forwards eventually gritted it out but can they now take their efforts to a higher level and end Wales’ eight-match winning streak in the tournament? RugbyPass runs the rule over some of the pressing issues that could prove decisive:
Johnny be good, Biggar be better
So much depends on this duo. Sexton’s importance to Ireland has become even more pronounced now that he is Farrell’s captain. He judged the mood of last week’s game correctly when kicking to touch and putting Ireland on the front foot to secure their only try rather than just kick the three points that were on offer.
Fans dubious of the decision to give the veteran the captaincy feared his petulance and there was a show of this at one stage when he over-egged an injury, holding his jaw and exaggeratedly writhing on the floor. It wasn’t a good look and can’t be repeated if he is to become a fully respected captain in the O’Connell or Best mould.
He brought more of a ball in hand approach to last week’s win rather than overly rely on boot to ball – look at how Conor Murray kicked for 195 metres compared to just 22 by the out-half. But how he plays it against Wales will be intriguing.
Your teams for Saturday's clash at the Aviva Stadium. #SixNations2020 #Ireland #Wales pic.twitter.com/rbkevRozti
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 6, 2020
When Ireland were dismantled last year in Cardiff, Sexton’s discomfort was clear and obvious. The Welsh got under his skin and they will look to do so again, even though it is Dan Biggar directing operations and not the injured Gareth Anscombe who stole the show last time around.
Biggar’s effort last weekend was a contrast to Sexton, using the boot much more to kick for 99 metres. He is a gutsy operator who well knows what it takes to see off the Irish.
Sexton, though, had the bragging rights when they most recently clashed, Leinster running a bus through Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens on the December 7 day Sexton picked up the injury that kept him sidelined until last weekend.
Set-piece security versus French-style refereeing
Wales got themselves into a bind last week at the scrum, only winning five of their eight and conceding three penalties.
Pivac was philosophic about this aberration in midweek and mentioned how he would seek out a pre-game word with Saturday’s referee Romain Poite. But there’s the rub – having a word is one thing, coping with the fussy French official’s mannerisms during a game quite another.
It should be quite a battle at the scrum as Ireland coughed up two penalties last week against the Scots, so both teams will feel they can target each other to see can they gain a decisive nudge here in contrast to the more reliable lineouts each team has.
Poite has Six Nations history of this fixture, taking charge of the game of two halves that was Ireland winning in Cardiff back in 2013 by 30-22. That was the year Wales put the opening round loss behind them and went on to take the title.
A performance full of enterprise from Wales against a lacklustre Italian side has left Wayne Pivac with a few selection dilemmas ahead of Dublin, according to @OwainJTJones https://t.co/dYuZIyIoc6
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 3, 2020
Mean defences… but with a difference
You imagine winning a match by 42 points compared to one with a seven-point margin would produce some contrasting stats. It did.
While match stats provided by AWS suggest Wales’ defence versus Italy turned out to be as shaky as Ireland’s against the Scots even though both teams kept their opposition tryless, there was one distinct difference – Ireland had individual culprits across the board whereas Wales only had the select few at fault.
Ireland missed 21 of its 192 attempted tackles, with fingers pointed at 13 of their starting XV. Josh van der Flier topping that chart with three misses and five other players had two.
Wales, meanwhile, missed 17 of their 208 attempted tackles. Just seven of their starting XV missed a tackle, though, and Johnny McNicholl’s difficult debut was encapsulated by how he missed six tackles. Dillon Lewis was next with three.
There has been much support for Pivac’s decision to shift George North back out to the wing and hand Nick Tompkins a first Test start in midfield, but it didn’t go unnoticed that Tompkins missed two tackles during the 27 minutes he played off the bench. Might that be something for Ireland to nibble at, his inexperience at this level?
Scotland's starting 8 made 133m off 59 runs at the Aviva compared to just 44m off 64 runs in the previous encounter, a ball-carrying threat that caused the overall Irish tackle rate to soar.
– @heagneyl on Farrell's first game in charge #SixNations ?????????https://t.co/cDtIpCsWbL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 2, 2020
A game of Catt and Jones
With Wales scoring five tries to Ireland’s one in last weekend’s opening round, its safe to say that the Welsh attack under new assistant coach Stephen Jones exhibited more potency than what was delivered by the Irish under their new attack coach Mike Catt.
Any day your outside backs account for five tries must go down as a good outing and it was clear that Jones’ opportunity to work with the squad at the recent World Cup due to Rob Howley’s suspension has given him a head start in now taking things on further under Pivac.
As for the Irish, Farrell’s recruitment of his old fellow assistant from their England days is a punt. Catt only ever had fleetingly rare moments of success during his three and a half years working with the Italians under Conor O’Shea.
However, you would expect whatever ideas he has to pan out better now that he is working with more skilled players in Ireland. There were glimpses versus the Scots last weekend about what he might be trying to implement, a 1/3/2/2 attack shape across four groups being seen at times.
It suggests they will be trying to go through and around opposition in a different way to what used to happen under Schmidt, but how quickly can this bring collective reward and how quickly can the attacking prowess of someone like Jordan Larmour be properly harnessed?
Scoring tries isn’t a must for success, mind. Ireland won the title in 2015 by scoring just eight tries across their five matches and Wales, for that matter, managed just ten – the same as bottom side Italy – in their 2019 Grand Slam.
Jones and Catt, though, will still want to make a quick impression with their various ploys.
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Four new captains ?
Four new coaches ?
Six Nations ?
…and lots of media ?– @heagneyl takes us behind the scenes at the @SixNationsRugby launch in London ? #GuinnessSixNationshttps://t.co/JTnacLMshc
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 22, 2020
Why club level envy can again motivate the Welsh
Gatland always had a thing or two to say about how the Welsh regions getting beaten by the Irish provinces was a massively motivating factor whenever Wales took on Ireland at Test level.
“There’s no doubt that some of the Welsh boys are envious of the Irish provinces’ success,” he used to say with regularity, and that pattern hasn’t changed in the slightest this season heading into this latest Test rendezvous.
In eleven PRO14 fixtures so far this term, only one has tipped the way of the Welsh – Scarlets managing to defeat Connacht 18-20 in an early season match-up. Other than that the victories have all been Irish, with Leinster even posting 50 and 53 points when hammering Dragons and Ospreys.
Add in Munster’s two Champions Cup pool wins over the Ospreys and the overall one-sided nature of the results becomes even bleaker, 13 Irish wins and 426 points scored compared to just a solitary W and a meagre 158 points scored for the Welsh clubs.
That’s a situation that will surely sharpen Wales’ motivation like it so often did in the Gatland era.
WATCH: Nick Tompkins can’t wait to start for Wales against Ireland
Comments on RugbyPass
“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to comments