It seems incongruous to be itching for confirmation of the team selections in a game presented as being hopelessly lopsided. But then context is everything. And the context to this one is that Wales have been insulted by the degree of arrogance abroad on this side of the Irish Sea, a stretch of water sure to be renamed the Gulf of Wales if the result follows the romantic script.
If not – if the game runs true to form – then the next best ending is for Matt Sherratt to get a bounce that takes his team to a competitive level. The final option is for Ireland to move, with the minimum of fuss, one step closer to a hat-trick of Championships, with a Grand Slam as part of the target.
There is a symmetry to all of this. Warren Gatland got his Championship career off to a gripping start when he was parachuted in for Brian Ashton in Ireland’s stuttering campaign in 1998. First up? France away, with predictions of Ireland to concede the ton of points. Now he makes way, in similar circumstances, before the show reaches its interval, with Sherratt filling the gap. Ireland haven’t had to act so dramatically since.
Gatland’s policy in Paris back then was to bring some discipline to the technique of parking the bus, and it worked. France were blessed to win. The Cardiff coach however is, by nature, in attack mode. Some of the front foot rugby his side played in Connacht in last weekend’s URC suggested copy and paste would be a good place for Wales to start.
Maybe he reckons the run-up to Saturday is too short to change what Rob Howley was doing? Circumstances however allow him to take that chance. He has already gone big on personnel changes so why not take a step further?
With three Gloucester players now in close company behind the scrum the coach is hardly pitching in lads who will need to be introduced to each other in the changing room. Naturally enough most attention over here will focus on Gareth Anscombe, whose omission from Gatland’s original squad looked like an untold story. Maybe Gatland didn’t see him as part of the future, but for Sherratt it’s only about the present.
The Championship has so little room for manoeuvre your only plan is route one: the best 23 available at the time.
This raises the familiar debate about the chief criterion in selecting for Test rugby: the best team to play on Saturday, or the best team by the time you get to where you’re headed?
We’ve always been in favour of living in the here and now on this issue, at least in the Six Nations. Summer tours present different scenarios, as do November internationals. But the Championship has so little room for manoeuvre your only plan is route one: the best 23 available at the time.
Clearly Simon Easterby is rewriting this script. His use of three top quality players at centre is on the money, good for morale, and no matter what he does here – barring picking one of them when off form – the coach is on solid ground.
The second row situation is in the same ballpark. Joe McCarthy wins out over James Ryan, who is in very good form, because McCarthy brings a level of grunt that none of the others have handy.
The situation at full back is different. Hugo Keenan is Ireland’s undisputed first choice full back, but Jamie Osborne is close enough now to give him palpitations. This is a luxury for Ireland.
You’d never say that about our roster of props though. Tom Clarkson has done nothing wrong since getting a look-in during the November series, against Argentina and Fiji, but that’s not the same as being rated ahead of Finlay Bealham who looks locked and loaded now as a quality international tight-head. So why Clarkson? Because he will benefit big time from a start in the Six Nations, his first. If you were Welsh you could point to this and say they’re giving him a run because it looks like the coast is clear. Bealham is on the bench. What could possibly go wrong?
The progress of Jack Boyle in Leinster has been reassuring however, a journey that took another positive step in the quality of his performance in Swansea last weekend.
It is for exactly that reason that Cian Healy is not on the bench, covering the other side of the scrum. The nightmare scenario was that Ireland’s record caps holder would be pressed into action as a firefighter for a blaze that broke out, say, 10 minutes into the game. It happens.
The progress of Jack Boyle in Leinster has been reassuring however, a journey that took another positive step in the quality of his performance in Swansea last weekend. He was replaced in that last quarter there by Paddy McCarthy, another Leinster cab that will get off the rank in the summer.
Again Welsh supporters might infer a slight in this but it would be a stretch. Rather they should be concerned that Boyle might make a bigger impact than your average debutant when he gets into the game.
If that arrival is on schedule then we might not have the game we’re hoping for. Which is one where the combination of changes on and off the field for Wales, spiced by the noises drifting over the water about a date with no hint of jeopardy, keeps us engaged.
The prospect of something different might put Matt Sherratt off his food on Saturday morning, those thoughts of an afternoon where he’s checking his watch every few minutes after kick off, but hopefully he gets to enjoy this one. It’s nothing like the scene in 2006 when Mike Ruddock folded his tent early in the campaign, after the defeat by England, to be replaced by one of his assistants, Scott Johnson.
Easterby is likely to reflect on the day with another win under the belt and some more valuable game time spread across his squad.
For the Cardiff coach this is a free hit. For his opposite number it’s something different but still it’s hard to see a downside. Rather Easterby is likely to reflect on the day with another win under the belt and some more valuable game time spread across his squad. That includes giving the captaincy to Dan Sheehan. With Caelan Doris out injured this is not in the toss of a coin category for a world class hooker, but a good call when the easy shout would have been in the direction of Peter O’Mahony.
All of this could come in handy sooner rather than later. Either way it looks like a sound investment in human resources without having to take a punt.
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It’s only from OTB which is becoming a national embarrassment. It’s hosted by goons who’ve never even held a rugby ball.
If it were Ireland in Wales’ predicament I’m sure plenty of Welsh would be laughing themselves silly. Theres the nasty aftertaste of Wales (and Scotland) swinging a tight vote against Ireland for the hosting of the last world cup and a lack of sympathy for how the WRU have run their game into the ground.
There is still such a thing as acceptable levels of banter though and much of the OTB stuff was over the line.
To be honest, OTB can say what they like. Its a joke about a rugby match, nobody died.
99% of the Irish coverage was empathetic and considerate of Wales. Remarkably so actually.
The few lines from the one broadcast if distorted and amplified to become ‘Irish Arrogance’ gets a lot more clicks and makes more money.
You will always get people taking the p1ss, god knows Wales did it against Ireland and Scotland back in the day. What is new is how the other media deduce ‘Irish Arrogance’ from one story to get clicks and make money.
Normally turn them off as they talk sh1t for hours about sport they know zilch about.
In the spirit of appreciation, Well is it a reversing of Welsh arrogance of the past borne out of legitimacy due to the fact they were the better team.. simply so it's simply our time to shine albeit with touch too much for the want of a better phrase... shite talk
.we are the better team and should expect nothing less than a win
Everyone was expecting an Irish win. What’s new is wider media cherry picking and distorting one joke from one media segment amongst 100s to proclaim ‘Irish Arrogance’ and sell their own copy over it.
“Wales have been insulted by the degree of arrogance abroad on this side of the Irish Sea.”
I haven’t heard of any Welshman publicly say they have been insulted. As it is one of 100s of podcasts and every other one has been tripping over themselves to NOT appear arrogant/condescending from any angle, then I would say ‘the degree of arrogance’ is tiny and only reported to get clicks.
In fact the snippet itself is just p1sstaking, not arrogance and in that context it was poor.
See the story about Gareth Edwards from Wales to show how its done:
Who says Wales are insulted, Easterby could drop all the New Zealanders and Leinster player and still beat us by a margin. The immediate problem is players but that lack of talent is the product of mismanagement of the game in Wales and a failure to bring on new blood. We have no no10, Anscombe is made of glass good for 60mins in a Welsh shirt each season, we have gone from 3 world class players to one who is now employed to box kick, no centres worth mentioning with the exception of a brave but manic English man with questionable handling. One ex World class wing that finishes well when he has equal talent inside him. Mediocre front row, locks that blow hot or cold, a number 8 who is held together by baling twine, yet still a decent player and a couple of quality WF if they are fit. They only thing Wales supporters feel is envy.
Agree. Its one skit in a podcast among 100s of podcasts/broadcasts. I know i’d probably prefer a bit of old fashioned p1ss taking to the alternative patronizing sh1t.
As a child I never witnessed Ireland beating Wales until maybe ‘82. I remember one time in Cardiff we nearly had ye and then someone kicked it over for a 9-8 to Wales. Every game hope crushed. Not sure if it was Steve Fenwich, although I remember him from that game for some reason.
The negative boasting and expectation of victory is coming from The press in Ireland mainly from OTB is done for click bait -I don’t think the Irish camp are in any way disrespecting Wales -the blending in of up and coming talent is exactly what’s required now and overdue-Munsterman in Yorkshire
The whole ‘Irish arrogance’ tripe is nonsense.
Almost every Irish broadcast, podcast, article on the match (even before OTB) was extremely considerate of Wales, going out of their way to be balanced. Some Irish media even did deep dives into how some structural successes in Ireland might be able to be replicated in Wales. Ie useful researched articles.
The problem is that reporting of amazingly considerate Irish media coverage doesn’t sell copy. Mass reporting of the one broadcast with a few lines does. Accusations of arrogance sells.
To be honest, Off The Ball are perfectly entitled to take the p1ss out of whomever they want.
In England a ‘Times’ columnist insulted the entire Scottish pack, saying they were ‘weedy’ and England would destroy them. Crickets.
Another column created a fake story about Scottish people being sick of their ‘Plastic’ (foreign born) players. Crickets.
Both of these articles were insulting and from British papers of record. Crickets. Other articles inclusing Guardian had a clear bias to England.
Ireland does 99% balanced, considerate reporting and one joke..and we are all arrogent?
Not buying it.
Exactly!