Liam Toland: Some combinations impress in second warm-up win

Two warm-up wins with very close to 100 per cent set piece and eight tries scored (five from backs!) is a very happy return from the 34 players blooded, not to mention the celebration of new caps. New boy Nathan White found himself in green grass on several occasions after his introduction against Scotland and had no problems spin passing to a better placed player.

The others too looked comfortable in senior green jerseys, where loose head David Kilcoyne was superb; a man-of-the-match performance at scrum time, but he worked way beyond set piece. Seán O'Brien did massive damage too and both provide an insight into sub-unit uniformity. So let's ignore the stats for a moment and look at style and unit/sub-unit performances with an eye on"the 31"

Jared Payne's opportunity relies heavily on those inside him, notably his outhalf Ian Madigan, to create attacking options, and his inside centre to combine defensively. However, Madigan was reliant on Isaac Boss and his service. Scrumhalves are reliant on the set piece and breakdown.

At scrum time Kilcoyne worked brilliantly with Mike Ross to get that destabilising left hand wheel on the Scottish ball – Ross locking it all down and Kilcoyne depowering his tighthead before the entire Irish unit shifted slightly left to drive around Ross. Possibly the most difficult and time-consuming unit skill to perfect is the lineout maul; firstly Ireland had to win the ball (not easy with Jim Hamilton) and then set up height and shape to protect the ball while ultimately going forward. This is not easy two games in and it worked well, as did the scrum and breakdown.

With no lack of talent on show on Saturday, time is the enemy of the sub-units such as half-backs and the back three. The relationship is either there or it's not. If not, then multiple games/seasons are required. But the half-backs and the Irish back three don't have that luxury, where for instance Luke Fitzgerald and Simon Zebo were understandably at odds with each other's actions: staying wide or switching off the inside man takes time to read. Negotiating the four stages – observe, orientate, decide and act – ideally skipping the middle two, will expose the opposition.

Soft tries

Ireland conceded three tries to Scotland. Those tries were soft and concerning in that there were one-up missed tackles, with confusion in defence, and most worryingly, Ireland, having dictated the tempo for much of the opening 40 minutes, allowed Scotland to “drift in” for the opening 10 minutes of the second half, where they comfortably built phases, holding position and advantageous field position.

Then Paul O’Connell arrived, and if the players have one eye on Joe Schmidt’s immense demands, they were immediately affected by their talisman who injected (scared) pace and physicality, with offensive hits across the gain line affording his team-mates an opportunity to steal off the deck and to get off the line.

O'Connell's presence has a large impact on his team. Likewise, Eoin Reddan had an impact in the pace of his colleagues, looking a far better fit with Madigan. The advantage is always in the favour of a half-back who arrives in the final quarter, as having watched events unfold, they can spot the weaknesses in the opposition and act accordingly. That said, he's performed two weeks in a row.

The scaffolding work at the breakdown continues to be impressive, especially in the opening half where the “bridging” of the ruck was uniform and clearly a high priority.

The body position of those protecting the fringes and ultimately the scrum-half is interesting where all those who found themselves there were perfect statues all in the same pose. As noted on Friday, the combination of O'Brien and Chris Henry added a wonderful threat on the Scottish ball, missing in Wales. Henry made a midfield hit on 16min 50sec, with O'Brien live to the evolving picture, allowing Henry to do his work before "spiking" his bulked-up body over the ball in an inverted V and impossible to move: penalty Ireland!

The work rate throughout the opening salvos was an insight into the enthusiasm to impress the coach. Every dead ball was chased and half- chances followed. When working off an aggressive defensive line there was no issue in the individual hits, but as the pace dipped with Scotland gaining momentum the individual struggled. Errors such as missing touch after a great turnover was crucial in not killing the ball and Scotland’s momentum leading to a soft try.

Breach gap

Scotland have a long way to go to catch up on Ireland’s current World Rugby status and they may never breach the gap. As such, it is all the more galling to have allowed them to “compete”. From yet another powerful scrum, after turning the Scots’ previous scrum over, Madigan launched a crossfield Garryowen target for

Tommy Bowe

. That three “tall” Scots were honey potting placed the odds way against Bowe, but he was the only one to contest in the air and came away with the ball.

So with eight tries, an impressive set piece and improving breakdown, it’s down to combinations. After two warm-up matches, whatever 31 travel to the World Cup there’ll clearly be huge talent left behind, where on Saturday’s performance certain sub-units excelled and unfortunately we’re unlikely to see others reformed liamtoland@yahoo.com