Another hurdle negotiated but Ireland lose their way in scrum

RUGBY NEWS Ireland 38 Connacht 3:IRELAND NEGOTIATED another warm-up match without too much pain in terms of injuries, which would have been the most pleasing thing for the Irish management among a curious 3,168 attendance. But there's no gain without some pain, and this encounter wasn't without worries for the management.

A bit like the rest of the team, Tony Buckley, at loosehead, and John Hayes were in something of a no-win situation; or at any rate could probably gain little from the night. As it was, the night, and especially the scrums, did not exactly enhance their claims.

There were eight in the first half, five for Connacht and three for Ireland. None reflected well on the Irish scrum, but the ones on their own put-in were a source of embarrassment.

Dylan Rogers, a 27-year-old South African signed from Buccaneers last year, and Rodney Ah You, the 22-year-old Kiwi from Christchurch and a “special project” who ought to qualify for Ireland in under two years, each had Hayes and Buckley in trouble. Ah You, who represented the New Zealand Under-19s against Ireland Under-19s three years ago, also impressed around the pitch.

Ireland had scored a couple of tries in quick succession before the end of the first quarter, but their failure to press home this advantage was in large part due to their scrum difficulties. The Irish scrum suffered the ignominy of being shunted back, sidewards and upwards on successive put-ins, and from the first it required a try-saving tackle by Johne Murphy to deny John Muldoon from scoring off the ensuing loose ball.

Buckley hit the first ruck/maul after the interval so hard one could only venture that he had the proverbial hair dryer treatment from either Gert Smal or Declan Kidney. Unfortunately for him, when Ireland opted for a five-metre scrum soon after, Buckley’s side of the scrum was penalised for going down. By contrast, when Marcus Horan was introduced – and admittedly Buckley reverted to his more effective tighthead side – it immediately steadied the ship. Albeit against a tiring Ah You. But there was the sight, for the first time, of the Irish scrum going forward, with Ah You being penalised twice.

Strictly on this evidence, for what it’s worth, Horan’s candidature looked the best of this trio, though once again you were left wondering if Jamie Hagan, the player whom Connacht insiders say could be their biggest loss from last season’s exodus, was not worth a look.

If there are any shoot-outs over this extended weekend, then perhaps Fergus McFadden and Isaac Boss were the most likely to fall into that category. It showed too, with each looking almost a little too eager to impress. McFadden looked sharp though, and had a particularly good start, breaking through a huge gap from an inside pass by Boss before Mick O’Driscoll touched down a couple of recycles later. He then followed up Paddy Wallace’s kick ahead to tackle Mark McCrea into touch, and put Leo Cullen over with a quick throw.

That Ireland then lost their way was down largely to their scrum difficulties. For what it’s worth, Kevin McLaughlin, who didn’t have a lot called on him, had some good moments, but probably not enough from this belated opportunity to win that utility slot. So too did Geordan Murphy, and like McFadden a second-half try would follow, but again, probably not enough at this late juncture.

One of the more intriguing little teasers of the night was what time would Conor Murray appear. At half-time would have signified it really was a shoot-out. Half an hour would suggest an outsider’s chance. Twenty or less to go wouldn’t quite smack of tokenism, but would certainly have made those odds much longer. And then again, maybe we were reading too much into it.

As it was, he was first off the bench within seven minutes of the restart (Boss not looking too thrilled). He immediately slipped into a nice rhythm on his passing – he really does take less steps now, and though he missed with one long pass and inside pop, his defence was also noticeably strong.

By then, nice hands by Murphy to Darren Cave saw the outside centre dummy through and Murphy scored with a trademark inside trailer. The next try also followed a nice clean line-break by Paddy Wallace, who had a very good night generally, and from his long pass a couple of phases later McFadden picked up and stepped inside Henry Fa’afili.

Murphy then released Cave, who in turn linked with McFadden and though he was corralled by Mark McCrea, he offloaded for Ian Keatley to run in the best try of the night. Wallace landed his fourth conversion of five thus far; all, oddly from virtually the same spot near the left touchline.

The welter of replacements pretty much finished off whatever flow the contest had, though a sequence of carries by Buckley, Donnacha Ryan and Denis Leamy, led to Murray and Murphy moving the ball on for Denis Hurley to score. Save for the added woes and concerns prompted by the scrums, and the eagerness of those contenders on the fringe, it was difficult to see how much else the management could realistically gain from the night other than match practice which, of course, is the primary point of these games.

In these transitional times for Connacht, who were missing a dozen players, it will have been a useful workout.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 14 mins: O'Driscoll try, Wallace con 7-0; 17: Cullen try, Wallace con 14-0; 47: G Murphy try 19-3; 63: McFadden try, Wallace con 26-3; 65: Keatley try, Wallace con 33-3; 77: Hurley try 38-3.

IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); J Murphy (Munster), D Cave (Ulster), I Keatley (Munster), F McFadden (Leinster); P Wallace (Ulster), I Boss (Leinster); T Buckley (Sale), S Cronin (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), L Cullen (Leinster), K McLaughlin (Leinster), N Ronan (Munster), D Leamy (Leinster). Replacements: Denis Hurley (Munster) for J Murphy (29 mins), Conor Murray (Munster) for Boss (48 mins), Marcus Horan (Munster) for Hayes (51 mins), D Ryan (Munster) for Cullen, C Henry (Belfast Harlequins) for Ronan (both 60 mins), D Varley (Munster) for Cronin, I Whitten (Ulster) for Keatley (both 72 mins).

CONNACHT: T O'Halloran; M McCrea, E Griffin, H Fa'afili, B Tuohy; N O'Connor, P O'Donohoe; D Rogers, A Flavin, R Ah You, M Swift, M Kearney, J Muldoon (capt), R Ofisa, G Naoupu. Replacements: TJ Anderson for Carney (49 mins), M Jarvis for O'Halloran (55 mins), J O'Connor for Ofisa (56 mins), E Reynecke for Flavin, D Buckley for Rogers, O'Halloran for Tuohy (all 63 mins), J Loxton for McCrea (69 mins), E Reynecke for Flavin, D Buckley for Rogers, O'Halloran for Tuohy (all 63 mins), J Loxton for McCrea (69 mins), D Moore for O'Donohoe (74 mins).

Referee: P Fitzgibbon(IRFU).