RUGBY SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP:GORDON D'ARCY successfully trained yesterday afternoon with the Ireland squad and the team management expect him to play in Ireland's final Six Nations match of 2010, the Triple Crown decider against Scotland at Croke Park tomorrow evening.
The inside centre hobbled off the field last week against Wales after taking a heavy blow just above his knee and was replaced by Rob Kearney, with left wing Keith Earls shifting into the centre. Speaking at the team hotel, forwards coach Gert Smal said D’Arcy had made significant improvement since last Saturday. He completed the training session without a reaction, although, a final decision will not be taken until today.
“He’s doing well, making very good progress,” said Smal, who was asked if he expected D’Arcy to play. “Yeah,” said the former Springbok, nodding his head.
For much of yesterday’s team briefing Smal and defence coach Les Kiss were trying to explain that Ireland’s poor match statistics against Wales were not of over-riding importance going into the Scotland match.
Ireland completed 109 passes to Wales’ 187. They won the ball 56 times in open play to Wales’ 102 and enjoyed almost seven minutes less possession than the Welsh during the game.
Given the reputation the Scottish backrow brings to Croke Park, that possession could have been seen as a problem area.
“We try to deal with realities as they are. We try to build systems and methods that are able to cope (with bad stats),” said Kiss. “The numbers don’t define (what happens). The reality of the moment defines it. They (team) get out and they find a way through those numbers. That’s a strong quality, I think.
“We’ve discussed tactically the elements of possession and position and getting that balance right,” added Kiss. “The nature of the game at that moment has its part to play, the quality of the kicking and chasing, are we under pressure or is it in our flow? We try to make the decision that suits the situation that’s there. We’ve discussed that and we want to shift that (statistical) balance back to parity where its 50-50.
“The last two games with little possession and opportunity has been brilliant attacking rugby to take those opportunities with very little ball. We’re taking that as a positive.”
It might all sound a little ethereal but as Ireland defeated Wales 27-12 Kiss’s logic of statistics being partially bunkum, or at least tied in with many other aspects, has a ring of truth. In tandem, other aspects of Ireland’s game give them a wholesale dominance, not reflected in the bald facts.
“The set-piece in our game is of such quality it puts us on the front foot so much, especially the lineout,” explained Kiss. “So we have other weapons for when we don’t have possession to get ourselves back in the game. So they’re the things you should be relying on to get back into a game rather than numbers that supposedly say you can’t.”
Scotland is not only a match Ireland expect to win but one that will help define where the team are and where they expect to go. Two defeats in five matches, one of them against a team ranked 10 in the world, five rungs below Ireland, would say little about consistent levels of performance. The team are unapologetically aiming higher than that.
“It’s in the capacity of this team to go into every Test and believe we can win every Test,” added Kiss. “It’s critical to us to get this game right. Winning is a habit and when it comes to those tight matches, we’ve proven we can eke it out a variety of ways. Whether it’s through a field (drop) goal or forcing a penalty or through a starter play that Tommy put through recently (against England).
“So there’s a lot of ways we’re understanding we can stay in touch at the back end of the game, so if we can put our best performance up, if we can be the best we can be on that day we feel we can win that Test. We can win most Tests. We want to win this game. We want the Triple Crown, that’s for sure.”
