IRELAND v FIJI PREVIEW:PLAYING FIJI at the RDS may not quite feel like a Test match, and the visit of the world champions to a packed Croke Park next weekend will no doubt be more like the real deal, but the Royal Dublin Society is looking more and more like the ideal venue.
Close to capacity, with a pitch that looked in excellent condition yesterday and with a Leinster-infused Irish line-up, it fits in snugly between the two Tri-Nations heavyweights. And in terms of both individual and collective performances, today’s contest will carry plenty of significance in its own right.
In making eight changes, Ireland have also picked a noticeably big, physical side, sprinkled with experienced and in-form players, as well as a smattering of players who will have benefited from last week’s run. Declan Kidney and his think tank will be expecting plenty of hunger in the performance.
“In terms of players getting up for it, all you have to do is ask Shane or Gordon or any of the lads coming into it – that’s why we have picked the side we have because of the hunger that’s there in them in training and stuff during the week,” said the Irish coach yesterday.
“It is vital that we are on the pitch for this, and going on training the eight changes that we’ve made have shown that they are really biting, champing at the bit for this one.
“I couldn’t guarantee anything tomorrow, I’m not sure what way the game will go – I know this may sound like coach speak – but we picked a team that we believe will be hungry, as we believe they will be too with a game under their belt and a week’s preparation which is something they don’t always have. Sometimes they are just thrown together for a match.
“Weather permitting, it would have the makings of a good game. If the weather doesn’t permit it, we’ll both just work our way through it.”
On last week’s evidence, Ireland are clearly giving their players more leeway in terms of running from deep or counter-attacking if they think it’s on. However, the licence to thrill may be tempered slightly given the nature of the opposition and the forecast. While the worst of the heavy rain is expected to fall in the morning, a changeable afternoon and evening is expected to bring “scattered, squally showers”. Not quite Suva.
“Couldn’t we have a day like last Sunday for the Ireland-Australia game? That was lovely,” remarked Fiji coach Glen Ella.
Alas not, and stereotypical observations about today’s game are almost impossible to overlook. Fiji’s disorganisation at set-pieces was blatantly apparent against the Scots last weekend in Murrayfield when, by their own admission, about one in three of their scrums and lineouts afforded usable possession.
Nonetheless, on occasion, the Fijians’ innate ball-handling skills, offloading and lines of running were in evidence (and that’s from one to 15), as was their ability to play off-the-cuff when scoring their try from a quick tap by their accomplished Saracens’ scrum-half Mosese Rauluni. Well, it was that or take a scrum.
Ireland are also mindful of how Tonga scored two of their three tries off turnovers by the Irish A side in Ravenhill, and Ireland made 11 of them in contact against the Wallabies. Hence, a fair degree of structure might be called for, and it would be no surprise to see Jonathan Sexton and Co play territory with the pack to attack the Fijian set-pieces and especially their ability to defend the Irish maul.
Only when a lead has been built might they take a few risks, or at any rate use the cutting edge of their outside quartet.
However, in terms of the overall performance, the breakdown is the area most in need of improvement and it has been targeted accordingly. Irish ball-carriers need to use their footwork and heads as much as their strength in contact to tackle more on their terms, and get the cavalry to arrive quicker.
The stronger the overall performance, the more selection posers for South Africa there will be. Winning, successful sides tend not to leave too many openings. All eight players called in will be acutely mindful of this, as well as some of the replacements.
Well though Paddy Wallace played last week, Gordon D’Arcy can make a strong case for inclusion next week. Conditions mightn’t be ideal for the debutant outhalf, or the outside three, but, like D’Arcy, this is a real opening for Keith Earls and Shane Horgan.
Seven years on from the country’s most recent contest, Horgan and Leo Cullen survive, as do Brian O’Driscoll, John Hayes and D’Arcy, who was a replacement in that 64-17 win; O’Driscoll accounted for one of Ireland’s nine tries, with Kevin Maggs scoring a hat-trick.
In the previous meeting, Ireland won 44-8 in 1995.
But a decade before, when caps were not awarded, the sides met on a lovely, autumn day at Lansdowne Road. Ireland’s Triple Crown and championship winners of a season before sought to engage the Fijians in a game of pyjama rugby but misfired horribly and barely scraped through, winning 16-15 as Fiji missed both a glaring try-scoring chance and a late penalty to win.
It oughtn’t to come to that, but there’s a little lesson in there all the same.
Previous meetings:(1995) Ireland 44 Fiji 8; (2002) Ireland 64 Fiji 17.
Betting (Paddy Power):1/50 Ireland, 33/1 Draw, 16/1 Fiji. Handicap odds (= Fiji + 23pts) 10/11 Ireland, 25/1 Draw, 10/11 Fiji.
Forecast:Ireland to beat the handicap.
About 500 tickets for today’s Ireland-Fiji game will be available in Spar, Donnybrook, and at the IRFU offices in Lansdowne Road form 1-4pm this afternoon.
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