Irish lineout is well wide of the mark

Gerry Thornley On Rugby: The lineout is king alright, perhaps more than the scrum ever was in its sepia-tinted, muckiest heydays.

Never mind that lineouts outnumber scrums (on Saturday at Lansdowne Road the count was 32 to 13), or that statistically it is the primary source of attacking ploys and scores, or that one of France's three tries and Ireland's emanated from Irish throws. Nowadays putting a performance together without one is simply like building a house without a foundation.

Across the world game, Ireland's lineout has widely been regarded as peerless in the last couple of years. The main pillar of their run of success and ascent up the world pecking order, it couldn't be dominant every day and ultimately had to have a day when it went slightly askew.

In hindsight, the game against England was perhaps a little bit of a warning. The official stats on Saturday had Ireland down for three lost lineouts out of 16, though this didn't take into account a fourth that resulted in a French scrum. Three were coughed up in the first half, and the Irish pack responded to the French assault by winning their last five when largely throwing to the front in helping to steer a brave and unlikely course back into the match.

But by then much of the damage had been done. Most obviously, Benoit Baby's try emanated from a long Shane Byrne throw intended for Malcolm O'Kelly but was easily picked off by Yannick Nyanga, as had been the case when he beat Anthony Foley to the ball at the preceding Irish delivery.

In keeping with many of the Irish throws, there was a distinct lack of movement. It looked oddly sluggish and ponderous. It invariably took a while to set. Foley made a half-hearted leap at the front of the line without lifters and the decoys, such as they were, wouldn't have kidded a schoolboys' team. It seems unlikely that they were keeping their powder dry for Cardiff. More likely it was indicative of a strangely flat performance.

Did they get ahead of themselves in thinking of a Grand Slam? Good judges thought there was plenty of evidence that they had, and the number of handling errors certainly hinted at an underlying nervousness in the performance. Perhaps we in the media and the public, no less than former players and pundits, exacerbated the 57-year baggage of history.

By comparison, the French defensive lineout was more aggressive, as was much of their play. Rugby remains first and foremost a physical fight, and by rolling Ireland back from the first of an unimaginative, long restart game, with their initial maul, France drew a line in the sand, as they did with their lineout drives which set up Yann Delaigue's equalising drop goal.

Pretty soon too, the post-match stats are also going to have to take into account yardage hauls from the rolling maul. By the end, the count was about 75 metres to, well, a few. Typical of a gutsy effort, Ireland defended the French maul better as the match wore on, but the lineout maul with which Ireland obliterated the Scots in Murrayfield never got going.

It's hard to be critical, for however disappointed everyone else must be, it will be nothing compared to the players and management themselves, and they're the ones who helped generate the dream of a first Grand Slam in 57 years.

Might the presence of Clive Woodward all week also have been a distraction? If so, more will have gone back than forward in the Lions' pecking order.

The sight of Peter Stringer sniping on five occasions, more than he would normally do in a championship campaign, might be construed as empirical evidence of this. But one seriously doubts that. More likely, with Ireland having to overcommit to rucks, it was a commentary on the lack of target runners available to Ronan O'Gara, who, like his half-back partner, also manfully varied his game as best he could in very trying conditions.

Ditto the talisman. There may have been three untypical handling errors, a couple of questionable decisions to kick the ball, and a flawed choice to go for the corner at nine points down with 15 minutes to go, but Brian O'Driscoll was constantly probing, made a couple of his trademark offloads and carved a try out of nothing.

Kevin Maggs, as honest as the day is long, seemed to be trying almost too hard to fill the breach. He made one productive early rumble and some good tackles, but seemed to be defending too close to O'Gara, and the late knock-on which undid Ireland's get out of jail card compounded a couple of turnovers in contact when left isolated.

With Keith Wood, Victor Costello and David Wallace out of the frame, Ireland need some more forward runners. Failing a recall for Eric Miller or, at a push, Alan Quinlan, those in possession will have to take on the responsibility. One wouldn't have swapped places with O'Kelly in the video analysis when it came to the three penalties against him, but, aside from working his fingers to the bone and his restart takes, his willingness to take the ball hard and from deep into contact was an example for all.

Johnny O'Connor, too, has little to reproach himself about. Aside from making his tackles, he got his hands on the ball plenty of times and manufactured five turnovers off the French that he had no right to make. What more can the young fella do?

Compared to the Welsh, especially, Ireland don't have a continuity, offloading game in the same remit. To see six Welsh players, and the rest of the team not far behind, all in support for the opening Ryan Jones try was evidence of this; ditto five Welsh forwards at one point moving the ball on in almost the blink of an eye.

French self-interest aside, there'll hardly be a neutral rooting for Ireland's brand of rugby next Saturday, but Eddie O'Sullivan and his team won't care a hoot about that. They'll undoubtedly roll up their sleeves and target the Welsh front five and their lineout, and this Welsh team do miss tackles and concede plenty of line-breaks.

It'll be a cranky Irish camp this week. And all the better for that.