RUGBY:GRANTED IT was raining in beautiful Bordeaux yesterday but it was still incongruous to see the French squad boarding an Aer Lingus flight en masse and a full week in advance of next Saturday's rematch. Prior to this, the Irish squad bailed out of Bordeaux on a 1am charter after France's 19-12 win in Stade Chaban Delmas, thereby limiting their stay to one night. Shouldn't it be the other way around? The world has gone potty alright.
Perhaps they’re acclimatising for New Zealand, aka the Land of the Long White Cloud. Both teams’ readiness for the global jamboree will have come on another significant notch, for given the rustiness of both teams, this was a full-on, proper Test match – light years removed from the previous week’s fare in Edinburgh.
Much will now be revealed with Wednesday’s announcement of the teams to both play France again and Connacht in Donnybrook on Thursday. There will presumably be a fair few players trotting out in Donnybrook who’ll be going to New Zealand, but they’d all rather be in the Aviva.
A pattern is perhaps emerging, with those players earmarked for squad berths if not, say, starting places against Australia, perhaps getting their requisite two starts now as the heavy brigade loom into view. Pointing to several more changes to next Saturday’s line-up, Declan Kidney admitted: “I’d have a few things in mind. I think I said it last week: sometimes you need the courage to stay with the plan, but also you need to be open-minded enough to adapt it according to what you are seeing each week. And each week is showing us what we need to work on, and that’s why we are far better off playing matches.”
The gnawing thing remained the result, with Ireland having recovered from a 13-0 deficit to come within a point of a faltering French, and then have both a kick and the momentum to take the lead. Finally, with a draw in the offing, they forced two attacking set-pieces only to foul them up.
Players and management alike will know that they had the winning of this game and certainly the drawing of it at the finish. Asked how frustrating it was to lose a close-range scrum and close-range line-out in the last four minutes, Kidney maintained: “It’s not about me, it’s about the players and they’ll be disappointed with that. That’s why I say I believe it’s in our own hands to fix these things. At least we were getting into the positions in the second-half. What we need to do now is convert.”
It wasn’t quite said through gritted teeth but he looked fairly frustrated himself nonetheless.
“We’d be in a far worse situation if individuals were playing poorly,” he added. “Individually I can’t fault our fellas. You can’t defend the way we have defended in the last two matches by showing any lack of attitude. Our attitude is excellent and that is the one thing you cannot coach. We’re bringing that in bucketfuls, but I just know our execution can get better.
“We’ve talked about playing the matches to win the matches. I think too much of the players just accept it. We know we need to improve from game to game and that’s what we need to go after next week.”
True, Ireland were tryless for the second game running, but a feature of Saturday’s three front-line Tests in Durban, Cardiff and Bordeaux was the winning side scored the game’s sole try.
To a degree, Ireland’s second-half comeback and the narrow failure to extract something from the game should give them the confidence and the extra desire to avenge the loss next Saturday, all the more so with the likes of Paul O’Connell and Jamie Heaslip likely to start along with Marc Lièvremont’s stated intention to give the rest of his squad game time.
“But it’s France again at home,” countered Kidney. “So there’s easier matches to play, it’s not exactly a confidence-builder you’re going into play, you know? The French lads will change, you don’t know how many. But whether France change nobody, eight or 15, it doesn’t really matter. France can turn out three, four teams like that.”
Yet, allowing for this result, inaccuracy in possession in the first-half, the way Rory Best’s darts were dismantled by an exceptional French line-out and the four penalties at scrum time, the positives outweighed the negatives. There was, admittedly, the sight of Rob Kearney in obvious pain afterwards due to a groin injury and Mike Ross also had to leave the field with a calf injury similar to one he suffered during last year’s pre-season.
Kearney had a scan on his groin strain which will be reviewed today, though yesterday manager Paul McNaughton said “the injury does not seem too serious”. He added that Brian O’Driscoll, Stephen Ferris and Gordon D’Arcy “will be in contention for selection” this week, though it is hoped that Tommy Bowe will be “the week after”.
Kearney’s final contribution had been a 40-metre gallop when taking a good trailer onto a typically forceful piece of footwork, strength and offloading by Andrew Trimble. Evidence of a revived running threat on top of doing all the basics well last week would have been especially pleasing for the management. That moment was also further evidence of Ireland’s counter-attacking game also came up another notch, and Ronan O’Gara also contributed handsomely to this.
Admittedly, Ireland’s comeback was also due to a return to his and traditional virtues – ie his unerring location of the corners. He looks in very, very good nick and whoever is the back-up Irish outhalf at the World Cup, it’s doubtful any country will have one as good.
Keith Earls also looked sharp, and ditto Eoin Reddan, while both the debutant Conor Murray and Felix Jones, perhaps a more realistic ‘bolter’ than the scrumhalf, looked the part. Up front Cian Healy, especially, and the front-row showed up well, and especially after Paul O’Connell and Jamie Heaslip brought their immense presence to bear, others such as Donnacha Ryan became more prominent.
