Autumn Nations Series: Ireland 22 Australia 19
This was nothing like the defining performance Andy Farrell had evidently desired yet this fitful finale to something of a fitful month was, in many ways, fitting.
The addition of this 150th anniversary Test may well prove beneficial in the long-term but while a three-game series might have been a smaller sample size, a fourth game did underline some undeniable trends.
As was the case against a talented Argentinian side on an upward curve under a former Leinster coach, so it was against a markedly improved Australian side under the guidance of a certain former Leinster and Ireland coach. When all was said and done, Ireland fired plenty of shots while also misfiring plenty, but at least found a way in an entertaining match.
Maintaining a theme of Ireland’s month, when the lineout worked they had some slick starter plays and looked as potent as ever, but their renowned multiphase, which was probably the best in the world for a couple of years up to the World Cup, has lost its sheer relentlessness.
Ireland perhaps overplayed their hand, forcing passes and adding intricacies when could have been more direct, but with less possession the Wallabies’ handling skills look slicker, whereas Ireland also made 28 handling errors and committed 20 turnovers.
“We was off a little bit with our timing from the delivery to the pass from ‘9′, just a little bit,” admitted Farrell. “We was static enough, the delivery was a little bit behind and that led to slow ball and allowed them to get what they wanted. I thought they was brilliant on the floor in their defensive breakdown.”
This was particularly true of the brilliant Wallabies openside, Fraser McReight, who effected four turnovers, as their jackal in chief. Yet for the most part the Wallabies kept 14 men on their feet, stayed connected and filled the pitch in a defensive effort that had echoes of the Joe Farrell also admitted: “We lost out our bite a little bit on a good few collisions.” This contributed to almost 40 per cent of Ireland’s ruck ball being longer than three seconds.
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“I wouldn’t say it’s a concern,” said the team’s heartbeat Jamison Gibson-Park, when asked about Ireland’s less effective multiphase attack. “The higher you go the tougher it gets. Everyone’s gunning for Ireland now, we’ve been on top of the world rankings for a while. Teams want to have a proper crack off you.
“There are learnings to take and we can get better, but you know yourself; when you get a shot at the top dogs it’s all in and it certainly felt that way today.”
Given Ireland are back-to-back Six Nations champions, of course, that’s not going to change any time soon.
“There’s more of it coming around the corner,” acknowledged Gibson-Park with a wry smile. “But that’s where you want to be. You want these challenges and the main thing is the win.”
Perhaps a post-World Cup lull, even a slightly delayed one, was inevitable without a generational player like Johnny Sexton whose ability to stay calm in the multiphase maelstrom only grew better with vast experience.
Prendergast has perhaps more of that in his game than Jack Crowley, and again demonstrated his passing range. But in tandem with Craig Casey, Ireland were more direct with Crowley adding his own running threat and a key grubber to earn the attacking lineout which led to Gus McCarthy’s winning try.
“I’m loving playing with these guys full of youth and enthusiasm,” said Gibson-Park. “It’s awesome for Irish rugby, we’ll still see these guys duelling it out for years to come. It’s pretty crazy with the youth, but they take in their stride and it’s impressive. I wish I was at that stage when I was at that age.”
Crowley can be hard on himself, but clearly Farrell believes that a shoot-out between the young pretenders to the Sexton throne will, ultimately, be good for them and Ireland. When it was suggested to Farrell that Crowley’s demotion would have been a tough pill to swallow, he quickly interjected.
“It’s not, honestly. I know you guys think so because you’re not in it. I appreciate that you feel that he is like that but Jack has just been himself within the squad. He gets it like, you know? People need a chance to try and kick on to show what they’ve got. He’s had that.
“So, when you guys feel like he’s been dropped, he’s not. And when you guys feel like he’s pissed off, he’s not. He’s a team player, he’s a team player and he gets the bigger picture himself and my conversations with the three flyhalves is that I wanted Sam to play unbelievably well, so that Jack responds and play unbelievably well, and so ‘Frawls’ does. And everyone keeps growing together. It’s part of the squad.”
As the primary source of Ireland’s tries, the lineout is integral but it too hasn’t purred like it used. On Saturday, Ireland had a staggering 24 lineouts, with four malfunctions and one stolen, while several were messy.
“There’s definitely improvement to be had,” admitted Joe McCarthy. “Today was a bit crazy, there were 24 lineouts so I think we were, on the run, trying to make up some new lineouts and we had gone through all of them about twice. We’ve got good success, we had good mauls throughout the year, focused very much on good drill and things like that but we probably slipped away from that in a few games, leaking a few lineouts, a few sloppy bits, but I think it’s been relatively strong enough.”
However, the lineout definitely remains a work-on, and though Ireland edged the penalty count by 9-8, so too the discipline. In their last five Tests, Ireland have conceded 72 points in the shape of 24 three-pointers to their opponents.
On a weekend of countless counts, those numbers were also a tad too many.
Scoring sequence: 10 mins Lolesio pen 0-3; 19 mins Max Jorgensen try, Lolesio con 0-10; 23 mins van der Flier try 5-10; 33 mins Lolesio pen 5-13; (half-time 5-13); 43 mins Prendergast pen 8-13; 49 mins Doris try, Prendergast con 15-13; 56 mins Lolesio pen 15-16; 63 mins Lolesio pen 15-19; 73 mins G McCarthy try, Crowley con 22-19.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris. Replacements: Tom O’Toole for Bealham, Iain Henderson for McCarthy, Peter O’Mahony for Ryan (all 54 mins), Garry Ringrose for Aki (56 mins), Craig Casey for Gibson-Park, Jack Crowley for Prendergast (both 66 mins); Cian Healy for Porter, Gus McCarthy for Kelleher (67 mins).
Australia: Tom Wright, Andrew Kellaway, Joseph Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Max Jorgensen; Noah Lolesio, Jake Gordon; James Slipper, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Taniela Tupou; Nick Frost, Jeremy Williams; Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson (Capt). Replacements: Allan Alaalatoa for Tupou (46 mins), Isaac Kailea for Slipper (50 mins), Billy Pollard for Paenga-Amosa (57 mins), Lukhan Salakaia-Loto for Williams (60 mins), Tate McDermott for Gordon (61 mins), Langi Gleeson for Valentini, Tane Edmed for Lolesio (both 74 mins), Lolesio for Edmed (77 mins), Harry Potter for Kellaway (79 mins).
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR).
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