There was no sign of the big yellow thing over the Aviva Stadium on Friday afternoon, replaced by a blustery wind and the torrential rain that had been a feature of Dublin weather in January and February. A knot of spectators sought sanctuary in the West stand, huddled near the president’s box, privileged to be out of the squall.
Pitchside, television camera operators braved the weather, lenses peering into the gloom. Coaches stood, players ran, under the direction of Ciarán Ruddock. No one grumbled. Endured rather than enjoyed would be the fair summation for all concerned with regard to the Ireland captain’s run.
On the far side, Jamison Gibson-Park and Nathan Doak grabbed some space to perform a passing drill, unconcerned by the bustle. Friday night’s Six Nations game against Wales (8.10pm) will see the two scrumhalves celebrate an individual milestone, Gibson-Park’s 50th cap and Doak’s first, when the Ulsterman eventually clambers from the bench to the pitch.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell habitually emphasises the importance of family, so it was no surprise that there was an influx of nearest and dearest during the week; in person in the case of Gibson-Park’s wife, Patti, and children, Isabella, Iris and Jai, while his parents touched base from New Zealand, via a big screen in the hotel.
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Doak’s parents and grandparents were on hand to mark the occasion. Gibson-Park will lead out the team. There were other snippets of nostalgia. Ireland captain Caelan Doris fielded a dozen questions in a typically relaxed and affable manner, even those that dragged him back to his school days.
Nick Timoney, making a first start for Ireland in his 10th appearance, was once the senior figure in the relationship with Doris, when both played on the same team. The Irish captain recalled: “We played together. I was in fourth year, he was in sixth year in school and we won a Schools [Senior] Cup together for Blackrock.
“His evolution has been unbelievable. Obviously, he’s been in Ulster for 10 years now and playing some very good stuff up there, but I think he’s taken it to another level over the last season or so. He’s always been rugby obsessed, puts a tonne of hard work in and it’s class to see it come to fruition with some of the performances he’s put in.”
Wales travel in hope minus the expectation, at least for the majority outside of the immediate cohort of coaches, players, friends and family. There is a progression in performance terms, though, from the opening weekend of the tournament to a narrow defeat to Scotland in week three.
Ireland, with last year’s flat display and narrow escape in Cardiff still in the mind’s eye, understand anything less than full-bore can invite problems.
Doris was asked to size up the opposition. “I think they’ve grown throughout the tournament. You can see the progression game on game. Obviously, they put it up to Scotland in the most recent fixture. They started well. They’ve clearly invested a lot of time in their attack. It’s good and going to be a challenge for our defence. They’ve got different layers to it.
“They can play wide and deep; the forwards have great ability to play tip-on passes at the line, and they are very unpredictable in terms of two-sided [attack], lots of quick taps, playing out [of defence from deep]. We saw [Louis] Rees-Zammit run the ball [a lot] from deep.
“[Scrumhalf] Tomos Williams wants to keep a high tempo, snipe, quick throw-ins, quick tap, so it’s going to be important for us to be always on and be ready for those.”
Have Ireland changed their selection policy ahead of the clash with Wales?
A large tranche of Ireland’s preparation would have focused on the controllables associated with their patterns, what they want to do and how to go about it. While there was much to celebrate in the win at Twickenham, there are always areas that require tweaks or buffing. Or occasionally just being better.
Doris explained: “Well, we had 12 penalties [against England], so discipline is one area [on which to improve]. Obviously, a lot of those penalties came from the scrum. Our lineout maul probably wasn’t as good as we would have liked it to be.
“We absorbed quite a lot of pressure in the first 20 minutes which is a positive, but we allowed them to play in our half, so it was a little bit of the territorial battle [we will need to control better].
“Some of my tackle stuff, I want to improve, so as individuals there’s always bits that you can chase as well. There are lots of areas that we can get after.”
The victory over England brought “a feelgood factor”, but as Doris continued, that’s something to build on rather than rest on. “We know we’re nowhere near our potential as a team, there’s a lot of hard work to be put in and there’s a long journey [ahead].”
Tonight is the next marker.
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