Liam Toland: Joe Schmidt should proclaim philosophy of running rugby

Once again I found myself enthralled by the Argentinian Super Rugby experience with Los Jaguares still on the road in Africa. The previous weekend it was against Cheetahs and last Saturday they were in Durban against the Sharks. This time, down to 13 men, they scored yet another cracking counter-attack try. As I sat at home I wondered on Twitter that hopefully 'Irish kids are watching what I am watching'. Twitter replied 'I hope the Northern Hemisphere is watching'.

With an eye on Joe Schmidt's team selection and the Italian match tomorrow, I cast my other eye on the wonderful IRFU interview with performance director David Nucifora this week. In 12 minutes and 20 seconds he outlines their vision for the future. Namely 2023 RWC, where actions now will impact the quality of players (15 - and 16-year-olds) for an attack on 2023. The nub of his structure is enhancing the talent pool through some very welcome initiatives by investing in identifying and developing young talent. http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/37080.php#.Vt2cSJyLQU0

At the core of this initiative is the concept of 'talent'. Many times on these pages I've engaged this topic; what is talent? How do we judge talent? Or more importantly how does Nucifora judge talent? For example, what of the Jaguares full back Santiago Cordero who picked up the ball inside his 22? They had scored a try on 6:05 but were behind 13-10 from a powerful Sharks' lineout maul.

Miniscule space

Crucially Cordero with only 12 team-mates on the pitch (yes; two sin bins) decided to go for it. Is this talent? He then went on to exploit the miniscule space the 15 Sharks afforded him. Is this talent?

Then when the ball and move was dying he found centre Emiliano Boffelli way out on the touchline who cracked a beauty down the tram tracks. Cordero's vision kept him in the hunt and covered the 80 metres quicker than even Sharks' flying winger Odwa Ndungane. Sensational try.

Now how do we look at this passage of play? Sharks initially countered from inside their 22 with fullback Willie le Roux flinging to his winger Ndungane. He powers out of his 22 and finds backrow Jean-Luc du Preez swivelling to number eight Daniel du Preez. As du Preez headed towards the Jaguares 22 he spilled in contact; causing the turnover that Cordero pounced upon.

So is this the facet of play to focus on; the negative? Losing in contact is unforgivable. Or should we focus on the Sharks' break out till then or better still the outrageous counter-attack try from Los Jaguares? Which would Joe Schmidt focus on? His team and bench announcement was along expected lines but does indicate his understanding of talent. Is this in line with Nucifora's vision? Are the future players of 2023 RWC clones of tomorrow's squad?

The Six Nations is hardly the breading ground of new talent but it is the ground that'll spawn future stars; those watching on TV. Footwork like Mike Brown's on Conor Murray's eye will be replicated by kids should it be allowed on TV, so too dangerous tip tackles. But they are the negatives of our game. What of the beauty of our game. The trench warfare of the pack locking horns at scrum time is one but better still the creation and exploitation of space. This should remain the ultimate positive in our game.

Will this be witnessed by the thousands of Irish kids on TV tomorrow?

As for the match itself, even taking into account the loss of forwards like Sean O’Brien, Peter O’Mahony and especially Iain Henderson and backs such as Luke Fitzgerald there’s still more than enough to mimic the Jaguares set-piece and the ambition of their counter-attack with change of feet, sucking in multiple defenders before offloading.

But allied to this is the need for internal leadership; partly to affect tactics but mostly to affect (bully) a game plan. A steely, gritty leadership if you will.

At one stage in Twickenham England’s tighthead Dan Cole smashed a loitering Devin Toner on the fringe of a breakdown. At key times we are being bullied by our opposition; the obvious are those foul plays but the scrums in Paris or Cole’s antics over Toner were worse due to our innocence in approach.

By the way, stupid reactions and concession of penalties is not managing the situation as it takes a greater mind such as those within successful Munster Cup winners of the past. To get to the final and win it required a range of competence but especially a cuteness to negotiate the quality of teams such as Garryowen or Cork Con. We'll need this against South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Finally, my frustrations with underage rugby over the months is being addressed with Nucifora’s initiative outlined above but the club and schools game needs deeper reconstruction as hinted last Friday to encourage a more universal embracing of space and attack.

To this end instead of a 'state of the nation' political speech we need Schmidt to proclaim from on high that Irish rugby is running rugby which must start from the bottom up and top down. Italy will have all that's been noted by many this week – requiring our utmost attention in set piece and structure. But I fancy if tomorrow was super Saturday where a big score was needed, akin to Edinburgh last season, our squad selection and tactics would be different; Paddy Jackson, Stuart McCloskey and Craig Gilroy. Now that'd have kids watching! liamtoland@yahoo.com