THIS IRELAND TEAM will be very annoyed with themselves for not beating the All-Blacks on Saturday.
They should have and whilst a key decision went against them, I can’t help but feel that at 19-all with 10 minutes to go and the opposition down to 14 men if it was the Aussies or the Springboks, they’d have closed it out.
This is not a criticism of this Irish side, it is just a fact. Getting a 100-year monkey off your back requires a level of belief that goes beyond the norm in circumstances like this.
Can they do it on Saturday? Of course they can. One thing they showed, as did the French in the World Cup, is that the All-Blacks can be ordinary and make mistakes if you put them under the right sort of pressure.
This starts with selection. In the first test, we picked our best player out of position. Is it any wonder our defensive line was poor? We put winger Keith Earls into outside centre and he does not have the qualities required for this position. We could have played Brian O’Driscoll in his rightful position and picked Fergus McFadden at inside centre. The sooner we face up to the fact that he is the best equipped to succeed Gordon D’Arcy the better.
Then Simon Zebo was brought ahead of Dave Kearney and Craig Gilroy for reasons only Declan Kidney can work out. Earls should have been on the wing, Trimble on the other wing, Fergus McFadden at first centre and Brian O’Driscoll at second centre. The selection was confused and it showed in a defensive pattern that allowed the All-Black runners time to decide which space or which shoulder they would run at, allowing them to get at least their hands and often their bodies through the tackle.
Last Saturday this didn’t happen because our defensive setup, marshalled by Brian O’Driscoll in his rightful position, ensured that there was no repeat.
The makeup of our backrow was also important. Young Peter O’Mahony has been over hyped. He is a very talented young man but should not have been picked ahead of Kevin McLaughlin. Apart from his lineout play, Kevin McLaughlin had a huge impact both carrying and getting amongst the opposition. He is a very intelligent player.
It is important to note that the scrum was not the problem in the first test. These key selections hugely affected how the team were set up. Last Saturday we were set up to compete and, as it turned out, to win. The previous Saturday we were set up to be thrashed starting with poor selection. And we were.
Saturday presents an even greater challenge. The selectors need to build on the knowledge that the All-Blacks were rattled because we attacked them in the right places.
We know that our scrum is good enough. We need to compete for more ball on their lineout. It is the area that has consistently been their weakest over recent years and not enough teams go out to really expose it.
The kick-offs were very poor. If they split their pack we must pick up the obvious runners, particularly Kieran Read, get bodies in the way and compete. The other area of frustration was our fielding of the high ball. We don’t even look like we’re going for it half the time.
The All-Blacks wisely didn’t kick to Rob Kearney but in general play whether receiving or chasing we didn’t look purposeful or committed under the high ball. This can only be lack of practice because we know these players can do it. For a nation of Gaelic players it confounds me.
Centre of attention
It should be Fergus McFadden at first centre, Keith Earls on the wing and Chris Henry at no. 8. They seem committed to O’Brien at 7 so should stick with it. McLaughlin at 6 and Henry at 8 give more lineout options and more physicality.
Chris Henry is a no. 8 originally and a seasoned professional. Peter O’Mahony has been shunted from 6 to 7 to 8 all season and is inexperienced. I’m sure he can come on and play an important role but Henry should start. You don’t need a novice at no. 8 against the All-Blacks. You also can’t move players in and out of position like pieces around a chess board.
The least change the better.
It is a huge ask for this team to get up to the same level as last week. However if the selectors pick people in their proper positions it would be a good start. Thereafter we must attack their line out, improve our kick offs for and against and build on the intensity at the point of impact.
This should give us a platform to improve our ratio of possession. With ball in hand, provided we’re patient, we can do damage against these guys. We have the players to put points on the board. I don’t subscribe to the popular view that with further injuries and it being the last game of a long season we are in for another hiding.
The Irish team has seen doubt in the eyes of the All-Blacks. Doubt instilled by them. Why does France do well against them, more than any other nation? The French have a strong sense of self-respect and are not overly impressed by them. We would do well to act likewise.
Every Irish player and every Irish fan needs to truly believe and then add 20% if we are to win on Saturday.
Emmet O’Rafferty is a former second-row forward with Leinster.