A TALE OF TWO HALVES

How many times did I hear the words, “South Africa are there to be beaten tonight!” from the mouth of Phillip Matthews in the BBC commentary box on Saturday night. Drove me nuts.

But his words rang true. The Springboks were there to be thrashed – in both halves. But unfortunately, Ireland couldn’t capitalise on their shortcomings, and ended up coming up short themselves. It was a lacklustre, error-strewn performance that ended up the way it deserved to. In defeat.

For me, it’s pretty obvious where Ireland’s problems lie…

Left black and blue

Ireland were dressed like All Blacks, but they played close to the complete opposite of them. The performance was lacking in nearly every aspect, the only exception being Jonny Sexton’s great goal kicking. But apart from that, it was a dire game. Even the Springboks couldn’t play to their high standards – and they were lucky that they didn’t need to.

There are only a handful of positives you can take from that game. The first is that the losing margin was only 4 because it could have been a lot, lot worse. Another was the performance of Simon Zebo at full-back. While he didn’t do anything exemplary, he didn’t let himself (or Ireland) down and might have found a secondary position that will benefit him, Munster and Ireland.

The other two positives involve Ulster players. First was Chris Henry who had a great first half, making a nuisance of himself at the breakdown and put himself around the field well. If he wasn’t pushing Sean O’Brien for his place in the team, he will be now. The final positive is Iain Henderson making his Ireland debut at the ripe young age of 20 – hopefully the beginning of a brilliant international career.

But beyond that, the game was hard to watch. Ireland failed to create any clear cut attacking opportunities and struggled to cope with the opposition’s work at the breakdown in the second half. And it was just as my title suggests – a tale of two halves.

First half: Ireland dominant at the breakdown, Springboks rather submissive. Ireland lead.

Second half: Springboks dominant at the breakdown, Ireland have no reply. Springboks cruise to win.

That’s probably the biggest negative. The dominance that Ireland expressed in the first half deserted them in favour of the opposition and the tables were completely turned. The pendulum swung firmly in South Africa’s favour and the game was lost. Whether it was simply fatigue that hit the Irish forwards, or whether they thought the opposition would roll over like in the first half we don’t know. Whatever it was, it wasn’t what Ireland expected.

There are two players I don’t think should be anywhere near the Ireland squad, and a lot of people would agree with me – Gordon D’Arcy and Ronan O’Gara. Both have had their day and, in my opinion, Declan Kidney should be looking at younger alternatives ahead of the 2015 World Cup. O’Gara’s chip kick at the end summed up Ireland’s performance – aimless.

The whole backline is probably at fault. How many meaningful attacks did Ireland have? About two is my guess, and the backs are solely to blame for that. The aforementioned D’Arcy was two steps behind everybody else, Simon Zebo has to learn to pass the ball sometime soon and unfortunately from an Ulster perspective, Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble were simply passengers in a game that rarely came down their wings.

But the blame has to lie with the highest authority – the coach, Declan Kidney.  And in particular, his questionable selection process. Simon Zebo at full-back was a very risky decision considering he hadn’t played there, yet Kidney had Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls at his disposal who both have experience there. It could have been a big mistake.

At scrum-half, Paul Marshall, who is undoubtedly the form 9 in Ireland at the moment, was left out entirely and instead had to watch Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan struggle in his place. A very strange call. The same went for Dan Tuohy at lock who sat beside Marshall in the stands while seeing Donnacha Ryan and Donncha O’Callaghan play instead – another odd call considering O’Callaghan doesn’t even start for Munster anymore.

And despite being an injury doubt, Ireland’s favourite player Ronan O’Gara was put on the bench once again. Meanwhile, Paddy Jackson who has been in incredible form, was forced to sit beside Marshall and Tuohy and watch through gritted teeth. And to prove this isn’t simply an Ulster rant, I’ll make a case for Fergus McFadden starting over Gordon D’Arcy. My reasons have been mentioned several times already.

International rugby is a big step up from the provincial stage. Ireland have quality players in most areas of the pitch, but they cannot transfer their good form from the league to the international stage. Kidney has to begin choosing by form rather than past qualities or Ireland will slip into the dreaded Band 3 of the World Rankings.

The team wearing green deservedly won. Too bad this time it wasn’t Ireland.

Elsewhere…

I’d like to pass on my congratulations to Argentina – what a win in the Millennium Stadium. To be fair, Wales were very poor and showed no attacking flair, but unlike Ireland, Argentina used this to their advantage and easily beat the Six Nations champions.

Everybody expected England to hammer Fiji – so they did. Seven tries were scored by the Red Rose in a routine victory, and they move on to their real tests over the next few weeks. Fiji travel to Limerick next week to face us.

And finally, in Edinburgh, it was business as normal for the All Blacks who breezed past the hapless Scottish defence for a simple 51-22 victory. But what caught the eye were two individuals – Julian Savea is a phenomenal winger for the All Blacks, while David Denton had a good game off the bench, pushing for a Lions spot through the back door.