PROMISING PROGRESSION

Darren Cave said in the aftermath of the game on Friday night how impressed he was with Ulster for winning a game that a few years ago they would have lost.

And in a way he has something of a point. No more than five years ago Ulster would have been languishing amongst the basement dwellers of the Celtic League, unable to capitalise on promising positions they held in games. Quite frustratingly, it was a common trait of Ulster teams back then to start promisingly, provide the Ravenhill crowd with something to get hopeful about, and then proceed to throw away their impressive position in the second half.

Friday was a welcome reminder that those days are very much gone. Having seen a commanding fifteen point lead slashed to two in twenty second half minutes, the writing was plastered all over the walls. Still the Ospreys pressed, with fly-half Sam Davies in exceptional kicking form, and it looked like a score of some sort was inevitable, especially with the Welsh side’s driving maul ominously powerful.

Yet somehow Ulster held out and managed to flip the Ospreys’ momentum around completely and deny them even a losing bonus point, and let’s not forget how important that may prove to be in the grand scheme of things. A lot of credit must be given to the players for overcoming the fact they were being beaten 13-0 in the second half and plugging away to get that crucial late try.

It is a mark of where Ulster stand now. While the two Champions’ Cup matches maybe didn’t go quite to plan, our Pro12 form has been slowly improving and we now find ourselves unbeaten in four domestic games with the scalps of both Glasgow and the Ospreys taken in that run. All games are now targeted as winnable fixtures, and it is just reward for a good run of form that we find ourselves joint top with the Ospreys at the top of the table.

Neil Doak will be fairly pleased with how his tenure at Ulster has begun all things considered. Arguably the Champions’ Cup is beyond Ulster this season so the main focus will be on the Pro12, and 30 points from 8 games isn’t a bad return for the head coach. And he will be delighted with some of the gems he has unearthed in Clive Ross and Sean Reidy in the back row, and Alan O’Connor at lock too. If Doak is to lead his province to Pro12 glory then those names will be just as important as the Bests and the Bowes.

That’s why he’ll be very glad with how his second fringe players coped with the Ospreys who, it must be remembered, were unbeaten in the league before Friday night and had already seen off Munster at Thomond Park – no mean feat at all. Unfortunately that now means that the Ulstermen have a target on their backs that everyone is going for, and with trips to Munster, the Ospreys (again!) and Leinster three of Ulster’s next four league games that target will be under heavy fire.

However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With big games comes heightened intensity and heightened focus and Ulster will need both of those virtues in abundance over the coming weeks. Any sort of slip in focus and Ulster could find themselves back down in mid-table region with a lot of ground to make up in the final few games of the season or even over the next international period in February.

Munster next, as the tough games just keep on coming.

Staking their claim

Nobody can now argue that Ireland are the form European side, and undeniably the favourites to lead the northern hemisphere charge for the World Cup next summer.

Where Wales failed and where England failed, Ireland have succeeded this autumn in completing a clean sweep of victories over their southern hemisphere counterparts and have leapt up into third in the latest world rankings – no more than they deserve for controlling the tie against the Springboks and then managing a gritty three point win over the Wallabies at the weekend.

How they won is not the main focus point. Against Michael Cheika’s side it was always going to be a loose game, and once the Irish had fallen into the trap of allowing it to be so then they were on the back foot. But all credit to Ireland, in the second half they tightened up considerably and, led admirably by Paul O’Connell, they managed a third victory of the Autumn Series and firmly established themselves as a challenger to the World Champions next October.

Notably however, the All Blacks have not yet been conquered…

MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO

I’m not sure what more needs to be said after Sunday.

The bookies had Ireland to win by 41, and in the end a 49-7 winning margin was probably fair on both sides – the Georgians played well enough to get on the scoreboard, while the superiority of the Irish reflected in their six try demolition of their sub-standard opposition. In the end, Ireland will go away happy with third place in the world rankings, and Georgia will move on with more experience under their belts.

Regardless of the scoreline, it did a disservice to how well Georgia did to stand up to a side vastly their better for the first 50 minutes. Let me remind you that the score at half-time was only a measly 9-0 in the home side’s favour, an advantage that probably made Joe Schmidt go a bit red in the face heading in at half-time. With forty minutes played it was still very much anybody’s game.

Was it Georgia were standing up in the face of adversity? Probably to a certain degree – the thought of the scalp of the defending Six Nations’ champions must have been a tantalising prospect indeed and an impressive first half rearguard effort showed that Georgia were at the Aviva Stadium to at least make life difficult for their hosts at least.

In the end it was probably more to do with Ireland showing their opponents a little too much respect. As much as it is true that you can never underestimate a side, there is only so far that can go as well. With the greatest of respect to Georgia, they aren’t even close to being anywhere near the quality of the All Blacks or the Springboks, and Ireland should have been out of sight by half time. And as one of the best sides in the world, these games are the ones that you show your world class in.

It’s rather a shame, therefore, that none of those selected really put their hands up for selection. Dave Kilcoyne put in a good shift at loosehead prop but was caught out at the set piece, while Felix Jones was on hand to finish two tries well, but beyond those two there was nothing spectacular to catch the eye for Joe Schmidt. And it’s a bit of a shame too as this was the perfect game for someone to put in a stellar performance and really put forward a case for a start against the Wallabies.

In that regard Schmidt may well be concerned. True his side did end up winning by 42 points, but he’ll be worried by the lack of depth shown by his second string players, especially up front where the Georgians possessed a slight bit of superiority. Tighthead is a real area of concern, as Mike Ross started again under Schmidt, with the aptly Irish named Rodney Ah You seemingly unable to make the transition from bench man to starter, while a failing line-out will cost them against better sides.

Criticisms aside (don’t judge how I have any), a win’s a win I suppose. Whether the Kiwi coach is looking forward to the World Cup yet or not is unknown, but certainly this Guinness Series will put his side in good form ahead of their Six Nations title defence in February, regardless of the Wallabies score on Saturday. The ruthlessness which Ireland used to dispose of the Springboks a week ago proved that the Irish belong at the top table of world rugby, and a further victory against the Australians will only further the belief in Dublin.

Speculation is glorious though, the Wallabies come first.

England in awe

Week two and another loss for the Sweet Chariot.

The All Blacks defeat was a decent performance and I’ll give them that, but on Saturday they were bested by a morally devoid Springboks side. In fact, in the end a three point win was very flattering on the home side who managed 14 points while their visitors were down a man in the forwards. Had the Springboks kept their discipline then it would have been a runaway victory.

I was thoroughly disappointed by England actually. I do think they’re overhyped by the media, but for a side that is as well coached as they are they seemed to have no significant way of breaking down the South Africans other than the driving maul. If they want to be one of the sides competing at the World Cup in a few months’ time then Stuart Lancaster needs to up his ideas a bit.

As for Wales, they seem to fluff their lines every time they come up against a Southern Hemisphere side. This week it was fearless Fiji who travelled to the Millennium Stadium and but for Campese Ma’afu’s stupidity (and I don’t exaggerate) they could have continued Wales’ wretched record in the Autumn Internationals. Warren Gatland will surely be losing sleep over his side’s mental barrier against the teams from the South.

And spare a thought for poor Scotland. They did remarkably well to match the All Blacks, changed as they were, toe for toe for the majority of the game and had Greig Laidlaw landed that penalty to put the Scots ahead then maybe things would have finished a little differently. Still, a lot of positives for Vern Cotter to take and build on, especially in the aftermath of last week’s 41-31 win over Argentina, and a welcome reminder that the All Blacks are indeed vulnerable, especially when down a few big names.

Even so, it’s still the southern teams that hold all the power in world rugby.

JOE GO FOR IRELAND

If anyone could mastermind a win over the Springboks it was Joe Schmidt.

Outgunned, Ireland took to the field on Saturday minus key individuals in Cian Healy, Rory Best and Sean O’Brien, yet they launched themselves into their opposition with such tenacity and ferocity that it seemed to take the South Africans ten minutes to actually realise they were in for a real dogfight with the Six Nations champions.

Indeed, everything seemed to be going wrong for Ireland in the build up to the game. Not only were they down three vital players to their first team, they then lost Chris Henry to illness on Saturday morning and the Ulsterman was replaced by relative newbie Rhys Ruddock. Couple that with the fact that Heyneke Meyer had the ability to call on the same twenty-three players who took down the All Blacks a month ago, you would have forgiven the Irish had they thrown in the towel early and preserved their players to fight for another day.

“Back down”, however, does not seem to be a phrase in Joe Schmidt’s vocabulary.

With the doom-and-gloom prediction from George Hook ringing in their ears, Ireland took to the game like a duck to water and hit the Springboks with everything they had from the first minute. And after the platform had been well and truly established, the second half was a case of hammering home the initiative with scores from Rhys Ruddock and Tommy Bowe sealing a famous win at the Aviva Stadium, which is now becoming something of a feared away venue.

Speaking of Ruddock, one cannot sing his praises enough. For a player who only learned he was starting at 10:35 that morning, he was a ferocious ball carrier from openside and thoroughly deserved his try, even if how he got it required a little bit of out of the box thinking. But with those results, who could argue? A promising game from the Leinster flanker, and one which he will be desperate to back up against Georgia on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in the battle to replace Brian O’Driscoll, Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne, although centre partners on the field, were probably secretly trying to outdo each other and grab Schmidt’s attention as to who he would like to fill the vacant 13 shirt on a permanent basis. In the end it was the Connacht man who probably edged that battle, with his strong ball carrying and deft kicking over the back line an ever present threat to the misfiring Springboks.

From an Ulster perspective though, Payne had a good game and did not look out of place at 13 – something which is slowly becoming the norm as the season progresses. His ability to track Rob Kearney’s run in the first half and be able to provide the full-back with a pair of hands to pass outside to is something that will benefit him in the long run, while he is a player that does attract that extra defender to haul him down in full steam, even if he isn’t quite a Mathieu Bastareaud yet.

Jonathan Sexton unsurprisingly grabbed the plaudits for another game changing performance from 10, however he does not grab the plaudits from me as I was expecting a stellar performance from him anyway, while I am finding myself very impressed by the difficulty with which defenders cope with Sean Cronin. His line-out throwing and scrummaging may not be on a parallel with Rory Best, but with ball in hand he is a real danger, especially when the play is loose.

But the true winner for Ireland is Joe Schmidt.

Call it cliché or whatever you want to call it, but this man has revolutionised Irish rugby no end. Remember those days only a few years ago when Ireland were fighting with Italy to avoid finishing bottom of the Six Nations – and losing? No longer must we endure that. On Saturday we saw a well drilled and lethal Ireland side put away one of the teams that will be challenging for the World Cup next October with complete ease.

Romain Poite’s decision to sin bin Adriaan Strauss probably benefitted Ireland more than they deserved (Strauss in my opinion was unlucky to spend 10 minutes in the bin) but in the end, the win was no more than they deserved, and Schmidt should reign in all the praise he will undoubtedly receive. As far as tactics went he was spot on, and the belief and endeavour he managed to bring out of his players despite their inferiority on paper was admirable.

Because man for man on Saturday the South Africans had the game won. Remember this side defeated New Zealand and boasted world class names across the park, they were riding the crest of a wave and had the top world rankings spot firmly in their sights. Yet a depleted Ireland side stood tall, they went man for man and played the Springboks into the ground on Schmidt’s orders.

And that is why he is the best man for the job.

TM-Oops

Seriously, what is the point in having a TMO if the referee isn’t going to actually listen to his advice?

England lost to the All Blacks on Saturday, but for me the main talking point of the game was a yellow card to Dane Coles. In my opinion it was a bit of foolishness from both Coles and Dylan Hartley, and neither should have seen a card for it, but the biggest problem I have is Nigel Owens’ handling of the situation.

Owens called upon the help of his TMO Simon McDowell who, upon reviewing the incident several times, recommended that Owens let the incident go with just a penalty to England – the correct call. Yet Owens was determined to push forward his own decision of a yellow card no matter what McDowell said to him, and eventually got his way, probably simply out of pure persistence than mutual agreement.

Now I have no issues with Owens’ refereeing style, it is one of the best in the world if not the best, but this was beyond bizarre. The whole reason that a referee is meant to go to the TMO is to get advice on a difficult call – if the referee is then going to ignore that advice then is the role of the TMO not redundant? If a referee is undecided on a big decision and is going to make his own call rather than listen to his assistant, then is there not an argument to simply have someone provide the replays upon the referees’ request?

Personally I feel the role of the TMO has to be maintained. The whole reason they exist is to make the calls that the referee is unsure about, and by applying for the help of the TMO the referee should forfeit his ability to influence the final call on the play. Because in reality what is the point in having an official at the game that isn’t going to actually have any sort of an influence?

The solution? Get rid of the replays on the big screens. Or the big screens altogether, either solution would work. That way referees are reliant on the TMO’s ruling and the crowd cannot influence his decision. Because if you’re going to call on the help of the TMO, like Owens did of McDowell, then you should listen to his call, not ignore it.

BREAKING BAD HABITS

Apologies to those of you who saw the title and thought that I would be referencing the award winning American TV drama this week – I’ve never even watched one episode of Breaking Bad!

Instead I refer you to the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday night. Ignoring the highly irregular Saturday night kick off time, there wasn’t much to talk about following the game as normal order was once again resumed in the Pro12 with Ulster emerging comfortable winners over the Newport-Gwent Dragons. Yet not for the first time this season the crowd left the Ravenhill area with an overwhelming sense of disappointment after the game.

Maybe the torrid weather had something to do with it, but in an increasingly annoying pattern Ulster made heavy going of a straightforward fixture, and they finished without the fourth try that would have given them a bonus point that may be crucial in the grand scheme of things. The most annoying thing about the game, however, is that this isn’t something that is foreign to Ulster fans.

During international periods Ulster make a habit of struggling through games. Last night was a classic example of the status quo as mistakes aplenty and an embarrassing number of handling errors culminated in Declan Fitzpatrick’s final play try counting for naught and an underwhelming seventeen-point victory. You’ll be waiting for a long time before you get another one of those.

And yet you had the sense it was coming.

True with many players reporting for duty to the Ireland camp there were to be changes expected, but the inconsistency in team selections continued with another seven changes to the starting XV. Stuart Olding (who, to his credit was outstanding) and Louis Ludik both made their first starts of the season at full-back and wing respectively, the centre lottery continued with Darren Cave and Stuart McCloskey’s numbers coming up, and Sean Reidy was making his debut in the back row. A settled team that was not.

Now as I say, with international call-ups there’s not much Neil Doak could do about that and I don’t blame him for it for one second, however it just emphasised how too many changes can impact a side. The Dragons were just as impacted by injuries and were down to fielding 17-year old debutant Barney Nightingale on the bench – put simply it was a game that was begging to have five points taken from it.

And yet, like so many times before, Ulster could not find the extra gear required during the international period to put in that top class performance. Granted no side is going to be perfect with their front line players missing, but a coach is determined to see his team put in a coherent and fluid performance even when depleted, and for the past few years Ulster haven’t been able to do that, whether it’s been under Brian McLaughlin or Mark Anscombe or so far under Les Kiss and Neil Doak.

It’s a problem that’s plagued Ulster for years and it’s one that is seemingly persisting as the seasons go by. Winning games is one thing, but making sure that they get the maximum haul from games that are there for the taking, like Saturday night, is another. Even if we are only seven games into the season, that fourth try would have lifted Ulster above Glasgow into second place and it’s always nice to be up there regardless of what stage of the year we’re at.

What needs to be done to amend these shortcomings is beyond me and my lack of rugby coaching knowledge. However what is obvious is that it needs addressed quickly ahead of the visit of the high-flying Ospreys in a few weeks. Already the clash at the Kingspan Stadium is looking like it will go a long way to deciding the final pecking order in the Pro12, and unless Doak can spark his side into action then the Ospreys will punish them.

There’s a two week break before the Welsh side roll into town though, so that gives the coaching staff a bit of time to recuperate and prepare adequately for the challenge the top side will pose. Still, minus their international stars the Ospreys lose a considerable edge to their game, as exhibited against Connacht last week, and that game will surely be a glorious opportunity to take a few points off a rival. But that’s not for another couple of weeks so no point worrying just yet.

As for me, I’m off on international duty on Saturday. Well I need something to pass the time when Ulster aren’t around…