Influential players are worth their weight in gold.
Take, for example, the influence that Paul O’Connell had on Munster –
he was their go to man, their talisman that everyone rallied around when things
weren’t going to plan. And look at their well-documented leadership struggles
now he’s gone.
Jonny Wilkinson carried Toulon to their first Heineken Cup. Granted
Toulon probably had the stars at their disposal to put most teams to the sword
regardless, but the difference in how they played when Wilkinson was at the
helm and when he wasn’t was obvious. He brought them to a new level that very
few teams manage to keep up with let alone match.
So let’s apply the same logic to Ruan Pienaar and Paddy Jackson.
Oyonnax tore Ulster apart in that first half, their forwards were
bloodthirsty, their backs were scintillating (particularly Uwa Tawalo on the
wing) and their set piece was destructive. They looked like a team that
disregarded their Top14 standing altogether and saw this as a blank slate from
which they could work off.
It doesn’t excuse the fact that Ulster did make it easy for them at
times with some slipped tackles leading to plenty of metres gained, turnovers
in costly areas and errors when good hands were needed. Perhaps 23-0 was a
little bit of a one-sided scoreline, especially when you consider one of the
tries was an intercept, but it was one which Ulster would have to battle back
from.
As was expected before the game began, if things weren’t going well
then it would be Paul Marshall and Ian Humphreys who were scapegoated.
They were victims of a poor team performance, but a lack of attacking
potency forced Les Kiss’ hand – one suspects his decision had already been made
before Humphreys’ loose pass that resulted in Tawalo going the length of the
pitch – and on came Pienaar and Jackson. And within two minutes of the restart
you could see the difference.
Passes were zipped across the back line with pace, Jackson was
switching play with ease and finding strike runners off his shoulders without
difficulty: it was as if a great burden had been lifted and Ulster were granted
the ability to play rugby once more. Scholes’ try was a mix of a brilliant move
off the training paddock and individual ability while Gilroy’s score was a
combination of the backs at their best.
Pienaar has always been a class act in a white shirt, but this season
we are seeing Jackson mature into an equally talented individual outside him.
Not only does he have the ability with the ball but he also has acquired a
fantastic resolve that has served him well. How many other fly halves could
brush off two missed kicks for the win a week before and send over a penalty
from his own half to win the game a week later?
In the short-term, Les Kiss will be delighted that Pienaar and Jackson’s
introductions swung the game for his team. In the long-term, there are
questions.
There is suddenly a stark realisation that Ulster function at their
best only when Pienaar and Jackson play together. Paul Marshall is an excellent
option off the bench, but his and Humphreys’ lack of game time this season
means they are not candidates to be starting a game together. Things looked
forced and laboured in the first half and it wasn’t much of a surprise that
Ulster went in at half time on a score of nil.
The problem is Ulster cannot afford to rest either Pienaar or Jackson
as they are so vital to their success. Perhaps Sunday’s second half performance
was down to Rory Best’s passionate half-time performance or perhaps Oyonnax
tired in the second 40, but you cannot deny the change that Pienaar and Jackson
made to the back line.
Marshall and Humphreys were given a raw deal no doubt, and you can’t
help but sympathise with them. They have proven time and time again that they
can be great footballers, but on Sunday with a pack going in reverse and no
meaningful game time to work with coming into the match, what the coaching
staff were expecting from them was a bit much.
Pienaar and Jackson will play the last two games against Saracens and
Oyonnax before Jackson inevitably goes off to the Ireland camp for the Six
Nations and only then will Humphreys get some prolonged game time at fly-half.
Then we should see what Ian is capable of with a bit of front foot ball and a
Springbok scrum-half on his inside.
But for now there is no denying who Ulster can do without at this
level.
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