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.
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