There’s never a bad time to improve your game: Reidy
Kiwi urges Ulster to make the most of ‘dead-rubber’ PRO14 encounters
THIS time, losing to Leinster in a meaningful encounter has perhaps left deeper scars than normal.
Yes, this one really hurt. A close to full strength Ulster had come up well short to a much more watered down Leinster and, with cards being sprinkled around by referee Frank Murphy, the hosts’ already forlorn looking bid to catch their southern neighbours crashed and burned.
And just to add to this already tricky enough back-drop, Ulster had also managed to lose a Guinness PRO14 game at Kingspan Stadium for the first time since October 2018 when Connacht turned them over.
This overcast atmosphere will hardly have lifted much with Ulster drawn away at Harlequins for their first taste of the Challenge Cup early next month, and then, whenever Europe is done, there is the Rainbow Cup to come and more punishment for weary bodies.
On top of all that, there is a meaningless PRO14 away game to play against the Dragons tomorrow before polishing off this league’s season with another dead-rubber, a home tie against Zebre.
It’s times like these that the leadership cadre has to come into its own, when senior players are looked to prevent any slippage and as an additional backup to the overall message from the coaching group.
Sean Reidy has been around long enough to know how to carry himself in weeks like these and just what needs to be put across to both players and those outside the playing group looking in.
As the Kiwi, who has recently returned from shoulder surgery, succinctly put it: “It’s just another week to get better, isn’t it?
“You’ve got to take it on the chin and take your learnings quick.
“That’s the nature of rugby, so many highs, so many lows, but you’ve just got to ride the wave and press on,” says the back-rower, who has played 137 times for Ulster.
“As a team, we’re trying to strive for consistency, and that means that these games (such as) away at the Dragons mean there is a lot to play for.”
It’s not entirely convincing but, then, that’s not really the point. The message is loud and clear though — Ulster must move on and continue improving.
Reidy turns 32 in May and has been one of the province’s most consistent performers since being handed a debut back in 2014. As such, his views are worth hearing.
“Age is only a number as far as I’m concerned and I’m just trying to get as better as I can each day and try and push some of those younger players along with me,”
says the two-times capped Ireland international.
“And with the (other) senior guys in the team it’s the same, the standards are heading towards a certain point and we want to try and keep them there.
“The older I get, I’m more conscious of trying to pass on a little bit of knowledge or how to behave as it’s important for those guys to look up to guys in the squad and understand or know this is how things are done.
“Or that they feel comfortable coming to me or (other senior) guys over help or knowledge around something.
“It comes naturally with age and is something I think about quite often,” adds Reidy, who has another year to run on his deal at Ulster.
“And, from a personal perspective, I just want to get back out there and try and play some good rugby. So (let’s) just press on.”
Message delivered.
KEEPING Scotland at arm’s length is key to maintaining Ireland’s status in the international pecking order. For years there have been signs of improvement across the North Channel but, by and large, the national team has struggled to take the next step against their rivals.
It’s less than four months since Andy Farrell’s side’s place in the world was last up for review when the Scots came to Dublin.
For 30 minutes that day, the visitors looked likely to take the next step, but once they got a man sin-binned they crumbled and Ireland ran out comfortable winners.
Between then and now, the Scots beat England and looked on course to back it up against Wales until they again went down to 14 men and collapsed.
Relying on their ill-discipline isn’t an option — Ireland must operate on the assumption that they’ll be facing 15 men throughout, but they’ll have scrutinised Gregor Townsend’s two games so far and will have found areas they think they can exploit.
While they are definitely a team on the up, the Scots still have vulnerabilities and Farrell and his coaches will be targeting a number of key departments where they’ll feel they can make big gains.
CUTTING OFF SUPPLY
Whereas Ireland have scored six of their eight tries from lineout ball in this year’s tournament, the Scots have yet to strike from the set-piece.
Yet against England and Wales they dominated possession and, with a collection of dangerous backs outside Finn Russell, it is key to limit or disrupt the supply out of touch.
So far, the most obvious example of Paul O’connell’s influence on Ireland has been in the defensive lineout where the players and coaches are clearly working hard to identify patterns and triggers to anticipate where the opposition are going to throw the ball.
Scotland are without their normal hookers and, as a result, they’ve become quite predictable on set-piece, and Ire
SCOTLAND v IRELAND
Murrayfield, Sunday, 3pm land will work hard to get James Ryan, Iain Henderson and Tadhg Beirne into the air to spoil.
CAPITALISING ON RUSSELL’S ERRORS
Although he has played only two games, no one in this year’s Six Nations tournament has conceded more turnovers than Russell with eight.
The Scottish pivot can win a game on his own, but equally Ireland will know that if they can pressure him into making the mistake and capitalise on the error they’ll be well on their way.
It’s a dangerous game. Russell’s passing range and tactical kicking mean giving him opportunities comes at a major risk, but there is a big reward on offer.
LIMIT HOGG’S INVOLVEMENT
Ireland are expecting to be playing in difficult conditions in Edinburgh and there is an expectation that they will need to put boot to ball and play the territory game.
With Stuart Hogg in superb form, that is a dangerous option. He has a kicking game that can punish any inaccuracy, while his capacity to spot a gap is unmatched.
The easiest way to keep him quiet is to maintain possession of the ball and starve him off the oxygen to get into the game.
DOMINATE THE BREAKDOWN
To keep the ball for long periods in tough conditions, Ireland will need to be accurate and aggressive at the ruck.
Probably the main reason for their dominance of this fixture is their impressive performances at the breakdown and, while Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie are both potential Lions capable of bullying England, they’ve traditionally struggled to handle Ireland’s game in this area.
The work rate of Ireland’s forwards will be key.
Powerful carriers like Rónan Kelleher, CJ Stander and Ryan can get the team on the front foot against the side who have made the least dominant tackles in the tournament to date, while Beirne and Henderson have had a big influence in terms of hitting attacking rucks.
Ireland’s possession game can be frustrating, but it’s built to dominate the Scots.
BE RUTHLESS
In November, Ireland put together a wing to wing and back again sequence that forced Duncan Taylor’s yellow card and gave them the belief that they could effectively attack the Scots.
Confidence flowed, they took their chances and here they will need to back their attacking game and be ruthless when the chances arise by making the right decisions with ball in hand.
WARRENPOINT Town manager Barry Gray has called on the football authorities to reassess and update their Covid-19 protocols in relation to the Irish League.
Gray argues that while the Northern Ireland Executive have modified some of their restrictions over the past six months, there have been no changes to guidelines in top flight football since the Danske Bank Premiership started in October.
The Milltown boss, whose side host Glentoran tomorrow, is particularly perturbed with players only being allowed into a dressing room one hour before kickoff, which he feels is not enough time to prepare adequately for games.
Following his side’s midweek defeat to Linfield, Gray said: “We have players who had a two-andhalf-hour road trip to get to Linfield and then had to sit in the car park because the protocols deem it is unsafe to be in a dressing room more than an hour before kick-off.
“Yet they expect our players to be ready for a game with that one hour of preparation. I think it is pure madness.
“They need to look at that again and they need to look at it for the rest of this season as it’s to do with player welfare. If we have to play three games in a seven day period and you can’t get into the ground to prepare physically until an hour before the game, that’s poor. The physio teams are the busiest people at our club pre-game, giving treatment to at least eight players, not to mention your normal strappings.
“I think the football authorities have to reassess the protocols. When we came back to football, I could understand everything but, playing two to three games a week, players need proper time to prepare with warm-ups and everything else.
“If you want to be a professional league, you need protocols that match the professionalism of the league. To me, the protocols are outdated with where we are in today’s society. They were made
six months ago, and it was maybe fitting for then but it’s not fitting for now. The people that write those protocols aren’t involved in our dressing rooms or our match day arrangements.
“The Executive’s conditions change on a regular basis but ours have been like that since the start. There are some issues that need to be seriously looked at.”
Gray admitted his side’s 5-0 loss against Linfield was “a step too far for us” after they had performed heroics to win 2-0 at Crusaders three days before.
He added: “I have said from the start of the season that, in my opinion, Linfield are the team to beat at the top. That’s no disrespect to anyone else because there are other good teams. At Linfield, when they have an off week and results go against
them, it’s a crisis, but this season they have largely been consistent and are top of the table.”
Gray has much respect for Glentoran and appreciates the task facing his side tomorrow.
“We are delighted we are at home but with Glentoran losing to Ballymena in midweek, it’s probably not a good thing for us because their focus will be all about bouncing back,” said Gray.
“If you look at the full-time teams like Glentoran against part-time teams, the one big factor in this period is that they are sitting in their clubs eating scrambled eggs and toast at 10am on a Wednesday morning and getting a wee recovery. We are on building sites and real life stuff outside of football. We know it will be tough but we’ll look forward to the challenge.”