SHANE McGRATH: IRREPLACEABLES KEY FOR SCHMIDT
DEPTH has been the word of the month. Jubilant Irish supporters are repeating it as if within its five letters is contained the secret to the most publicly significant November series since Eddie O’Sullivan’s team were talked of as World Cup contenders this time 11 years ago.
Jacob Stockdale, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki and James Ryan have left the public expectant, and understandably so; this is not the golden generation, but it is a bustling one, with game-breakers and Test contenders jostling for the attention of Joe Schmidt.
If the challenge is finding a team and a way to win the Six Nations next spring and then bring that form on a three-Test tour of Australia in the summer, though, depth will be important but old reliables will be even more critical.
Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray and Tadhg Furlong are Schmidt’s irreplaceables.
No matter how vibrant the audition of Joey Carbery, or how encouraging the impression made by Andrew Porter, there are three fixtures in the Irish side whose wellbeing is more important than expansive options.
Critical to it all remains Sexton. Argentinian lumps sought him out on Saturday night, their dark intentions clear, and he received a couple of meaty hits in the first half.
His fitness, invariably an issue, reared again as one before kick-off. One broadcaster showed footage of him receiving treatment during the ceremonial preliminaries, and there were some who argued he did not move as freely as one would expect in the match.
That contention didn’t really hold water: he looked perfectly fine in setting Jacob Stockdale free for his two tries, but there is no denying that teams long ago understood he is Ireland’s most important player, and as a result there is a bounty on him in every opposing dressing room.
Murray is as valuable a quarry now, his status sealed thanks to marvellous performances on the Lions tour. It is now impossible to imagine an Irish team thriving without him, and he ranks alongside Sexton as one of Schmidt’s untouchables. Nothing challenged that over the past three weeks.
The Lions also sealed Furlong’s international standing, and it is startling to remember that it is only five and a half years since an Irish team was embarrassed in Twickenham, Mike Ross’s injury requiring Tom Court to pack down to disastrous effect on the tighthead side.
The IRFU launched a search for a scrum specialist, and a weakness that had been manfully countered by John Hayes for a decade was an open secret once again.
Furlong has been brilliant in transforming this facet of Irish play. He is vital because with structure so important to this coach and his team, the set-pieces must be unfailingly excellent.
The sight of an Argentina scrum creasing under the pressure led by Furlong to give Ireland their second penalty was heartening — and it must have drawn rueful grins from the aching ranks of retired Irish props traumatised by the Pumas over the years.
This trinity and its ongoing value was the big lesson of the autumn, but that does not lessen the impact of Stockdale, in particular, but also Farrell, Ryan and Aki.
Competition is sought by every coach, and Schmidt can sit and watch while heretofore regular picks and presumed starters have to sweat on their places. That is not to say Ireland are unimpeachable, of course. That earlier reference to 2006 requires us to consider what happened thereafter.
In fairness to O’Sullivan, he tried to dampen talk of a World Cup tilt 11 years ago after South Africa were well beaten in Lansdowne Road, and within ten months his team endured the most traumatic tournament in Ireland’s sorry history where that competition is concerned.
Coaches, led by Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland, will spend plenty of time this winter picking over the flaws.
The back row will certainly be tested more vigorously in every Six Nations match than it was in any of these recent challenges. The balance is still questionable. Josh van der Flier remains the most natural openside in the country, and him at No7, Peter O’Mahony at blindside and Jack Conan at No8 is a combination that pulses with possibilities.
CJ Stander does not convince at the back of the scrum, for all his warrior spirit and unflagging work-rate.
However, the attraction of Seán O’Brien and Stander to Schmidt is obvious, and it was made clear in the first half against Argentina, and against South Africa when that match needed winning, too.
The back rows lead the physical onslaught, part of a plan to devastate teams early, probe for chances or penalties, take any points going and consistently build up an advantage that leaves the opposition chasing.
Ireland are now brilliant at this, but within their strength is also a rare point of weakness that offers opponents hope. If Ireland’s opening barrage can be resisted and they are made to chase the game, then more dynamic tactics are required.
Scotland proved this when shocking them in Murrayfield last February; they led by 13 points at half time, and made Ireland play a game not of their choosing.
However, catching out a Schmidt team is not easy, and that loss to the Scots deserves to be considered an aberration: it was the first day out and there were a handful of dreadful performances in the visiting within the visiting side.
Furthermore, the weeks just passed indicate that Ireland have options, not in terms of numbers but playing styles.
The emergence of Stockdale gives the team a viable new running threat from deep, and if Rob Kearney can maintain the sizzling form that powered him through the autumn, then Schmidt will have a fresh attacking dimension in the back-field.
There is certainly depth, in personnel and in tactics. But there are three elements that must stay constant if Ireland are to grow in strength. Sexton, Murray and Furlong make Ireland function at their best.