IMMORTALITY IS CALLING
Ireland have patience, discipline and courage to secure a third Slam
TACTICS, luck and destiny will be at the heart of discussions about the match in Twickenham this afternoon. Tactics certainly matter; the guff about luck and destiny is as relevant to serious sport as stickon ginger beards or outsized green hats.
They will feature around the home of English rugby today as well, but this match narrows down to one simple, thrilling point: Ireland are simply the better team.
That doesn’t guarantee they will win and that by late afternoon the country will be celebrating only a third-ever Grand Slam.
But it makes it likely, to the extent that we can say this: if Ireland are as accurate and opportunistic this Saturday as they have been on four Saturdays over the past six weeks, then they will be victorious.
The rarity of that achievement makes it enormous, but it also reflects the fact that for most of their rugby history, Ireland was squashed by bigger powers in France, England and, often Wales.
Professionalism transformed rugby in Ireland, not just in how it was organised through four professional provinces, but in the attitude of the public.
Many people got very exercised by an RTÉ discussion about rugby possibly being the people’s game.
It drew tart responses from some within the GAA community, relying on stereotypes best left in the 1970s. And it irritated the peculiar strain of rugby sentiment that hankers after a time when few went to matches, but at least they knew what was going on.
Both positions are daft. The Irish rugby team is one of the few regular manifestations of Ireland on the international stage, and it just so happens that for the past decade and a half, they have been very, very good.
The public respond to that, and no team has represented the Irish people so well or so honourably since the mid-2000s.
Today, they can touch greatness, just as the men of 2009 did.
But it has to be won first, and even against an England team stumbling through a fog of bad form, that won’t be a simple task.
If they have nothing else, the English have desperation, which in its way can be a very potent fuel.
Eddie Jones has taken an enormous gamble in changing half of his team from the defeat in Paris, and win or lose the magnitude of his selection will be a talking point for months to come. With some of his calls, in particular ditching George Ford and restoring Owen Farrell to the No10 shirt, he has reversed a policy position that he had stuck to for two years.
That reflects the sticky situation they find themselves in, but it also illustrates Jones’ understanding of how good Ireland are; to have any chance, England have had to be radical.
It shouldn’t be enough. Some maintain that Ireland are yet to hit the highs they reached in destroying South Africa last November. It’s true that there hasn’t been a performance as thorough so far this spring.
But we have seen the enormous reservoirs of patience, discipline and courage on which this team draws. All of those qualities were captured in the epic, 41-phase move that resulted in Johnny Sexton’s ageless drop goal in Paris, the score that made this run possible. Discipline is critical to how Ireland play, particularly at the breakdown, the game’s most decisive area of battle.
They are tirelessly accurate here, too, able to shift opposing players and secure their own ball or pilfer that of the opposition. Dan Leavy has been sensational in that aspect of the game, but so too have Rory Best and Peter O’Mahony.
The back line possesses the ability to shred the meanest defence, with Rob Kearney and Keith Earls in the form that made them sensations almost a decade ago, and Jacob Stockdale a scoring debutant like no other Irish rugby has seen.
But central to it all remain Sexton and Conor Murray. They are Ireland’s creators but also their leaders, men who schoolchildren should be talking about in 30 years’ time.
They provide high levels of technical accomplishment, but as important is the leadership they bring; they truly are Joe Schmidt’s representatives on the field.
Twickenham won’t rattle them. They and their team-mates will know what to expect. For the first quarter, in particular, England will throw weeks of pent-up fury at Ireland.
Withstand that, wait for the quick burn of passion to inevitably die out if not nurtured by scores, and Ireland will be in an extremely favourable position.
Best made an interesting point yesterday, reminding his audience that in 2009, not only had none of the Irish players experienced a Grand Slam, none had won a championship.
It is easy to forget that the socalled golden generation of O’Driscoll, O’Connell and O’Gara won just one championship.
This generation, under Schmidt, have collected three in five seasons.
So while it may be useful that Best and Kearney have memories of winning a Slam in 2009, it is at least as important that most of this group know what it is to be champions, to be the best team in the northern hemisphere.
That underlines Ireland’s enormous experience. They know how to win. Their heads stay cool even in the tightest of spots.
That, rather than luck or destiny, is what makes them look so irresistible this morning.
They have the quality, the temperament and they have extraordinary leadership on the pitch and off it, too.
Immortality beckons. Expect them to answer that summons.