IS IRISH ‘SLUMP’ PART OF SCHMIDT’S WORLD CUP MASTER PLAN? —
Six Nations ‘slump’ may be part of an overall approach to reap reward at World Cup
THERE was widespread concern for Ireland on the eve of their pivotal Pool C game against Australia at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Declan Kidney’s squad had endured a torrid build-up to the tournament, losing all four of their warm-up games — including losses to Scotland and France (at home and away) and concluding with an alarming defeat at the hands of England at Lansdowne Road.
When the squad landed in New Zealand, Kidney decided to base them in the idyllic South Island ski resort of Queenstown. Images of the players bungee jumping, haring around on jet boats and tucking into Fergburgers soon began to filter back home. There were also plenty of noises that they were sampling the sights and sounds of Queenstown’s night life. Ireland’s head coach at the time saw it as a chance for his squad to bond and calm the minds ahead of a challenging campaign. Others closer to home didn’t see it that way.
Alarms bells began to ring after Ireland’s first pool game against the US Eagles in New Plymouth. It was a horrid night at Yarrow Stadium as Ireland laboured to a 22-10 victory. Next up were the Wallabies — very much at their peak — at Eden Park and many feared the worst. Ireland duly shocked the world in Auckland the next weekend with a 15-6 win over a side many had tipped for the World Cup.
Years later, Keith Earls revealed that the squad were presented with a new playbook on the Monday of that week. There were plays and calls that the squad had never seen before. There was a long-term plan in place.
There is a school of thought that Joe Schmidt has implemented a similar master plan ahead of the autumn’s World Cup in Japan.
After the unprecedented success of 2018, Ireland have encountered choppy waters in the opening rounds of the Six Nations. The accuracy, nous and flair of last season’s Grand Slam campaign have been sorely lacking this time round.
Save for that strike play against Scotland, which laid the platform for Jacob Stockdale’s try, Ireland have been decidedly one-dimensional in their approach in the championship so far.
It begs the question: is Schmidt holding things back for Japan? If you apply that logic, this supposed Six Nations slump takes on a whole new significance. There are greater forces at work.
Robbie Henshaw’s selection at full-back against England looked very much like a coach trying to figure out how he can accommodate all his best players in a 31-man World Cup squad.
He has a logjam of quality centres currently on the books with Henshaw, Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose as the front-runners. Then there are the likes of Chris Farrell, Will Addison and Tom Farrell banging on the door.
Meanwhile, Schmidt has one established stalwart in Rob Kearney who he can depend on at fullback. If Henshaw — who has stated he prefers having a 15 on his back — can do a job there, then it allows Schmidt to bring more midfield artillery to the Far East, arguably the most attritional position in the Ireland squad.
Schmidt is not afraid to take calculated risks but sending out a player with such limited exposure in a specialist position at full-back against such high-calibre opposition as England was very much out of character.
The coach has regularly stated on the record that the Six Nations, the marquee tournament of the European rugby calendar, is not the environment to experiment. Yet there he was, sending out a player with one previous Test start at full-back against a team with three specialist kickers across their backline. Henshaw’s lack of experience in that position showed, but Schmidt would have learned plenty from the experiment.
There are currently 34 players in camp to prepare for Sunday’s assignment in Rome. No offence to Italy — a team without a Six Nations win in 19 championship games — but those numbers seem a little excessive to prepare for a clash with the Azzurri.
Ireland’s training sessions are well-guarded at their Carton House base, but it wouldn’t be a big stretch to suggest that Schmidt is getting a large squad of players primed for some World Cup work. It’s highly likely that Ireland are working on plays and patterns which will be boxed away for Japan.
That course of action would make a lot of sense. Like Kidney’s class of 2011, Ireland do not want to show their full hand ahead of the tournament.
No doubt, South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus is forensically examining everything Ireland are doing in this championship. In all likelihood, Ireland will face his Springboks in a World Cup quarter-final in Tokyo on October 20.
There has been criticism levelled at Ireland that they have not evolved from last season’s exploits and the likes of England have found them out.
Think of some of the trademarks of this Ireland team under Schmidt: the Johnny Sexton loop, the crossfield kick, the choke tackle and the driving maul. All of those facets have been virtually non-existent in this year’s edition of the championship.
Imagine for a second that this is exactly what Schmidt wants.
Ireland’s head coach has got things right on so many occasions, why should people doubt him now? There could very well be a new playbook in the back pocket for later this year.
Time will tell.