IRELAND GO BACK TO BASICS
French are shown no mercy as Schmidt’s men put doubts to rest with big display
THAT’S more like it. This was a return to the capital punishment that Ireland inflicted on the All Blacks last November. Rugby is a simple game when the basics are mastered, and Ireland were ruthlessly efficient in their work yesterday.
They bossed the breakdown and dominated the collisions, and everything fell into place after that.
There was much talk about France’s young and daring halfbacks from Toulouse. Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack barely got a sniff at Lansdowne Road. Like the rest of their comrades, they spent the afternoon on the back foot.
Ireland have suffered just one defeat in seven encounters with the French under Joe Schmidt’s watch, a 10-9 defeat on a pig of a day in Paris back in 2016. Normal service resumed yesterday.
The hosts have an impressive home record in the championship under Schmidt as well. Until England came calling to the capital in the opening round this year, Ireland were unbeaten on home turf in the Six Nations during the Kiwi’s six-year reign.
It’s all been a bit edgy since. Whether it’s the pundits on the box, fans on the coach or the players and management at their team base in Kildare, something felt a bit awry before today’s clash. The style and swagger of 2018 was sorely missing.
Ireland’s problems have not been helped by the fact that everything is being viewed through the prism of the looming World Cup. This performance will go some way to allaying creeping fears of a repeat of Ireland’s 2007 World Cup disaster in France.
Ireland were by no means perfect, but they looked more like themselves here.
The shaky displays of Sean Cronin and Niall Scannell in Rome merely cemented Rory Best’s status as the main man at hooker. Ditto Rob Kearney.
What is Ireland’s plan if their veteran full-back goes to ground the week of that potential World Cup quarter-final against the Springboks later this year? We got the chance to find out by default yesterday.
Kearney was a late withdrawal due to a tight calf and Jordan Larmour was thrust into the No 15 shirt — his first start there since a shaky display against Argentina in November.
Larmour would have looked to the skies during the warm-up and let out a little sigh. The downpour was biblical during the pre-match warm-up. We had hailstones and snow before the sun emerged again just before kick-off.
Larmour made a good start with a deft kick down the line which forced Damian Penaud to hack the ball into touch. The French would find themselves hemmed in for the duration of a claustrophobic first half.
Best burst through for a try from a driving lineout maul to set the tone and Ireland were up and running. This is what Ireland do best in Dublin.
Les Bleus were trapped and struggling to wriggle free as waves of Irish carriers battered their defensive line. The hosts enjoyed 88 per cent of the territory after 20 minutes.
The French were being forced to make a pile of tackles. Felix Lambey, their flame-haired lock, was right in the thick of it, making 17 tackles in 28 minutes.
It said everything about the pressure they were absorbing. It was relentless.
The dam eventually broke after 29 minutes and it was a familiar sight as Johnny Sexton scythed through from a trademark loop to cross near the posts.
When Ireland weren’t sending the likes of CJ Stander up the guts of France, Sexton was bombarding their back three with high bombs. Garry Ringrose was then denied a try after a wonderful piece of fielding when he knocked the ball on as he skated over the whitewash.
It mattered little as the beleaguered French copped more torture.
Once again, they coughed up the ball and after Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan and Bundee Aki barrelled through tired French tacklers, Jack Conan, on for the injured Josh van der Flier, charged through Guilhem Guirado and Antoine Dupont to score.
Ireland went into the sheds with a 19-0 lead.
It was a question when, not if, the bonus point-clinching try would arrive as Keith Earls raced away untouched from 40 metres out.
With the game out of sight, Schmidt felt it was time to put the top dogs on ice for Wales next Saturday as Conor Murray, Sexton, Best and Furlong all made way for the reinforcements. On came the likes of John Cooney and Jack Carty for some much-needed exposure.
Yoann Huget and replacement Camile Chat crossed for late consolation tries, which will annoy Ireland’s head coach.
Plenty to work on ahead of next Saturday’s assignment in Cardiff where Ireland will look to derail Warren Gatland’s bid for a Welsh Grand Slam.
That is shaping up to be one hell of a contest.