O’Connor shines as Tipp see off resurgent Galway
CLIVE WOODWARD
WHEN Tipperary led by 0-21 to 0-13 during the second half at Semple Stadium, a second Group B win on the bounce looked like little more than a formality for Liam Cahill’s side. After the comfortable opening-round win against Dublin in Division 1, they were again in cruise control against a Galway side that had flattered to deceive up until that point. Credit has to go then to Henry Shefflin’s players in how they came storming back into this and set up at a thrilling finish. Tipperary needed all of John McGrath’s skill and nous when it mattered and they had an ice-cool finisher in Gearóid O’Connor.
It was the latter’s penalty — blasted down the middle — that wrapped up the victory and left Tipperary top of Group B in Division 1. O’Connor finished with 1-13 to his name in a 1-26 to 0-24 final scoreline. Mark Kehoe was another to impress with three points off the bench. Not for the first time, Conor Whelan was Galway’s go-to man in attack, while Evan Niland kept Galway in it from placed balls and Conor Cooney made a big impact. After taking a thumping from an experimental Limerick side, Antrim showed great character to come so close to beating Dublin at Corrigan Park. The home side looked on the brink of victory, only for the visitors to pinch a lucky late goal when the ball came off the goalkeeper’s hurley and dropped over the line. That helped Dublin thieve a 1-20 to 1-19 win. Up to that point, it had been so closely fought, with Darren Gleeson’s side showing far more about them than in that one-sided opening-round humbling. All-Ireland champions Limerick were made to work much harder for it this weekend. John Kiely’s side came close to a sensational shock defeat to Westmeath
— who had lost to Galway by 31 points in their opening game. Joe Fortune’s side were level at half-time while playing with a strong breeze in Mullingar. David Williams’ free-taking was an important asset and it was still neck and neck at the three-quarter mark. With the small home support sniffing a massive upset, it took a Donnacha Ó Dálaigh goal to ease Limerick nerves and they won by six in the end, 1-20 to 017. In Division 2A, Carlow and Laois backed up their opening round wins with strong showings to beat Meath and Kildare respectively.
“I see three divisions now and Ireland lead the way”
ENGLAND’S victory over Wales was a poor game between two sides who are talking about rebuilding. I dislike that narrative. What we saw at Twickenham on Saturday night were the two best sides both countries were able to put out.
It’s not about rebuilding. It’s about winning. End of story. To me, that sort of talk creates a mentality where you are almost making an excuse for defeat.
I t’ s such a cop- out. That shouldn’t be happening in the Six Nations which is the pinnacle of rugby.
Test players and coaches are in the results business which is why with two wins from two, England can be pleased to a degree. Wales missed a big chance. The game was there for them. After the first two rounds of the 2024 Championship, I can see three divisions emerging in the tournament.
In the top tier, Ireland lead the way with France and Scotland behind them.
Below them are England and Wales who are vying for promotion with Italy bringing up the rear. We will see exactly where England are really at in the next few weeks.
A visit to Scotland is up next. That Calcutta Cup game is going to be fascinating because I think Scotland will still be absolutely mad — and rightly so — about their controversial defeat by France. They were robbed.
In my mind there is absolutely no doubt Gregor Townsend’s side scored what would have been a match-winning try at the death.
Under huge pressure, the refereeing team got a big decision wrong. The call not to give the try had huge ramifications on the Six Nations.
Scotland are now one from two instead of two from two. I think that will give them huge motivation for England.
It brought back memories from my coaching career. On England’s 2000 tour of South Africa, we lost the first Test in Pretoria 18-13. Tim Stimpson had a try ruled out. We lost that game, but it fuelled my England team to win the second match in Bloemfontein.
That victory was a huge turning point for that side, much like defeating t his French si de would have been for Scotland.
England’s team of 2024 need to be wary of a similar Scottish response. They have a huge challenge ahead of them.
It should be an incredible occasion. Despite losing this weekend, Scotland have all the momentum in recent head-to-heads with England.
Should England win, however, a lot of ghosts will be laid to rest and they would then open up showdowns with Ireland and France at the business end of the tournament.
Lose, and you feel another Six Nations will have come and gone with England adrift.
Steve Borthwick’s side look a tough team. But that has always been the case with English rugby.
The new blitz defence introduced by Felix Jones is, on the whole, working well. It isn’t perfect but you can’t expect it to be after two games. Wales tried to take advantage of the narrow nature of the blitz through kick passes.
What is interesting — and concerning — to me is that in attack, England seem to want to be all about power and ruck, ruck, ruck. That’s been good enough to beat Italy and Wales, though I have my doubts it will work against better teams. I can’t recall, not for a long time at least, England scoring a try like Wales did with Alex Mann at Twickenham.
I’d l ove to see Borthwick’s players try to offload and pass before contact.
I’d like to see more from England in attack. In Fraser Dingwall, who scored the crucial second-half try, I think they have a good player. He reminds me of Will Greenwood.
But England are using Dingwall wrongly at the moment. In his first two games, he’s received possession too deep. Greenwood was at his best receiving the ball nose-to-nose with the opposition.
I’d like to see Dingwall on the front line, taking passes straight from Alex Mitchell. Those two are Northampton team-mates so have a connection.
England were too predictable against Wales. Warren Gatland and his side missed a big opportunity. Again, it comes back to talk of rebuilding.
Wales’s scrum and line-out was going very well. But then Gatland decided to take off hooker Elliot Dee and tighthead prop Keiron Assiratti on 55 minutes.
It was a big mistake because from there, the Welsh scrum and line-out unravelled.
England’s forwards got on top and it allowed George Ford to control the game and get his team over the line.
I just shake my head when coaches make decisions like that. Dee had to stay on the field. When he and Assiratti came off, it didn’t look like they’d gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson! They could and should have carried on.
Gatland didn’t need to make that call and arguably, it cost Wales the game.
In last year’s World Cup semifinal with South Africa, Borthwick did the same thing and it cost England badly.
It was a major error and now Wales and Gatland have committ ed t he same cardinal si n. Coaches have to realise that it is not easy for replacements to get up to speed quickly.
Gatland clearly wanted to give rookie prop Archie Griffin a debut and Test experience but I think if he could have his time again, he would have kept Dee and Assiratti on.
I was at Twickenham as a fan on Saturday. There has been a lot of talk about getting a connection back between the team and supporters and improving the matchday experience.
My message to the RFU would be to forget the gimmicks like l i ght shows, DJ’s and bands which are designed to get the crowd going. You can’t force fun. There is no need to try to create it. If England can play in a way that gets fans off their seats with excitement, then the Twickenham atmosphere will take care of itself.
A good start would be getting the best players on the field. The sight of Henry Arundell in the Twickenham hospitality boxes rather than on the field on Saturday was another massive own goal that is just devaluing international rugby, selection f or which should be sacrosanct.
But t hat’s another s t ory altogether!