Ringrose skill a throwback to BOD genius
OFF-LOADING was the cure after defeat by France. The ease with which the French players passed the ball out of tackles, the beauty of the skill involved but also the practical benefits of keeping possession and moving it quickly, seemed especially triggering for many watching on.
The French can off-load the ball better than most teams in the world, with the exception of New Zealand and maybe Australia, so taking the lead from them, and in a skill of the game where Ireland don’t enjoy a rich tradition, felt rash.
Ireland had a number of deficiencies revealed in that defeat in Dublin a fortnight ago, and off-loading didn’t feel like a priority.
A riotous win against an abject Italy suggests that some of those weaknesses have been addressed by Andy Farrell.
Overwhelming evidence of significant improvement can’t be taken from beating such an awful oppolike nent, but the performance shouldn’t be too heavily qualified, either.
Ireland were good, at times they were very good.
And there was a terrific off-load from an Irish player, too.
It was no surprise that Garry Ringrose was responsible for it, passing beautifully out of a tackle to Hugo Keenan for the full-back’s try.
Ringrose has looked a sumptuous footballer at Test level since his debut against Canada in November 2016.
He scored his first try for Ireland in his third game, against Australia. Ringrose was playing at inside centre but the score, from the way he gathered a misplaced ball to the crouched run to the line, summoned memories of one of his predecessors, a man who wore No13.
Brian O’Driscoll was not a typical Irish rugby player, and he was in some ways not a typical outside centre, but Ringrose has developed into a justifiable successor to the country’s greatest ever player.
When the off-loading panic started after France picked Ireland apart, Ringrose came to mind because, O’Driscoll in countless teams before him, he was the one Ireland player one would confidently back to free his hands when in difficulty and move the ball on.
There were a number of holes in the argument that Ireland should forthwith play a more buccaneering style of rugby, but the fact that there aren’t many players with the skills of Ringrose was one of the more obvious ones.
He scored Ireland’s first try here, and it didn’t unduly stress his talents. It came in the 11th minute, and by that point Italy’s extensive set of weaknesses were already apparent.
They conceded three separate penalties for offside in the lead-up to the Ringrose score, and while they scored the last try of the first half, they were obviously, painfully out of their depth by then.
Their plain awfulness should be one check on enthusiasm for Ireland’s display, but it would also be churlish to disqualify any measure at all of Ireland’s quality on account of the poverty of their opponents.
The set pieces were again very good, the defence, though infrequently tested, largely held up, and the attack was coherent in a way it has rarely been in Farrell’s tenure.
Ringrose was excellent, Keenan is getting better with each game, and Robbie Henshaw continued his excellent championship.
Johnny Sexton was another who revelled in the opportunities that poor Italy presented time and again.
This is where the feebleness of the Italians is worth noting again.
Sexton’s advocates – and he has many, of course – have started to bridle at what they see as undue focus on his age, as if the fact that he is 35, in a physically punishing sport, is irrelevant.
That he is Ireland’s best out-half remains true (but Joey Carbery’s return for Munster on Friday night means a reassessment may be in its early stages), but it is also true that against the best teams in the northern hemisphere over the last 12 months – England and France – he has been repeatedly nullified.
He will certainly lead Ireland out at Murrayfield in 13 days’ time, but teams like the Scots will surely start to fancy that they can stymie him and therefore Ireland.
It is in those kinds of situations that assessments can best be made.
Nonetheless, he looked to be enjoying himself immensely under the Roman sun, as all of his teammates did.
This seemed an important game also for Ronan Kelleher.
Rob Herring’s line-out throwing appears to be his most pressing case for selection, but the line-out worked fine in his absence, and Kelleher is way more effective around the field.
Tadhg Beirne and Will Connors were two other big winners, and taken in the round, Andy Farrell has plenty of reasons to be pleased.
Italy were a shambles, but Ireland should be commended for taking advantage of that.
It wasn’t a classically French performance, as was demanded a couple of weeks ago.
Instead, it was focussed, accurate and aggressive.
It was often admirable – but, one last time, Italy, poor Italy.
‘THE CENTRE HAS LOOKED A SUMPTUOUS PLAYER SINCE HIS DEBUT’