OFF THE PACE
Bad calls and policies play into Scottish hands
IN the modern, increasingly scientific and prescribed era of professional rugby, outside analysis is routinely dismissed. Even the opinions of recently retired professionals-turnedpundits tend to be disregarded by those inside the tent on the basis of ‘sure, what would they know?’ and ‘the game has moved on’.
As for those who never played the game at the top level?
Well, the disdain for those opinions is barely concealed – and oftentimes laid bare.
That’s fair enough – to a point. It is easy to take swipes from behind the laptop with a game that is vastly, and often bewilderingly, changed and we are not at training sessions observing preparations up close or poring over the GPS stats and exhaustive video analysis.
Indeed, there is no hesitation in admitting many aspects of the modern game are a mystery (not least the obsession with ‘painting pictures’ for referees).
It’s a mystery that Ireland players are now coached to take the ball from a standing start as opposed to the old, non-negotiable instructions of fielding at pace to generate momentum.
It’s a mystery that Ireland players no longer seem to be coached to hold their depth when running in support, to reduce the risk of forward passes and increase the capacity for offloads.
And, it’s a mystery why offloading has become such a challenge in itself – the skill of keeping your hands free and passing out of the tackle never used to be regarded as a notable skill, more as a basic requirement of the game.
All very puzzling for rugby dinosaurs weaned in the amateur era.
But 40 years of watching Irish rugby does teach you certain things. It teaches you the dangers of holding on too long to revered players (the ‘Dad’s Army’ pack of 1984, Brian O’Driscoll still being picked a year out from a World Cup he would not be playing in).
It teaches you the perils of placing too much trust in imported talent (Brian Smith in the early 1990s, Dion O’Cuinneagain at the end of that decade, Tom Court in the 2010s).
And it teaches you that backing form and verve is always the best way to go (as Mick Doyle did with his ‘give it a lash’ approach in 1985, as Warren Gatland did when picking five debutants against Scotland in 2000). That Irish rugby history may mean little to this multi-national Ireland coaching and playing set-up but it should. But then...what do we know? Well, we know wingers shepherding their touchline and trusting defenders inside has been a core rugby concept for as long as we can remember – James Lowe has never grasped it and leaks tries as a result. Ireland keep picking him.
We know there are at least three scrum-halves (John Cooney, Craig Casey and Luke McGrath) better equipped for international rugby than Jamison Gibson-Park, a decent club player but vulnerable at the top level. Ireland keep picking him.
We know that the game moved past CJ Stander’s robust but limited style some time ago and teams now line him up to mow him down. Ireland keep picking him.
We know that Rob Herring will never be more that serviceable for Ireland whereas Ronan Kelleher can be exceptional. Ask yourself, of these two hookers who are the Lions seriously looking at?
And, most glaringly of all, we know the unfortunate Billy Burns is not remotely cut out for bossing international rugby matches. Ireland keep backing him.
These are not wild declarations, these are observations that should be obvious to even the most casual rugby observer – never mind fulltime professional coaches well paid to make these judgments.
While singling out Lowe, Gibson-Park, Stander, Herring and Burns could be regarded as a willingness to indulge ‘batter the blow-in’ tendencies, qualms with this quartet extend beyond their overseas roots.
There are qualms also with homegrown selections, the continued dependance on 30-something stalwarts like Keith Earls, Cian Healy and Johnny Sexton makes little sense on the basis they will be gone by the next World Cup.
There is no questioning their contributions and justifiable arguments that these three are the best options in their respective positions today but that’s an indictment of a coaching set-up that has had more than a year to bring through alternatives. The longer this goes on, the more frustrating it gets and you wonder how posterity will view this disquieting period for Ireland.
One review that should be thrown up in years to come is the notion that developing players and winning rugby matches are not mutually exclusive concepts.
Ireland have opted for shorttermism and it has been condoned by a largely compliant media on the basis of the dire need for victory after losing the opening two Six Nations games.
Maybe Ireland will win today – Scotland, while tangibly improved, are still susceptible to self-destruction – but they are making bad calls that will come back to bite them.
And if that leads to defeat in Murrayfield, the outside analysis – however it is regarded by those on the receiving end – will be savage.