Extraordinary Ireland need to make this count
THE key now is to make this count. Ireland have won nothing yet. And, amid the euphoria that will sweep the country in the wake of last night’s extraordinary victory, resourced more in a dogged refusal to lose than anything else, perspective must be maintained.
This was the best case scenario of victory with no serious injury and once again Andy Farrell’s bold, full frontal approach has been vindicated.
This does not change Ireland’s awful history in this competition, that stink will hover over the team until that torturous 36-year wait for a knockout victory is put away – but it does make one hell of a statement. A clarion call that will echo throughout all the team meeting rooms in France – this Irish team is not messing around. This Irish team is different.
There was an ocean of analysis to consume in the build-up to last night’s elite showdown between the world’s top two teams.
All the greatest hits of rugby’s, modern-day, jargon-fuelled analysis were in play – ‘three-second ruck time’, ‘painting the right pictures for the referee’ along with the importance of ‘coordinated line speed’ in defence and the ‘seeking of soft shoulders’ in attack.
But the most salient piece of analysis was the simple statement uttered by former Connacht, Harlequins and Ireland full-back Gavin Duffy on Newstalk radio yesterday afternoon.
‘Andy Farrell’s teams show up,’ said Duffy.
How right he was.
No need for any technical buzzwords, revamped every couple of years, to make the most relevant point of all, when assessing Ireland’s long and brutal history of World Cup failure.
It is like the Olympics. Given the disparity in resources and talent when Ireland square up against the athletics giants, you do not expect a glut of medals, or indeed any medal since Sonia retired.
But you want the Irish to peak for the big show every four years, just as Sarah Lavin did at the World Championships – no medal but she smashed Derval O’Rourke’s national 100m record and it was wonderful.
The problem for the Ireland rugby team at World Cups dating all the way back to 1987 is that, regardless of any realistic aspirations of glory, they have never shown up.
At every tournament, with the exception of 1991 when they nearly stunned a generationally gifted Wallabies team, Ireland have underperformed according to their abilities when it really mattered.
That fear no longer appears to be part of the Irish equation.
But, under Farrell, we know that this group of players will not vanish into their shells when the pressure comes on and, though there are several issues exposed against the Boks last night that need concerted attention before the final pool clash against Scotland, character and attitude are not among them.
The lineout should be a straightforward fix, whether by means of a selection change or shifting the target package.
Since lifting was legalised after the 1995 tournament, there is no excuse for a professional rugby team not to be able to secure their own lineout ball. In his playing days, Paul O’Connell was a master of the right call at the right time and he will go to work.
Nor can Ireland expect to benefit from opponents being so woefully profligate off the kicking tee and so must focus on limiting opportunities.
That is easier said than done when under the type of intense physical pressure they faced against the largest, most physically intimidating side assembled in the history of Test rugby – and the type of fullfrontal oppression they will not encounter against unless the teams meet again in the final.
And, when the world champions threw everything they had at Farrell’s side, expanding their attack to try to find gaps out wide, Ireland’s metal resolve never wavered.
The desperation to cover back and hunting down the marauding Boks was at a level we have not witnessed before from an Irish team at rugby’s flagship competition.
And then to release the pressure valve and work their way up to the Springbok line so Jack Crowley could draw a final line under his lost Johann van Graan years at Munster and slot the winning kick was a statement of supreme mental resolve.
And again for the final lineout drive, there was a feral quality to Ireland’s defence that refused to be compromised.
Maybe South Africa left this one behind them, that argument will certainly be made in the coming days but that is the Springboks’ problem.
Ireland have to zero in now on not letting this go to waste. Above all, they owe it to themselves. Too much has gone into this for it not to lead to something meaningful.
The most rewarding aspect now is that, in contrast to all previous World Cups, we know Andy Farrell’s Ireland will show up.
And then some.
Unlike at all previous World Cups, we know Farrell’s Ireland will show up