YAWNING GULF IN CLASS
THE walk down to Lansdowne Road on match days is well-worn at this stage.
Any seasoned visitor to Ireland HQ recognises all the familiar pitstops en route: the packed bars around Ballsbridge and Baggot Street, the market stalls, the ticket touts and the chip vans.
There’s a fair bit of familiarity about the whole thing. There’s been plenty of chat about the matchday atmosphere, or lack of one, in recent times.
It hasn’t affected this Ireland team. This was their 18th home run on the trot. And, in truth, that unbeaten run rarely looked under threat from an inexperienced and limited Wales side.
It may have taken a late try from Tadhg Beirne to break the 23-point handicap from the bookies. In truth, it was reflective of the gulf in class between both teams. Ireland were far from their best and yet they were still too good for yesterday’s opponents.
Wales assistant coach Rob Howley had promised ‘chaos’ at the Aviva earlier this week. His boss Warren Gatland has boldly stated in his newspaper column that his players would use the All Blacks blueprint from the World Cup to unsettle some ‘key individuals’.
Gatland has always been fond of a bit of fighting talk. But talk is cheap, as they say. In fairness, his team never crumbled but they were always fighting a losing battle.
From the opening minute, you felt this was going to be a rough day for the visitors. Andy Farrell’s side were simply on a different level, on both sides of the ball for the duration.
Save for a misfiring lineout (a worrying reoccurrence from the World Cup) Ireland were dominant in virtually every department. Yes, there was a lull in an error-strewn third quarter which featured the concession of a maul try, a yellow card for Tadhg Beirne and plenty of poor decisions. Ciarán Frawley’s 67th-minute try eventually sealed the deal but, in truth, Ireland – for all the sloppiness and inaccuracy – were rarely troubled.
They eventually moved through the gears and, buoyed by their blockbuster bench, they cruised home. And, not for the first time, Jamison Gibson-Park was central to everything good about this Irish team yesterday.
This was his 32nd appearance in the green jersey and he has become a mainstay in the side. It says a lot about Farrell’s judgement that Gibson-Park is such a prominent figure, for club and country, these days.
When the Ireland head coach drafted him into the starting line-up to face Japan during that galvanising November series in 2021, he was far from a nailed-on starter with Leinster. Luke McGrath was very much the main in Leo Cullen’s plans, as Gibson-Park played the role of impact sub in the late stages of games.
Farrell saw something in GibsonPark. He was rebuilding the attack and, in this livewire Leinster scrumhalf, he saw the perfect player to inject pace and tempo into an ambitious all-court approach. GibsonPark has never looked back.
Is the New Zealand-born scrumhalf the best in the world?
At the moment, there’s no question. Antoine Dupont is away on Sevens duty, Springbok Faf de Klerk is not quite the same hyper force. All Blacks veteran Aaron Smith is still a class act but not the player he was.
In terms of impact and consistency, Gibson-Park is a world leader. He played a big role here. From the opening salvo, he terrorised the Welsh defence. If there’s an opposition forward feeling the pace of the contest, Gibson-Park will find him and turn on the jets.
His pass selection and decision is stop notch. Support play, too. The amount of time he gets on the shoulders of players in open field is staggering. When things got a bit dicey in the second half, he provided a sense of calm and structure. He must have some engine as well. We don’t have his GPS stats to hand, but they must rival Hugo Keenan in terms of ground covered and energy expended. What sets Gibson-Park apart is his ability to play the game at warp speed while making splitsecond decisions. He makes it look easy.
He was one of the stand-out performers in yesterday’s comfortable, if patchy, performance. Dan Sheehan provided his usual thrust in the wide channels while Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong did a demolition job at scrum time.
Bundee Aki and James Lowe were the pick of the outside backs. Aki has maintained his World Cup form and is playing the rugby of his life. There were big surges, turnovers and plenty of big moments. The Connacht centre has become a real leader in this side and simply must be accommodated.
If Garry Ringrose is fit for Twickenham in a fortnight, it looks like it will be a straight shoot-out between the Leinster midfielder and his clubmate Robbie Henshaw for the outside centre berth. Because no one is moving Bundee at the moment.
The replacements also made a serious impact, with Ronan Kelleher, Jack Conan and Ryan Baird making big inroads at a time when Ireland were a bit lateral.
Frawley had a decent outing but his full-back credentials were rarely tested. All the pre-match chat about aerial bombs landing on this Test rookie proved wide of the mark. Farrell will be glad to have Keenan back on board in the coming rounds but he knows that Frawley can mind himself at this level.
The charge to back-to-back Grand Slams remains on course. And this impressive home run continues.
So, that’s all the good stuff. We sense that Farrell won’t be overly pleased with this display. Maybe it’s not bad thing either. The hype around this team has reached stratospheric levels of late. No harm to keep a lid on things.
The lineout was an issue at times. Paul O’Connell looked to have nailed down those set-piece wobbles against Italy and France but some of the old failings reappeared.
The sight of some of Sheehan’s throws flying over their intended target was a familiar sight. Those misfires in the air had little bearing on yesterday’s result. They could have bigger ramifications down the line, mind you. England and Scotland will be taking notes. Considering that so much of Ireland’s game plan revolves around their ability to launch off lineouts, they need to find a fix to a problem which is continually rising to the surface. How Ireland, for all their territorial and possession dominance, came out on the wrong side of the penalty count (13-12) and ended up with two players in the sin-bin will be another major source of frustration.
Farrell won’t be thrilled that his players seemingly let their foot off the pedal after the break when Wales looked there for the taking.
This team have been winning a lot of plaudits recently, with comparisons to some of the great All Blacks sides of generations past. Richie McCaw and Co would have run up a cricket score against a poor Welsh side like this, though.
That extra layer of ruthlessness is what this Irish team needs to be considered as a truly great team.
No harm. The plan is to have this team peaking in a few years’ time. Grand Slams and winning runs will be greatly welcomed in the meantime. The big plan is down the tracks. Everyone leaving the stadium yesterday would agree.