Bonus point could yet serve Ireland well in title race
THERE will be no Grand Slam, no Triple Crown and for the first time since Joe Schmidt took over, they have even had to hand back the Centenary Quaich to Scotland, but it is far too early to be dismissing Ireland’s chances of winning a third Six Nations Championship title in four years under this head coach.
There was a sense afterwards that Saturday’s defeat was bittersweet for the New Zealander. Naturally he was desperate to get off to a winning start, but before and after the match he seemed almost a bit too eager to highlight the excellence of the work done by his old friend Vern Cotter in his time as Scotland coach.
He had clearly seen this coming too, noting during his post-match press conference, that losing an opening match to these opponents was “always potentially a reality”.
However, Schmidt had also watched his side recover well from a strange start in which they had successfully executed a major objective in establishing immediate scrummage superiority, normally such a key factor, only to find themselves 14-0, then 21-5 behind during the opening half. So much so that they had been ahead with more than a quarter of the game remaining in spite of spurning a series of clearcut opportunities, most obviously from breaks by Rob Kearney, Conor Murray and Sean O’Brien, before Scotland’s second effort saw them reclaim the upper hand in the closing stages.
In this Lions year several of his men have also been around long enough to draw inspiration from the experience which effectively earned Schmidt his job ahead of the last Lions tour four years ago.
Back then, given the importance always attributed to momentum in the Six Nations Championship, Ireland looked to have struck a telling blow when they visited the previous year’s Grand Slam champions Wales on the opening day and claimed a fine victory in the Millennium Stadium. Yet Wales would win every other match, while Ireland failed to win another, costing Declan Kidney, their own Grand Slam winning coach of four years earlier, his job.
If anything, what confronts Ireland this time around also appears far less daunting than Wales’ schedule in 2013, too.
Admittedly a second successive week on the road is not ideal, but they now head to Italy where they will be obvious favourites and it is conceivable that they will yet carry that tag into all their remaining matches since both France and England must visit Dublin.
There was good reason that many people tipped them to take the title before the tournament got under way because there are no obvious weaknesses in their line-up and while much will be made of Jonny Sexton’s absence, given the nature of the playmaker’s relationship with the coach which led to former captain Paul O’Connell observing that his presence is as good as having Schmidt on the pitch, Paddy Jackson is not the flakey youngster who contributed so well to Scotland’s cause last time they beat Ireland four years back in 2013.
The Ulsterman contributed a dozen of his side’s points on Saturday, including the well-taken try that let him nudge them in front and he responded in measured fashion when it was rather unfairly suggested to him that some, if not all the Irishmen afield had not been “up for it.”
“I wouldn’t say anyone wasn’t up for it, it was just collectively there was something . . .” Jackson replied, drawing breath before adding: “Obviously we’ll have to go back and look at the game.
“Naturally we’ll all be down for the next couple of days and once we get into camp we’ll review the game and then it’s just back to normal.
“Italy’s obviously the huge focus for us, so we’ve all been in positions like this before where we know how to bounce back. We’re a tight group and it was a close game today, a good game.”
When they do so they will realise they now have no further room for manoeuvre but will be right back in contention if and when they win in Rome, particularly if a second bonus point is accrued.
The Ulsterman contributed a dozen of his side’s points, including the well-taken try that let him nudge them in front . . .