IRELAND SUNK AS PLAYERS WORN DOWN
Schmidt’s failure to utilise his bench costs gallant tourists series
SO, the longest season has ended without reward 363 days after Joe Schmidt’s squad first assembled at Carton House for an exhaustive 17-Test campaign. No World Cup quarter-final ceiling broken. No credible Six Nations title defence. And now this, a series that tilted the way of South Africa in edge-of-seat circumstances. Painful.
Worse, it now means a seemingly seminal moment in Ireland’s campaign, their first ever Test win away to the Boks, has been cheapened by what took place in the fortnight after Cape Town.
Similar reassessment occurred at the World Cup eight months ago, the compelling second-half performance against the French, which made light of multiple in-game injuries, was forgotten amid the disaster that was the surrender to Argentina seven days later.
Now this, two chances to clinch an historic series triumph in South Africa spurned after a seemingly momentous blow was landed in the opening Test, 14 men hanging on against the odds but then failing to close out the deal in following games, a 19-3 lead lost at altitude in Johannesburg and another winning position blown in Port Elizabeth just before the interval, Andrew Trimble suckered by a cross-kick, and then sideline reaction occurring too late in the second half for a successful recovery.
In failing to seal the series and become just the second European side to win a series in South Africa after France, Schmidt’s halo has slipped.
The three generally high level performances he desired before leaving Dublin were delivered, a step forward in the sense that playing well on three consecutive weekends without a break is something that eludes Ireland at World Cups and on their previous three-Test series, in New Zealand in 2012.
But what must come out in the wash and dominate the post-mortem is how wins were left behind over two Saturdays due to the New Zealander’s continued reticence in more confidently using his bench.
We glimpsed in Port Elizabeth what can be achieved with alterations. The injection generated by the now-retired Eoin Reddan and Sean Cronin was particularly immense, Reddan’s breakdown work winning the penalty that shaved the margin to six points and then his long pass on his 22 inviting Cronin to embark on that exceptional sprint to the opposition 22 which ensured Ireland died with their boots on.
Thing is, this pair — and others — should have been introduced earlier to add much-needed ballast to an Ireland team where eight players were starting for the third consecutive Saturday.
Turnovers were the bane of their effort (the overall count was 6-14 against) and having seen the agile Faf de Klerk somehow pick off a Paddy Jackson pass that would surely have been the try-scoring assist for a 15-13 second-half lead with a conversion to come, the tourists went through a tiringly ghoulish spell where fatigued bodies lost too many collisions and crucial penalty points went against them.
Three were given up at the first scrum after the Boks altered both props (Ireland gave up six points in total at the set-piece) and another three after the gallant, but drained, Murray — at fault the previous week for the decisive try after again being left on too long — got clogged at a ruck and couldn’t roll away.
Schmidt, yet again, was only reactive after the event instead of being proactive to prevent it from happening.
Only with the margin at two scores were sagging energy levels replenished, Reddan, Rhys Ruddock, Ultan Dillane all flung on in a triple substitution with Cronin and Ian Madigan following minutes from the end of a contest where Finlay Bealham, the loosehead replacement, was left unused on the bench. As improved as Jack McGrath was on his second Test effort where he fell off a few try-conceding tackles, the fact he played 225 minutes of this 240-minute series at the end of his longest season ever — and the full 80 in two matches — highlighted how Schmidt doesn’t seem convinced Test rugby is a 23-man sport. Ireland, of course, shouldn’t have had as steep a final-game hill to climb. Willie le Roux — yesterday banned for a week — should have been red-carded for the ugly-looking consequences of his aerial jump with Tiernan O’Halloran, the full-back landing horrifically and blessed to walk away. He hobbled on until the interval but rather than Schmidt introducing the versatile Madigan as his direct replacement at No.15 and keeping this rejig to a minimum, he instead sent on Matt Healy for an ineffective debut on the wing and shunted Keith Earls to full-back.
This lack of trust in Madigan, allied to pre-tour injury cry-offs, meant last Saturday was the third consecutive match where not a single Leinster back started — quite a development given how the province once dominated in green.
Two other points also worth dwelling on amid the debris. First, the on-going midfield merry-goround: Port Elizabeth witnessed Schmidt’s 17th different centre partnership in 35 matches and an 11th different pairing in 17 this season — a lack of clarity that must stop if Ireland are to build more positively towards World Cup 2019.
Secondly, we have seen the last of Mike Ross at this level. The veteran’s legs are going if not gone and when his staple diet, the scrum, has its problems, the question much be asked in the wake of this chance of a lifetime series win being lost in South Africa, why did he start when the need to develop reliable alternatives for the future is pressing.
Over to you, Joe.