FRIENDLY FIRE
Ireland’s clash with Italy may be an ‘exhibition’ exercise, but this selection has far-reaching consequences for coach Joe Schmidt
IT’S that time of year again, when the rugby fraternity steel themselves for a month of debate/abuse over the worth of the long-established November ‘friendly’ internationals.
So be it, taking flak from outside is an inevitable consequence of Irish rugby’s remarkable rise in success and popularity in recent times.
With the national soccer team floundering, on and off the pitch, and the GAA lacking international relevance — a degree of green-eyed bitterness is understandable, with social media providing the perfect outlet for venting.
It reached its peak two years ago when Ireland beat New Zealand for the first time in Chicago.
While anyone with even a passing involvement in Irish rugby realised the monumental significance of that result, there was a gleeful rush in certain areas to dismiss the ‘friendly’ achievement (‘only a challenge match’ as some social, and mainstream, media cranks delighted in informing us).
Given its elitist history in this country, Irish rugby is always susstated ceptible to accusations of pomposity and it may well be pompous to claim that understanding rugby friendlies is a more nuanced concept than exists in other sports, but that is the truth of it.
When Ireland face Argentina and New Zealand in Dublin next month, those will be ‘friendly’ matches in the sense that nothing tangible is at stake but players, management and supporters realise these will be full-on encounters where victory will be highly prized by all parties.
Counterbalancing that is the reality that the opening November Test against Italy and closing match against the US fall squarely into the friendly/challenge match category, as understood by rival sports.
It is not a straightforward concept and one World Rugby are seeking to address with moves to introduce a truly competitive aspect to the summer and November Test windows — having noted the relative success of soccer’s Nations League realignment.
That is down the track. For now, Irish rugby is occupied with extracting the maximum benefit from this four-Test window, starting with the showdown against Italy on Saturday.
The most tangible benefit from Soldier Field in Chicago will be financial, with the IRFU reported to be expecting a €1million coffers injection. That, along with the marketing mission of expanding the appeal of the Ireland team to the rugby diaspora in America, adds to the notion of this being more of an exhibition match than anything else. Given Wales face Scotland in Cardiff the same day, there have been accusations that these financially-motivated meetings of Six Nations combatants diminish the status of the tournament proper, which gets underway in the new year. It’s hard to argue with such criticism but that is for the respective unions and World Rugby to ponder. The respec- tive head coaches won’t care about the moral wranglings with the World Cup less than a year away. Certainly, Ireland coach Joe Schmidt (left) is delighted to have this extra outing (Ireland traditionally play just three Tests in November) to aid in formulating his plans for Japan 2019. Those plans are progressing encouragingly, with the Kiwi well advanced in deciphering the make-up of his strongest match-squad, but there are still back-up questions to answer.
As reflected by the 26 names selected to travel to Chicago, the party comprised mainly of fringe players with some frontline experience providing support.
His Italy counterpart, Conor O’Shea, is embarked on a similar exercise, leaving a clutch of his big-hitters at home and both men will have far more relevant information when poring over postmatch footage next weekend.
While the US-oddity element and absence of a results-driven imperative could lead to a somewhat flat affair in Chicago, the auditioning players will be keen to prove themselves in the knowledge that the performance consequences could be far-reaching.
In that context, this will be a fascinating selection by Schmidt, so who should start and what will he be looking for?
IRELAND head coach Joe Schmidt will fly out to Chicago this evening ahead of Saturday’s clash with Italy, having delayed his arrival to prepare his senior players for the Tests against Argentina and New Zealand. Schmidt sent a 26-man Ireland group, comprised mainly of fringe players, to the US at the start of the week but remained in Ireland’s Carton House base to oversee a three-day training camp with the remainder of his 42-man squad, mindful of the greater threat posed by the Pumas and New Zealand in weeks two and three of the November window. There are shoulder injury concerns surrounding fullback Rob Kearney and flanker Peter O’Mahony, neither of whom travelled to the States, but at their first media conference in Chicago yesterday, Ireland were optimistic every member of their 42-man squad would be able to feature in November. While Italy boss Conor O’Shea is also using Saturday’s Test in Soldier Field to look at his depth options ahead of next year’s World Cup, second row George Biagi says the Azzurri believe they can cause Schmidt’s men ‘trouble’ in this Test and are driven by the desire to claim the scalp of the Grand Slam winners. ‘We are a very motivated group. The match against Ireland will be very tough, both from a physical and a technical point of view. In the last Six Nations, we had some problems against Ireland,’ said Biagi, referring to the Lansdowne Road clash