Stander earns his stripes in new green army
FOR A dead rubber, there was a wicked bounce in this one.
This was a match with nothing of immediate consequence riding on it. There were repercussions for world rankings and the cosmetics of finishing third in the championship table, but the serious business of yesterday was in Paris.
But Ireland and Scotland played like two teams whose tomorrows depended on how they fared here. Johnny Sexton was kicking a penalty up the line with just 24 minutes gone, Ireland’s opening try eventually emerging from it.
The final score of the first half was a Scottish penalty, won by turning over a ball Ireland tried to run from their 22. A Sexton kick with his weaker left foot put in Earls for Ireland’s second score, helped by Scottish defending that could have been coached by Larry, Curly and Moe as Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour collided chasing the kick.
Hogg still finished the period in credit after his blazing try kept Scotland interested, the player of the tournament flourishing again.
The action was tremendous, but the pity was there was nothing tangible to reward it. Victory could help Ireland in a pool draw for a World Cup three and a half years away, but sport is a more compelling attraction when there are instant consequences.
The teams were vulnerable to the accusation that a thrilling style is easy to play when nothing hangs on the outcome.
The ambition was nonetheless marvellous. Ireland scored their third try within eight minutes of the restart; eight minutes later Richie Gray had dotted down Scotland’s second. The uptight, bootdriven game that threatened to leave European rugby fans catatonic in February was forgotten.
What this portends is another matter. Who expects Ireland to try and beat South Africa next June by playing rugby inspired by the sevens game?
Whatever the cranks might say, Joe Schmidt is entitled to one middling championship after two exceptional ones, and he had long ago earned time and matches in which to start building a new Ireland. The extent of Ireland’s ambition made this one a championship outlier, but it may also be another step in a bolder process that started in Twickenham and continued against Italy.
Schmidt’s new green army will have CJ Stander among its officer corps. He has been Ireland’s Six Nations sensation, and he continued his thunderous introduction to Test rugby here.
He leaped across a desperate tangle of blue shirts in the 27th minute to score his second Ireland try in his fifth appearance, his side finally wrenching a fivepointer out of almost incessant pressure from the start of the match. The score came through his 12th carry of the match, with just over a third of it played. His figures were exceptional, and in that they contained a wider story. He has been a superb addition to the team.
It matters to the South African. He cares and Ireland should too. They have discovered a gem.
Vern Cotter can appear as forbidding as one of those New Zealand landscapes that doubled as a fantasy earth in The Lord of the Rings. Stern Vern is less a playful nickname than an understatement of Cotter’s taciturnity. He has a face with a strict admission policy: chuckles do not get inside the rope.
And if Schmidt must have felt his stomach churning watching some of the quick-tap mania that seized both teams, Cotter’s face was hardening further. If his side are improving, they are not at Ireland’s level quite yet, and a fractured, instinctive game suited the hosts more than the visitors.
This was not a testimonial canter, though. There was too much edge for that. Scotland saw two men sent to the sin-bin and the second of them, Alex Dunbar, was punished for dumping Sexton on the ground. That prompted carping from Scotland No 8 Ryan Wilson about Sexton’s reaction, but it was merely another instalment in a running spat between those two players.
The antipathy took a more general hold following Ireland’s fourth try. Devin Toner’s score was immediately followed by a round of shaping behind the Scottish posts. Players bumped and jostled with indignation.
Macho theatre masked the reality that Toner’s try had settled the win. This was roaring fun on a freezing March afternoon, but it was also a diversion before the main business of the final day.
As Ireland and Scotland engaged in running rows, England were warming up for championship glory in Paris.
But as a consolation prize, winning a niggling, tempestuous contest like this one satisfied Irish players and management. One of the final flare-ups of the day ended with Sexton shown a yellow card, and he departed to great acclaim.
He has been caught up in as many headlines as rows since January, but nothing over the past seven weeks has altered his status as Ireland’s most important player. The impact of Stander, the improvements of Jack McGrath and the class of Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne have supported him, and suggest the makings of a new green machine are at hand.
Trophies, not promise, are the most tantalising prizes on the last Saturday of the Six Nations.