Schmidt given early shock to the system

Absence of maestro Sexton there for all to see as error-strewn Ireland fail to show grit required to get job done

IF THERE is an upside to this, it is the prospect of greedy Dublin hoteliers facing cancellations of their overpriced rooms on March 18.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Grand Slam showdown with England on the last weekend of the championship is over.

There is still the possibility it will be a title decider, but Ireland’s Six Nations planning suffered enormous damage here. And the real curse is it was mostly self-inflicted.

Scotland have been easy to laugh at over the past two decades with their big-sounding anthem and the sense of superiority that rises easily from the Murrayfield faithful. But they deserve to strut now.

This is a chippy side, that attitude personified in their scrum half Greig Laidlaw. His talent is important to Scotland but his attitude is even more vital. He has the look of a man who would fight with his toenails.

And where he led, teammates followed, with their willingness to tackle and scrap and commit atrocities at the breakdown as long as the match officials let them.

In contrast, there was little of that hard-headedness in the Irish team. Rob Kearney, Robbie Henshaw, Conor Murray, CJ Stander and Sean O’Brien were the pick of the Irish resistance, but there was not enough to withstand the Scottish heat.

And this reluctant, uncertain performance was made much, much worse by the sorrowful rosary of individual errors: Conor Murray’s switch-pass that only he knew about; Jamie Heaslip’s attempted off-load that landed softly in the arms of Sean Maitland; old line-out malfunctions playing up again, like bad wiring in an old house. For 25 minutes in the second half it seemed as if Ireland’s eventual return to the form that swept the autumn would save them, but they couldn’t maintain it.

They could not hold out, and they didn’t deserve to.

A year ago, a miserable start to the championship counted a draw and two defeats as the return from the first three matches. The grumbles were audible and growing louder, and Joe Schmidt saw his tremendous record held up by critics as if they had been handed a funny-feeling banknote.

Then, in the second half of 2016 he inspired victories against South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Despite what his more hysterical and rancorous interrogators might suggest, this is not a question of the calibre of the man in charge.

That is not to fire-proof him against the fall-out here. The tactics looked like they had been drawn up on the promise of the weather forecasters. They predicted Old Testament rains and gales that would send thinner supporters scudding back across the Irish Sea.

But we could have spread out the gingham cloth and had a picnic in the calm surrounds of Murrayfield come kick-off time on Saturday. There was no wind, the day was bone-dry and the temperature climbed valiantly towards high single figures.

But Ireland’s plans remained storm-bound: they played a narrow, conservative game in the first half, while Scotland were daring.

Even at that, the Irish approach might have worked were it not for those miscalculations made by players who are usually sound when making decisions. Scotland were good enough to take advantage, and Ireland were not good enough to make up all the ground they lost.

They tried, though, and the first 25 min- utes of the second half were magnificent. Murray grew in authority, Henshaw and Stander carried, fell and stood up again; and Kearney justified his selection as well.

There was not enough of that attitude or quality of execution, however. The spectre of one man must have filled more than one Irish head as they watched the match unspool. Johnny Sexton was badly missed.

Paddy Jackson played reasonably, but he has nothing like the authority of the more experienced man. It seems certain Jackson will get another chance in Rome in six days’ time, and that should provide a less stressful environment.

Here, though, with Scotland frenzied in defence and men around him needing to be led, Jackson did not convince in the role. He is no kid now. He is a 25 year old with four years of Test experience but his good play comes in inspired bursts; it is not constantly asserted as Sexton’s is.

This is not to scapegoat him but to illustrate how much Ireland need their first-pick No10. France come to Dublin in less than three weeks’ time and Ireland’s medical team will have no more important job than having him fit for that.

Heaslip, Murray and Rory Best should not make the problems they did here again, but that is not a wholesome consolation this morning.

Schmidt said afterwards Ireland were a quarter of an hour late to the stadium, and one can only imagine how much that irritated a man with his devotion to details.

It is too late now for Grand Slam fancies as well. The championship could be a forlorn hope too; even the relatively modest attractions of the Triple Crown are denied them.

After weeks and weeks of anticipation, all it took was 80 slow, sloppy minutes. Recovery is possible, but it will not bring the ultimate reward.