IRELAND GET OVER THE LINE ...JUST!
Schmidt’s team struggle with tough visitors
THIS was a strange Saturday night in Dublin when Joe Schmidt was proven right for the wrong reason.
Few believed the Ireland coach on Thursday when he suggested his primary ambition from this mid-series match was just to get the result, that any sort of a win would do against a Fijian side he feared due to their ability to keep the ball alive better than most other minnows.
He was right. While the general expectation elsewhere was for a runaway win to follow on from last weekend’s destruction of South Africa, his radically altered selection was guilty of showing too much hospitality to this weekend’s visitors and suffered accordingly.
A 14-point lead was squandered in a 32-minute spell without a home score and the hosts were left requiring two late kicks from replacement Ian Keatley — on for the roughed-up Joey Carbery who suffered a broken forearm — to pull a three-point win from the fire with shots on 67 and 73 minutes.
‘I don’t think you are ever angry
when you see evidence of the effort,’ reasoned Schmidt in the muted aftermath. ‘There is certainly frustration. You keep that cushion [they were 17-3 ahead approaching half-time] and we have been more expressive in the second half… but when the score and the time gets tight you see a bit of anxiety and people get a little bit jumpy.
‘That is part of the experience. While it’s frustrating just now we are also delighted to get the win. You win a Test match, you’re still really proud of the group of young men who go out and do that.
‘I don’t think we will get buried under the negatives because there are some positives. It’s very hard to put a team together in three training sessions and expect it is all going to work out playing against such a good side. Fiji are ranked where they are [ninth in the world] because they have had some very good wins.’
Carbery’s health and how he played figured high in the post-mortem. ‘He has fractured his left forearm. It’s not displaced as far as I know,’ said the coach before reflecting on his Test back-up No10’s display in a position he hasn’t occupied this term at Leinster.
‘His ability to organise others is coming along. He asked questions and was brave, potentially to a fault because he takes no heed and will carry the ball.’