CLOUDS HANG OVER MIDDLING IRELAND
Andy Farrell has not kicked on since succeeding Joe Schmidt and, unless he can find clear direction, this promises to be a challenging championship
THIS is plámás season in rugby. The days before the start of the Six Nations are pillowed by soft words as opponents speak about rivals the way parents speak about children from behind the top table at weddings. No-hopers like Italy are reimagined as raging Romans ready to take their place among rugby’s elite.
For two decades, the preamble to the championship has been flecked with mentions of how Scotland are on the verge of becoming serious players again.
The lightweights are lauded like heavyweights, and the remaining four teams – the only credible contenders – explore any possible angle to praise their rivals.
At the midweek launch of the Six Nations, Alun-Wyn Jones was asked about Paul O’Connell’s appointment as Ireland forwards’ coach.
‘People ask me about competitors who are respected, and Paul is definitely one of those,’ said the Wales captain.
‘I’ve played against him and alongside him for the Lions, but he’s a tactician and a competitor.’
He is also a rookie, untested as a coach at this level and with an extremely modest amount of experience amassed as an instructor in any tier of the sport.
That is not the kind of detail ordinarily scrutinised in the flattery-festooned build-up.
The danger for Ireland is that it becomes painfully relevant at some point over the coming two months – and possibly as soon as seven days’ time in Cardiff.
News that O’Connell had been added to Andy Farrell’s support staff was widely chorused as good tidings.
He was a marvellous player, an inspiring captain, and praised as a student of tactics long before he stopped playing.
O’Connell became accustomed to carrying enormous expectations on his broad back when he was a second row, but the extent to which he has been backed to remedy some of the many problems that were exposed last autumn is worrying – or it should be.
Not only is he inexperienced, but he is joining a struggling set-up.
Struggle is Ireland’s state before a ball is kicked in the 2021 Six Nations.
They were utterly out-played by France and England only weeks ago, and their difficulties against England were the second time in 2020 that the team were exposed as inadequate to the challenge posed by one of the best sides in the world.
Three years ago, Ireland used to be one of them, but the sharp decline of 2019 has not been corrected by the appointment of Farrell, or more accurately by the decisions he has made since succeeding Joe Schmidt.
The evidence of autumn matches points to an uninspired side in urgent need of revitalising.
But the Farrell era has been characterised by caution. His most important player remains Johnny Sexton, who will be 36 in the summer and whose best days are behind him. That tends to be the way with rugby players in their mid-30s. There are obvious problems with alternatives at No10, from the fitness difficulties of Joey Carbery to the impressions made by Ross Byrne and Billy Burns when they have been given a chance.
It would help, though, if form were at least acknowledged: the best performance by an Irish outhalf in months was provided by Jack Carty in Connacht’s victory over Leinster at the RDS. He remains on the outside, though, with Farrell’s selection defended on the basis of the decision-making of Carty as Connacht tried and failed to get a late try in defeat by Munster a week later.
If true it seems remarkably harsh. And the implication that he is inferior to Burns has not been backed up by any evidence at Test level yet. For all of the complications around the out-half hierarchy, though, Farrell can hardly be comfortable with the fact that his team remains so reliant on Sexton, and especially given how the veteran has struggled against England and France in recent matches.
Perhaps none of those competing for the No10 jersey could guide the side through Tests against these two superpowers, but there is mounting proof that Sexton can’t, either.
This is only the most obvious instance of Ireland’s unchanging look under Farrell.
The scrum-half position is slightly different in that Conor Murray’s form has been good this season, and also by the emergence of his Munster rival Craig Casey, an authentically exciting talent. There is nothing surer, though, than Murray will be Ireland’s starter. His box-kicking looks certain to remain a central component of Ireland’s plans – again, the feeling of familiarity creeps like ivy.
The return of Tadhg Furlong would constitute a definite upgrade, but that is heavily qualified by caution around his fitness after a year out.
Hooker and second-row should be persistent causes of concern to O’Connell (above), Simon Easterby, and Farrell.
If Ireland’s rugby cleaves largely to the plans imposed by Schmidt, and which worked brilliantly for years, the execution is way off the standards that peaked in 2018.
Good set-piece play was assumed under Schmidt, but the line-out was frequently unreliable last year, the maul de-powered as a tactic, and the scrum suffered persistently.
A fit Furlong would help in the case of the latter, but a coach with years more experience than O’Connell would find it a big job to re-inspire Ireland’s line-out and maul in the space of a few weeks.
And that is why the celebration of O’Connell as a point of change between Ireland now, and the side that struggled so badly only weeks ago is disconcerting.
One coach on their own, no matter how good they are, can be expected to effect the kind of change that seems expected of Paul O’Connell.
His appointment was at least an acknowledgement by Farrell that the original make-up of his coaching team was not working.
Of those initial appointments, the selection of Mike Catt as backs’ coach was exciting.
Catt’s playing career was brilliant, he was a World Cup winner, and after a few sessions players were thrilled with his input.
This time last year, in the days before the start of that ill-fated championship, leading figures like Sexton spoke about him with an enthusiasm that recalled the arrival of Stuart Lancaster into Leinster in 2016.
The differences are, of course, significant: Catt only gets to work with players in short bursts, unlike the day-to-day, immersive relationship between coach and players at a club.
Last season was ruined by the effects of the pandemic, making it harder again for Catt’s designs for the team to be shared.
It is vital they are now, though. There remains talent in the squad, and exciting options in the back line.
Finding ways to release them is the trick.
No matter how good Catt’s ideas, though, they are dependent on
‘THE SHARP DECLINE OF 2019 HAS NOT BEEN CORRECTED’
Ireland getting the ball quickly enough to find space.
And against France and, in particular England, they have enjoyed neither time nor space.
That’s why this year’s competition has the feel of a play-off between those two for the title.
It used to be said that Ireland’s best hope of winning the Six Nations came in those years that required France and England to visit Dublin.
This was in those heady days, starting under Eddie O’Sullivan, and continuing through to the peak Schmidt years, when beating them at home became expected.
That’s no longer the case.
This threatens to be another campaign menaced by external issues.
Fears over Covid-19, the emergence of new variants, the robustness of bio-bubbles and the attitude of the French government to their teams travelling outside the country all deepen the anxiety.
Given the life-changing upheaval the virus has caused in every other aspect of everyday living, there is no reason to suppose it couldn’t wreck another Six Nations easily, either.
Assuming it does go ahead, though, Ireland are not convincing contenders.
Wales had an even worse autumn than Farrell’s side did, and Wayne Pivac could be gone as head coach if they lose to Ireland next Sunday.
They look a team utterly lost after over a decade under the vast influence of Warren Gatland.
Like Ireland, though, their squad still contains a lot of talent.
And were they to win in Cardiff, suddenly it would be Ireland feeling uncomfortable.
Farrell has been given largely a free pass after the difficulties of last season, and results and performances had to be heavily qualified by the chaotic external environment.
He appears committed to finding improvement through the same group of players.
A charitable interpretation could view that as a kind of boldness in itself, doubling down when the need for change seems strong.
But that would be charitable. Ireland have no definable style under him.
They stuttered to wins over Wales and Scotland before shutdown a year ago, and beat a wretched Welsh in Dublin before finishing the autumn with a strong second half against the Scots.
It all felt … middling.
And by sticking to the same players, and the same influential figures, he seems to trust that the addition of one coach can bring the impetus that is sorely needed.
That seems an improbable hope. If this championship gets completed, that general triumph is unlikely to soothe very particular Irish pain, suffered along the way.