Slipshod Irish struggle to make impact as injuries bite
After their Shizuoka shocker against Japan last weekend, this was not exactly the Kobe comeback Ireland were looking for. Joe Schmidt’s team secured the bonuspoint win they needed – eventually – but an error-strewn performance against a Russia team who were beatenby Jersey in Moscow in August left many more questions than answers.
By the final whistle, you could hear the knives sharpening from 10,000 miles away. “It was so frustrating, 18 handling errors is nowhere near the numbers you expect from Ireland,” Brian O’driscoll said back in the ITV studio.
“It was like watching paint dry,” said former coach Eddie O’sullivan, speaking on RTE. “We had these sparks now and again where we played a bit of rugby, but this was against a bunch of amateurs.”
Tommy Bowe suggested Schmidt could hardly be held responsible when the players were so poor. “They have to put their hands up,” the former British and Irish Lion said. “Is it time they take a bit more responsibility?”
It was car-crash stuff. And it could get worse before it gets better. This morning’s medical bulletin at the team hotel in Kobe will make interesting listening.
Joey Carbery was pulled from yesterday’s squad at the 11th hour, apparently having aggravated the ankle injury he picked up in the win against Italy in August. Jordi Murphy, who had only just arrived in Japan to replace the injured Jack Conan, had to be replaced after 27 minutes with what looked like a cracked rib.
Schmidt was guarded about both. Carbery, he said, was “fine”, without expanding any more than that, while Murphy was “pretty uncomfortable” but would be “checked out” overnight. If both players’ World Cups are over, Ireland will have some serious decisions to make.
There are probably no right answers at fly-half. Carbery was the only viable alternative. If he is out, Johnny Sexton is basically irreplaceable.
Rested for the Japan defeat last weekend, his presence on the pitch yesterday filled Ireland with confidence.
It took all of two minutes for the Leinster star to send Rob Kearney through for the first try, calling a set-piece special. And Sexton proceeded to prod and probe, taking the ball flat, passing inside, always moving his team forward. He spotted the space in behind Russia for Peter O’mahony’s second try.
Sexton gives Ireland a control they palpably lack when he is off the field. And he is prepared to roll up his sleeves and do the ugly stuff, too, charging down the Russia flyhalf Ramil Gaisin at one point, only for Luke Mcgrath to fumble the ball with the try-line begging.
Sexton was put back in his bubble wrap at half-time, with the scoreline 21-0, leaving Jack Carty to run the show in the second half. It was another middling audition from the Connacht man.
As he did last weekend against Japan, Carty showed his creative side, chipping the ball over the charging Russians in the build-up to Andrew Conway’s all-important fourth try. But the apprentice lacks the control of the master.
Ireland eased to victory in the end, Garry Ringrose adding a splendid fifth try late on. But, overall, this was a turgid display.