This
has been Ireland's greatest ever Rugby World Cup campaign. You do
know that, right?
Sure,
as my blog banner has pointed out over the past few months, we got to
within five minutes of a semifinal in 1991. But had that victory
over Australia panned out, it would have been an upset similar to
that if Argentina had overturned the All Blacks in Auckland in this year's quarterfinal.
This
time, we finished in first place in our pool – something we have
never done before at this tournament. And that meant we were
favoured, if only marginally, but still favoured nonetheless, to
progress to the final four.
That
we didn't actually do it will be the topic of debate for many a year
to come, but I couldn't start this article without pointing out that
what Declan Kidney's squad have achieved in New Zealand has set a
standard to be met in future tournaments, and as you can see by my
writeup of Leinster's victory over Connacht Saturday afternoon, that
future definitely looks bright.
Now
– to the match itself. Throughout this World Cup I have been doing
a stint as guest writer for The Rugby Blog, where my task was to both
preview every Ireland match and afterwards give individual ratings
for each player.
The
ratings will be up later on when I get a chance to watch the match
again at lunchtime – but for this writeup, I want to go on my
memory from watching the match at Kiely's in Donnybrook early on
Saturday morning, as I feel the haze the couple of days might put on
my recollection should reflect the daze with which I was stood there
looking at events unfold in Wellington.
In
my preview, I was asked to spell out “what to expect” of the
Irish, and this was my opening sentence :
“Ireland’s success has come more from what they do without the ball than with it. Expect 80 minutes of tough tackling”
Put
simply...I expected Ireland to be able to tackle at the gain line
just as much as I expected the unpainted grass on the pitch to be
green.
So
when Gordon D'Arcy leaves a gap down the touchline that Andy Powell
could have driven a golf buggy through and still scored, and then
later both Keith Earls and Cian Healy can't decide which one of them
wants to tackle Jonathan Davies, you don't really have to look much
further as to why we lost.
Yes,
I know...Wales stepped up the mark which we ourselves had set in the
pool phase and players like Phillips, Warburton and Roberts among others contested with just the
right intensity for the entire 80 minutes all over the park. And of
course I wish them all the best for the remainder of the tournament.
But
the fact remains...twelve Welsh points came from those two tries, and
twelve points was the winning margin. So if we had been on the ball
defensively as we would have expected to be, we could be still be
moaning about a below par performance today yet actually be in the
semifinals.
And
when such a fundamental part of your game goes belly up like that, I
can only wonder about our mindset.
We
had done the job of getting out of the pool, even exceeding those
expectations. That was the result of a long process that went all
the way back to Declan Kidney's appointment in 2008.
But
at fulltime in Dunedin when we had comfortably dispatched the
Italians, that job was done. And a new one lay ahead. So what
happened in between to make us lose our focus?
I
have said before on this blog how important the week in between
matches can be when it comes to the eventual performance...we showed
it when we denied England the Grand Slam earlier this year.
So
not that I'm blaming this player fully by a long chalk, but why the
hell was Keith Earls going on Newstalk radio saying he was
“visualising winning the World Cup” during such a vital week????
Either
someone in the Irish camp dropped the ball by not warning the players about talking to the press about anything beyond the
task at hand, or they did give the warning and Earls ignored it.
Whichever one it was, we were given clear signs that the squad just
was not fully prepared to get through such a crucial six-day
turnaround, something the Welsh appeared easily able to do.
Another
haze of confusion I retain from Saturday morning is over the
direction of the wind. Ronan O'Gara was picked primarily for his
ability from the tee, and I also read somewhere that the Wellington
“Caketin” Stadium was favourable for placekickers.
So
I can only assume that he spurned those early chances to kick for the
posts because the wind was against him, and the RTE commentator we
were listening to in Kiely's agreed. But when I went on Twitter at
halftime I realised that the Setanta folk were suggesting the wind
was actually with us in the first half. Which the hell was it???
Well
I really hope it was because of the wind. Because otherwise I can't
for the life of me work out why O'Gara wouldn't have at least
attempted the first kick. Sure, the Welsh hit with an early try, but
should this have rattled us?
No
way. It was their first attack and they squeezed in right in the
corner and followed it up with a monumental conversion by Priestland.
There was still plenty of time for us to regroup and to make it 7-3
on our first penalty would have been more than enough to settle us.
Yet
we went for the attacking option of some red zone possession. Fine –
it's a positive move, but surely if that was our plan from the start
we would have been better served with Sexton at outhalf?
Remember...once
again, I'm not blaming O'Gara...wasn't his finest day at the office
but even though he's the oldest member of the squad the
penalty-taking decisions are out of his hands.
So
what I'm trying to say is that somewhere on the flight from Dunedin to
Wellington we lost our ability to stick with our basics and get the
job done. And although we weren't the only quarterfinalists to fall
short when it mattered, we were facing a side who had ticked all the
boxes and deservedly won the day. For me, nothing illustrates the
match better than the lead photo on this post.
But
hopefully the boys will be remembered for what they achieved over the five weeks rather
than what they failed to do. Given the disappointment in the air at
Kiely's after the final whistle, that may not be easy.
Still,
there's a 2015 campaign to prepare for now, and a host of talent waiting in the wings to step up. And should we repeat our pool
performance the next time, hopefully players like Keith Earls and
Cian Healy can help the squad make every second before knockout games
count.
I'll
finish with my tweet from full time :
“Congrats Wales. You brought it we didn't.” JLP
