Ireland… 19
New Zealand… 42
You might think that scoring three tries against the All Blacks – especially at Eden Park – represented a commendable day’s work. Don’t be fooled…
This was a classic case of ‘come into my web, said the spider to the fly’, before the resident takes a choke hold of the guest forcing them into submission.
That took the guise of Keith Earls getting in for a try at the end of Ireland’s first attack after fives minutes. But all that served to do was poke the bear. Retribution being swift and brutal – by way of four first half tries while Andy Farrell’s didn’t trouble the scoreboard for the remainder of the opening 40.
A situation compounded by losing Johnny Sexton to a head injury before half time. Unpopular opinion incoming – it’s surely an indictment of something within the Irish system that the fly half is still the beating heart of the team in these, his declining years. Even more worrying is the fact that, despite what some might think – there is no protégé jumping with their hand up to take over.
Joey Carbery is not the answer. Though the Munster play was desperately unlucky not to go over for a try around the hour mark. Looking at the bigger picture, mind you, it’s presumably instructive that his former provincial employers didn’t see the nomadic utility back as a No. 10.
In the list of things bothering Farrell at present however, I suspect it’s fairly low on the priority list. For it was hardly that which led to the concession of four first half converted tries, or, for that matter, Ardie Savea’s first try right from the kick off of the second.
To be fair to them, Ireland did improve by several percentage points thereafter, managing tries by Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki and were desperately unlucky not to register at least two more five point scores as both Josh van der Flier and Carbery had tries disallowed by the TMO. In the case of the latter, whatever about the score, the home side should definitely have been in hot disciplinary water as Sexton’s replacement was clearly the victim of a high tackle earlier in the move.
Then again, that nothing was done about it is scarcely an earth shattering shock. Referees have been afraid to give tough decisions against the game’s aristocrats since God was in short pants. Richie McCaw got away with more dodgy dealings in his time than the Mahon and Beef tribunals combined.
All of which left Ireland fighting an uphill battle before there was a ball kicked at all. Only for the guy with the whistle to give our lads a better riding than Frankie Dettori is thought – by some idiots – to have given John Gosden’s horses at Royal Ascot.
That said, putrid and all as the officiating unquestionably was, it wasn’t the cause of the concession of four first half tries, or the major malfunctions in Irish set piece play or the manner in which the home side absolutely devoured our lads on loose ball or, cruel as it may sound, fundamentally basic errors which coughed up glorious scoring chances.
Someone on social media asked after the match whether the result had altered people’s view regarding our World Cup prospects. Perhaps best to leave views on that ex-England player Andy Goode who opined “Same old story for Ireland, once Sexton’s not there, a lack of leadership. Could be a long few weeks for the Irish”.
I wouldn’t even entertain World Cup discussion at this point, saving face could be a big enough achievement at this stage.
Leave a Reply