Paul O’Connell was the bearer of good news on the injury front. Garry Ringrose, Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne and Bundee Aki, trained at the High-Performance Centre (HPC) in Abbotstown on Thursday, the slightly discordant riff to the upbeat briefing that Hugo Keenan (knee) didn’t take to the pitch.
The Ireland fullback hasn’t been ruled out of the Six Nations Championship match against Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday week (2.15 kick-off). Ringrose missed Ireland’s opening two matches while O’Mahony, Beirne and Aki had some physical legacy issues following the superb win over France in Marseille on the opening weekend of the tournament.
No one takes Keenan’s consistent excellence for granted in the group, and while a potential absence for the Welsh game would be worrisome for supporters, coaches and players must have a different mindset.
O’Connell explained: “He (Keenan) plays a big role, been injury free for a long time. He’s an excellent player, covering the backfield defensively, he has a lot of work to do in attack as well, recreating our attack by moving side to side. There’s a lot of IP (intellectual property) there that we might miss out on if he wasn’t playing.
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“He also plays a big leadership role for us, a very smart guy. He’s a problem-solver and highly regarded within the group. Whether he’s there or not he’ll continue to play that role,” before adding the rider, as any self-respecting coach would, “it’s good for us in some ways because it makes us play someone else there if he doesn’t make it”.
The renaissance of the Irish lineout from a malfunctioning mechanism in the World Cup to flawless exemplar in the Six Nations is a narrative that lives outside the Irish squad. It’s never as good or bad for those with boots on the ground.
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O’Connell began by pointing at French secondrow Paul Willemse’s red card that destabilised that platform for his team and how Italy don’t really contest a great deal of ball on the opposition throw.
[ Hugo Keenan remains in contention for Ireland’s game against WalesOpens in new window ]
He then revisited the World Cup travails. “In the World Cup, certainly in that South Africa game, they threw something different at us. We got our drill a little bit wrong, and it led to a poor start to the game. Once we got over that, we were pretty much fine for the rest of the game.
“New Zealand got three lineouts off us in that game; two we got back straight away, one we unfortunately high-tackled from and we ended up in our corner.
“They’re two very good defensive lineouts, those two teams that we played in the World Cup. We learned a lot from those games. One of the things was being able to manage a little bit of trouble and trying to get out of it. And the other thing we learned [about the lineout] from the World Cup is it’s like every part of your game, it’s never just one thing.”
There wasn’t a silver bullet rather an improvement across several constituent parts that has enabled Ireland to win 26 lineouts from as many throws on their ball. “We haven’t changed a massive amount. I’d say we’re doing what we do a little bit better, across the board. How we lift, how we jump, how we call, how we throw; all those things contribute.
“There’s drill in it, there’s the call in it, there’s the thrower in it, there’s the selections you put on the menu first day, and I would say we’ve kind of improved a little bit in all of those regards without working on one particular thing.”
O’Connell said that players and coaches saw Marseille as an opportunity to expunge the World Cup disappointment. Everyone was challenged to step up and they did, which made the victory hugely enjoyable. They were also driven in absentia by Johnny Sexton. “There is no point in denying it, Johnny was a big part of how we played, but he was a big part of how we prepared in the weeks for big games as well.
It was a brilliant win. It is tainted a little by the red card. I am sure they would have been a different side with 15 men
“He was a big part of how we trained. He drove a very high standard because of the high standards he had himself. To not have him there in the week in a build-up to a big game like that, to get through those two weeks quite well, to train well, to prepare well and then go out and deliver on the day, I suppose it is a good reflection on some of the leadership that’s (we’ve) managed to build up over the last few years.
“It is not going to be easy without Johnny, I am sure that there will be plenty of tough days. I think the (new) leadership did a great job. I think Jack Crowley did a great job at outhalf as well. It was a brilliant win. It is tainted a little by the red card. I am sure they would have been a different side with 15 men.”
[ Concession of scrum penalties remains an irritation for Ireland in Six NationsOpens in new window ]
The focus is on beating Wales, but that’s not to say that the group haven’t discussed winning the Six Nations. That was teased out as an agreed goal before the tournament, parked verbally, and now it’s about building towards it.
O’Connell said: “Something the players do really well and it’s a real practised skill in this senior group that they can go from a real high in a game in Marseille and they can celebrate it, enjoy it but then they get back to neutral really quickly, prepare well to be able to do the same thing again a week later.
“It’s a practised skill, being next game focused. Andy’s (Farrell) big into it, Joe Schmidt was big into it back in the day and a lot of the players are. It helps to prepare properly by ignoring the bigger picture and they’ve got very good at it.”
