A “bounce” is a real thing, not just a figment of our imagination. It doesn’t always happen when a new head coach or a new manager takes over in any team sport but it can have a dramatic impact. Sport is littered with examples of it working. It’s why so many head coaches or managers live precarious existences, because for a chief executive/board/owners replacing one head coach with another is not only the most ready-made “solution”, it can often work.
For starters the new boss has one immediate benefit going for him – he’s not the old boss. No matter how good the latter is when results start going pear-shaped, even if the belief in the tactics and methods remains, the confidence is dented with each passing defeat, all the more so if they are on a run of 14 losses.
As well as not being Warren Gatland, Matt Sherratt is also unbeaten and, to all intents and purposes, with just three games in charge as interim head coach before returning to the day job has nothing to lose either. That’s not a bad place to be.
Who has been added to Ireland’s Six Nations squad and why?
And like any new boss first and foremost he can remove much of the negativity that can hang over a losing side by simply accentuating the positive. By putting his arm around a player from his own club, Cardiff, and telling them how good they are, what he admires in their game and to focus on that. He can also do exactly the same with any of the other players he’s called in on the premise that he has analysed them while prepping for a Cardiff game against them.
Ireland boss Simon Easterby makes some bold and exciting selections for Wales clash
What time is kick-off and what TV channel is Wales v Ireland on? All you need to know about the Six Nations clash
Ireland team to play Wales: Live reaction as Dan Sheehan is picked captain to ‘grow leadership’ in group
Simon Easterby focused on present but does not rule himself out of Wales job
At a stroke a new boss can remove the negativity in the air and replace it with positive vibes. Ironically, a prime example was Warren Gatland’s first game in charge of Ireland in week three of the 1998 Six Nations.
Gatland had replaced Brian Ashton after the 17-16 defeat at home to Scotland. A French team which read like a 90s gallic Galacticos were halfway towards winning a second consecutive Grand Slam, having beaten England 24-17 at home and posting a record-breaking 51-16 win in Murrayfield. Ireland were the reigning holders of the wooden spoon. Their odds of winning were 16/1, and they were 33-point underdogs. This we know ‘cos some of us, well this one anyway, backed them.
Staying in the team’s resplendent hotel in Versailles one could sense Gatland had turned the negativity around. At his initiative the team room was plastered with good will faxes from all corners of Ireland and all age groups.
A mightily relieved France won 18-16 thanks to a 73rd minute try off a rolling maul by Raphael Ibanez and duly went on to complete back-to-back Grand Slams.
There’s an argument for believing that Wales’ best version of themselves in this Six Nations might come in their final game when they host England on the final weekend, Sherratt’s third and last game in charge.
But, viewed in the context of Gatland’s first as Ireland head coach, there’s an argument for believing that despite Sherratt only taking temporary charge this week, and for an Irish team likely to be without Caelan Doris, this is definitely the worst time to be facing Wales in the 2025 Six Nations so far.
Unlike Ireland in 1998, Wales will be playing at a capacity Principality Stadium, and for the first time in this Six Nations. In their hour of need and with the new man at the helm, home team and crowd alike will be revved up to the hilt against their Celtic rivals and back-to-back champions. To a large extent it’s a free hit too. After 14 defeats in a row, like Sherratt Wales have nothing to lose.
And just in case they needed any more motivation or anger towards Ireland, an exchange on the Off The Ball morning show last week helped provide it.
“Would a 14-man Ireland team beat Wales?”
“Probably.”
“It depends which man.”
What about a 13-man Irish side?
“12? Now it’s a game,” came the retort
“Would the under-20s beat them?”
Leinster, it was ventured, “would do a job on them” and ditto a third-string Ireland team.
“I presume it’s never been like this. I know in the ’90s Wales were a bit crocked when all the players went to rugby league. But it can never have been this one-sided.”
Ah c’mon lads.
Needless to say Wales Online published the exchange under the heading: “Could we beat them with 12 players?” Smug Irish pundits ridicule Wales.
Beyond angering and motivating Welsh players and supporters alike, about the only other objective which the exchange achieved was to embarrass Simon Easterby, who lives in Wales, as well as the Irish players and supporters who have long had good reason to respect Welsh players.
Yes, Wales had it bad in the 1990s. In fact almost as bad as Ireland. In the last dozen editions of the Five Nations, from 1988 to 1999, Ireland never finished above the bottom two, claiming the wooden spoon on five occasions and finishing fourth in the other seven campaigns.
During this time only once did they win two matches in the same Five Nations. Overall Ireland won 10 matches out of 48 played, drawing two, and losing 36.
One can’t recall pundits in England, Scotland or France ridiculing the Irish team back then, nor in Wales when they went unbeaten in the fixture from 1971 to 1979.
Furthermore, while Irish provinces beat three Welsh regions over the weekend, none were especially convincing, and that includes Leinster away to the Ospreys on Friday night, never mind Munster and Connacht at home to Scarlets and Cardiff, while Ulster were deservedly put away by Benetton.
Perhaps Ireland’s depth chart doesn’t look quite as bottomless as we once thought, and these good times mightn’t last for ever.
gerry.thornley@irishtimes.com
