Ireland head coach Andy Farrell and the Irish team will look at the glass half full aspect of their win over Japan after the tries finally started to roll in late in the second half.
Three tries from Gus McCarthy, Paddy McCarthy and Tommy O’Brien were scored in the last 12 minutes against a wilting Japanese team with the scoreboard swinging from a modest 21-10 after 48 minutes to a more satisfactory 41-10 final score.
But come next week’s postmortem Farrell will also look at a first half where Ireland were behind Japan in several metrics including their 77 carries to Ireland’s 47, their 59 per cent territory and their 100 per cent lineout success to Ireland’s 57 per cent.
The Irish lineout improved in the second half with Gus McCarthy’s try in the 68th minute coming from a throw from him and finally touching down from the Irish maul driving forward.
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By the time the whistle blew for the end, the Irish lineout had an 82 per cent success rate to Japan’s 94 per cent and in that improvement, the Irish coach will be pleased.
But the fact that the lineout currently appears unreliable, especially after last week where it was a weakness against New Zealand, will cause some furrowed brows.
A different hooker in Rónan Kelleher started the match and it was the look on Kelleher’s face in the first half as balls went astray that told a story as three lineouts were lost from seven throws.
In the first of the lineouts, the ball went right over the entire body of players. Another was penalised for a dummy throw and another one was nicked by Japan at the front of the line on it’s way to Tadhg Beirne.
Two other lineouts were secured on the second touch having not secured the ball with the first contact.
Last week Ireland won 11 out of 16 lineouts giving the team a 69 per cent success rate to New Zealand’s 75 per cent.
So, in both games of this Quilter Nations Series, Ireland have come out second in the set piece against the All Blacks and Japan.
“Look, I’m not worried about it, of course I’m bothered, but I’m not worried about it,” said Farrell after the match. “The people that are in charge, coaching-wise, are top draw, top class.
“The lads who are involved in leading it are exactly the same as well. From what I saw, there was good calling. Some people got their calls wrong.
“That’s individual stuff. One overthrow. But they didn’t panic. They didn’t panic and found a way in the second half and that’s why it was certainly pleasing putting Ryan [Baird] into the second row there.
“A bit of change, obviously, for Caelan [Doris]. They found a way, and it was pretty good in the second half. Obviously, Gus [McCarthy] was 100 per cent with his lineout, so that’s pretty pleasing.”
Doubtlessly the Irish lineout did improve with McCarthy scoring a try off one and Beirne stealing a Japanese throw near the end of the game.
How to sustain the level for the entire match especially against a first-tier team such as Australia next week, who will not tire as much as the Japanese did in the final quarter, is an essential fix for the Irish team.
