Tricky isn't the half of it. Sandwiched between the other two games, with a possible target set by Wales in Rome before then striving to set a target for England, Ireland's chances of retaining the Six Nations look tricky in the extreme, and there's the question of to what extent Joe Schmidt informs his players of events in the Stadio Olimpico.
Noting how Italy finished last year's back-to-back finale, when conceding 98 points to Ireland and England, Joe Schmidt sounded none too hopeful of the Azzurri keeping a tight rein on a Welsh team which will be voracious for tries.
Presuming Wales win, then every point in excess of a 21-point winning margin will set an ensuing winning margin for Ireland if they are to stay ahead of the Welsh in the table. If, say, they require a specific winning margin beyond a point, Schmidt will be obliged to inform his players at some juncture, whether that be beforehand or at half-time.
“It is tricky,” admitted Schmidt.
“To be honest I’m not sure I have the answer. It may well depend on what that margin is. If Wales have a margin of 25 against Italy and it [Ireland’s target] is four points, I don’t think you try to do anything different. You’re just looking to try to get the win and if you need to relook at that at half-time you may do.”
“There’s no point trying to anticipate what the France-England result will be. That would be the only controllable we will have but what will be really difficult to control is a really good Scottish side. They have narrow losses right through.”
Well matched
Highlighting “a better balance to their side this week”, describing centre
Mark Bennett
as “one of the finds of the championship”, suggesting they wouldn’t have lost to Italy had outhalf
Finn Russell
not been sidelined, and having cited the “massive potential” of lock Jonny Gray, Schmidt concluded: “Across the board, individuals are really well matched up and collectively it’s going to be a real challenge.”
Asked what are the hallmarks of a side coached by his former Bay of Plenty and Clermont boss Vern Cotter, Schmidt said: “They’ll be uncompromising. They will be very difficult around the fringes and very combative. I think it’s the way Vern played, I think it’s the way he demands people play.
“He doesn’t make very much differentiation between one and 15, or 23 for that matter, everyone’s got to take that responsibility. I learned a fair few things off him and I don’t think we’re too different in that regard. It’s just that he’s a bit scarier when he says it.”
Ireland also have the heaviest mental baggage from last week, having seen their Grand-Slam hopes dashed.
Interestingly, Schmidt revealed that Tuesday's session was the squad's flattest of the campaign, further prompting the need to "freshen" things up with the inclusion of Luke Fitzgerald and Cian Healy, with Fitzgerald ideally sharpening Ireland's cutting edge.
Lamenting three clear opportunities that Ireland wasted in Cardiff, and reflecting on how a gesticulating three-man overlap was squandered at one point, Schmidt revealed:
“As I said to them, ‘you’re not spectators’. The people in the crowd wave their arms. We roll our sleeves up and we get involved, and while we want to keep width in our attack, we’ve got to make sure that we take opportunities to transfer that ball, not guys standing out there demanding that other people do it.”
Undoubtedly this was an example of how Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll were missed, as they were always likely to be at some juncture admitted Schmidt, albeit experience and leadership only comes with time. This was, after all, only Robbie Henshaw’s sixth game at inside centre, and Jared Payne’s fourth cap.
‘So-called pundit’
Viewed in that light, the Ireland coach was also particularly annoyed and upset by the manner in which
RTÉ
pundit George Hook criticised Payne.
“For us, I was incredibly disappointed with one of the so-called pundits slating one of our midfield last weekend when I thought he’d played a good game and I thought he made a couple of line breaks and was dead solid defensively.”
“That sort of thing, when we’re trying to build confidence in players, filters back to players through family and friends and I don’t think it helps. I don’t think it’s accurate. It’s one of those unfortunate by-products of having people for entertainment value as opposed to people who are a little bit more in-depth in their analysis as the other two pundits were.”
Late chase
Defending the selections of
Jordi Murphy
and
Felix Jones
on the bench ahead of Tommy O’Donnell and Keith Earls, each of whom have a more proven try-scoring strike rate, should it come to a late chase for tries, Schmidt cited Jones’ two tries against Georgia, and his freshness.
O’Donnell and Earls, “were massively in consideration. Have we got it right? Potentially not. We wanted to make sure we have a freshness but also we wanted continuity.”
Prior to flying to Edinburgh on Thursday, the squad checked out of their Carton House hotel base for the last time after eight weeks, on and off, in the ancestral home of the Fitzgerald family, who were also the Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster.
Next time Ireland are back here, it will be in late June for the first of their pre-World Cup camps, either having retained or not retained their Six Nations crown.
