Sunday past saw Ireland lose to a pretty good Welsh side in their first game of this year’s Six Nations tournament. The score line of 21 -23 suggests that this was a close match in which two teams that were almost evenly matched went hammer and nails at each other with one piece of brilliance or one decision deciding who emerged as victors. To believe that is a fallacy.
Ireland were, in effect, blown off the park by a Welsh side that showed more dynamism, more heart, more guts and much more of tactical nous. The media and public at large have been crying about the injustice of the decisions made by referee Wayne Barnes, most obviously when he showed a yellow card to Stephen Ferris and Bradley Davies for what commentators have taken to calling a “Tip” tackle, despite both incidents being radically different in both their severity and malice. Let’s just get this out of the way, Davies should have been sent off and Ferris shouldn’t have been even penalised. But referees rule on what they see, not what the public want to see, and when a referee is so badly advised as Barnes was at the weekend by touchjudge Dave Pearson then there will always be an outcry. Barnes ruled on what he saw of Ferris’s tackle, ruled it illegal and dished out the mandatory yellow for that type of offence. I am 100% certain had Barnes seen the Davies tackle then the Cardiff Blues man would have seen red. But these issues mask the real problem for Ireland and that is under Declan Kidney this team is grossly underperforming on the Test stage.
Ireland’s record since winning the Grand Slam is appalling, pure and simple. The record reads – played: 31, Won: 16, Lost: 15 Drawn: 1,so a record that is slightly better than 50% isn’t great but it’s not too bad, but if you then strip out the games against tier two countries like Samoa, Fiji, Italy, Canada and the United States the record is worse. Against the top nations since that famous day in Cardiff in 2009 Ireland have played 21 games and won just 6. That is a truly shocking return for what many people would say is the most talented and best prepared team we’ve ever had. It’s plain and simple; this Ireland team is no longer a top class international test rugby side. The reason for this in my opinion lies squarely at the feet of Declan Kidney.
Kidney has many virtues as a coach, he is renowned for his man management and motivational skills, he also has the wisdom to surround himself with top class coaches and back up personnel. What he lacks though, is an appreciation for the tactical side of the game. On Sunday it was baffling how many times Irish players kicked the ball, the most obvious being when Conor Murray kicked out on the full after the forwards had won a turnover and should have been looking to run or pass the ball and catch the Welsh defence cold. It was a stunning mistake to make, but one which typifies how this Ireland side plays. They are conservative, cautious and unadventurous. What Murray did though, was in my mind, exactly what the coach would have wanted – he kicked, that it went out on the full was unfortunate and costly. Tactically Kidney got it atrociously wrong at the weekend. The gameplan was the exact same as the one which had failed miserably at the World Cup against the same opposition except with a different out half. Any fool could see that Wales couldn’t believe their luck when Ireland perpetually and aimlessly kicked the ball back to them. The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. There is a real issue here and that is that Ireland are tactically ill advised by their head coach. What’s worse is that Kidney has proved that he is incapable of watching a game unfold, incapable of reading how it is going and incapable of making changes. Compare this to Leinster coach Joe Schmidt, if Leinster aren’t going well as has been the case in many games, Schmidt gets them into the dressing room at half time, knows exactly the changes that need making, personnel, tactical or otherwise and more often than not the team will emerge from the break a different beast. Witness the Heineken Cup Final 2011, he hauled of Kevin McLaughlin and brought on Shane Jennings which had the result of Northampton no longer ruling at the breakdown, that is the most obvious case but there are numerous other instances I could list where the coach has analysed trends and patters in a game and then made the necessary changes in order to change the flow of a game. Kidney’s plan B is to merely change his fly half with the instruction to do the same as the other lad but better.
Another area where Kidney has continually failed is to get the best out of a very talented backline. Since he took over in 2008 we have been subjected to turgid and feeble back play from players who when with their provinces regularly create and score tries in abundance. Alan Gaffney, the former backline coach, is now gone but he’s not been replaced. Les Kiss, the defensive coach, had now taken over offensive duties in addition to his primary role. But the suspicion is that no matter how talented a coach takes over as backs coach the Kidney philosophy of conservatism would win out. Compare the Irish backs to their welsh counterparts at the weekend, man for man we should have been at least on par, yet we made the welsh look like the Harlem Globetrotters
So here we are, we play World Cup finalists and Six Nations favourites France on Saturday in Paris. Our record there is abysmal. We have a team which seems to have no plan but to kick the ball back to the opposition, a team whose backs are now firmly against the wall and I fully expect them to come out fighting in another grand heroic failure that Irish sport does so well. Ireland will lose and the only good thing to come from it will be that we should be one step closer to getting a new head coach. Sad, but that’s where we are.
PS. When will RTE ever grow up and stop focusing the camera on Ronan O’Gara if Johnny Sexton misses a kick or vice versa. It’s a crass, unfair and childish way for a national broadcaster to behave. It does a disservice to two great Irish players, serves no one good and someone needs to tell them that these two guys are actually teammates.
Ross McGuinness
You can follow Ross on twitter @rossmcguinness
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