GREG McWILLIAMS INSISTED he was proud of his players despite watching Ireland fall to a 35-point defeat at the hands of France in Toulouse today.
Ireland were thoroughly outclassed by France at the Stade Ernest-Wallon, but the most disappointing aspect of their performance was their own shortcomings. Ireland finished the game with 27 handling errors and gave away a series of possessions at the lineout, while France were totally dominant in the scrum.
Yet the Ireland head coach tried to put a positive spin on things after the bruising experience, pointing to the endeavour his players displayed with a tireless defensive effort as France bossed possession in the opening period before seeing the game with ease in the second half, swooping in for six tries.
“You want to hold onto the ball, playing international rugby, particularly when your set-piece isn’t functioning,” McWilliams said.
“So at times where you’re trying to get your momentum and you’re making basic handling errors, it’s tough then, because you lost all of the momentum and all of a sudden it goes 3-0, 8-0, 13-0, 15-0, then all of a sudden it’s 26-0 (by half-time).
“The second half I thought the girls reacted well. We watched a little bit of video in the changing room, we tweaked a few things, I thought their depth was better and I thought our execution was better.
Looking at the defence line, that’s something that you just have to be proud of. They were not only chopping and topping, but they were doing it with an impact and they were setting a really good line against a French side that beat New Zealand very comfortably in November twice. So yeah, disappointing, we’ve got to hold onto the ball and we’ve got to get better.”
McWilliams was taking charge of just his second game since succeeding Adam Griggs in the position. He has been open about the patience that will be required as Ireland look to rebuild from a desperately disappointing 2021 campaign, but also acknowledges that some areas need to see a sharp improvement sooner rather than later.
“I think collectively they snapped at the ball, they got quite flat and they got quite anxious, because when you don’t have the ball and when you’re starved of the ball in the game, when you get it back you tend to be more anxious when you get it.
“That’s just another learning. I think against Wales in open play we looked at our body height being high, the Welsh were able to slow our ball down at the breakdown, we weren’t targeting the threats, we were targeting the ball, and today we just saw a team go out and their body height was lower, I thought the breakdown was fantastic against a world class side.
“They are the things that we’ve worked on, they are the things that were better, so I’m really happy about that. And look, let’s be honest, if you want the game we have a lot of work to do around our setpiece. The coaches know that, the players know that, and we’ve got to own that and aim for it to be better.
“But in a weird way, I don’t feel too bad after this game, even though it was a defeat that we wouldn’t want to have.”
Ireland will also look to be smarter with the ball when they take on Italy in Musgrave Park next weekend, having been guilty of some poor decision-making in possession against the French.
Yet when things did click, the visitors looked sharp with ball in hand, their only try of the game coming through Eve Higgins after a wonderful team move.
“I actually felt that with ball in hand, we looked dangerous. I thought we varied our attack,” he added.
“I think the girls grew in confidence and they realised we can do it (in the second half).
“We had negative momentum in the first-half and our set-piece was struggling. It was just one of those halves of rugby that you want to get into the changing room and get the laptops out to try fix a few things, which I felt we did in the second-half.
“But there is more to come from this Irish side, and I just hope people out there stay patient because you have to be very proud of the girls and their efforts. That’s all I can ask as a coach.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
