THE ADAM GRIGGS era ended yesterday on a winning note, his Ireland team coming from behind to beat Japan 15-12 at the RDS, a result that ticked the box of ending the season with some momentum and allowing the players to enjoy the occasion in front of family and friends, the squad staying out on the pitch long after the final whistle to soak it all in.
The game itself could be viewed through two different lenses.
On one hand, you had the spirited comeback, captain Ciara Giffin rallying the troops to turn the tide and get the job done with only 14 players on the pitch.
Alternatively, you could view this game as a lucky escape which left as many questions as answers.
For much of this contest, Ireland were poor. After a promising start, they saw a succession of handling errors and set-piece problems open the door for an inexperienced, yet highly skillful Japan team.
Moving the ball at pace and showing brilliant hands, Japan were able to carve through the Ireland defence time and time again, their lack of power up front the only thing holding them back from really taking control of the contest.
By half time they led 12-3, and Ireland – reduced to 14 following Hannah O’Connor’s 29th minute red card – looked shell-shocked.
Then Griffin saved the day, almost single-handedly dragging her team back into the contest on the occasion of her last cap, scoring two tries and generally driving standards in the second period.
Even then, Ireland couldn’t close the deal. They let a series of good possession go to waste in the second period, before Enya Breen missed a very kickable penalty that would have pushed their lead out to six points. While Ireland should have been home and hosed, they instead found themselves defending desperately in the final stages of the game, eventually holding out to seal a hard-fought, if unconvincing win.
It at least allowed Griffin to bow out on a high, and also served as an important boost for the rest of her teammates. Given the various challenges and setbacks presented over the past few weeks and months, winning two from two in November is not to be sniffed at.
Griffin is not the only one making way, of course, with yesterday’s game also the final match for head coach Adam Griggs. The next man up is Greg McWilliams, a highly thought of coach who has a good history with the Ireland women’s set-up. He will take over a spirited, talented group of players, but there is clearly much work to do.
“(It was) hugely important (to win these games),” said Griggs. “Also, understanding that I was coming in for my last two games, for the last four or five weeks we spoke about just facilitating the group and letting the group as players and individuals have internal motivation of what they wanted to get out of this block and how they wanted to perform for Greg coming in.
Hopefully this has given him a solid foundation to push these players on. We spoke at the end that there is still so much more potential in the group, and it’s just about trying to knuckle down and push on, and hopefully Greg can do that with this group of players.”
Griggs – who will move into the role of IRFU Provincial Talent Coach for Leinster – admits that it has been frustrating to see the same issues pop up repeatedly across what was a challenging year for his team.
Again Japan, Ireland had plenty of good possession but failed to show the clinical edge needed at this level.
“I think our set-piece has improved in terms of our accuracy, but it’s just having the patience with the ball,” he explained.
“We spoke about playing in the right areas and positioning ourselves with good territory, and then really looking after the ball. Obviously the conditions were pretty poor in the first half, it got quite wet, so that altered the game plan slightly from what we had initially planned.
“But I think the reality is you have got to look after the possession of the ball, which will equate to points when you are patient. We were in the right areas of the field for a lot of that (game), but we couldn’t hold onto the ball and get points, so that’s always going to be a continuing work-on, and certainly in my time we’ve talked about the opportunites we create and just not finishing things off. Obviously there was a bit of that (against Japan) as well.”
McWilliams will be confident of ironing out those issues and getting this team back on track. Still, the job would certainly look easier if he had Griffin on board.
The 27-year-old saved one of her best performances in green for last. Even looking beyond her two tries, there were few better players on the pitch. That leadership and quality won’t be easily replaced.
“We’ve always spoken about her leadership qualities and no different from this evening, where she led with her actions in what she does on the field,” Griggs added.
“It was great to see the players row in behind her and support her and ultimately, we had to grind that out.
“It was scrappy at times, but just really happy for the group that they could send Junior off on a high like that, and no better woman to perform the way she did.”
Bernard Jackman, Gavan Casey, and Murray Kinsella reflect on Ireland’s stunning win over the All Blacks, hail Ciara Griffin’s Ireland career, and chat about Rassie:
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