ONLY ONE MEMBER of the Ireland squad is introduced with their nickname included during the pre-game team announcements. Perhaps the man with the Aviva Stadium microphone has been watching the recent Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix. The wrestling world had ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, but here in Ireland we have ‘Big’ Joe McCarthy.
One wonders what the New Zealand players were thinking as they ran through their warm-ups. We might be proudly advertising our big lump of a second row, but the All Blacks aren’t exactly short of a few meaty forwards themselves and ‘Big’ Scott Barrett was ready to rumble.
McCarthy’s introduction teed up a tempting wrestling theme for the battle that lay in store last night, but alas, the comparisons stopped there. The WWE would never allow one of their heavyweight clashes to play out so starved of box-office moments. The lasting memory of this 23-13 defeat will be Ireland putting the ball on the floor and Damian McKenzie booting it between the posts.
This was not the Ireland we have come to know under Andy Farrell, and with that a hard-earned 19-game winning record in Dublin came to an underwhelming end.
Post-game, Farrell put the credit in New Zealand’s corner. Having looked agitated as the match drew to a close, with microphones and cameras pointed his way the Ireland head coach resisted the excuses he could have played, with rustiness or a bad rub of the green from referee Nic Berry both dismissed.
In truth, the story of the night could largely be told through two numbers. Ireland’s final penalty count: 13. Handling errors: 21. Those returns proved devastating and ensured Scott Robertson’s men were able to keep Ireland at arm’s length without venturing too far beyond their own half.
Will Jordan’s 68th-minute try came from New Zealand’s only visit to the Ireland 22 in the second half. That single passage of clinical, accurate play in the 22 was ultimately sharper than anything Ireland could muster.
This was not the free-flowing, electrifying swagger associated with the All Blacks. They too were nowhere near the heights they hit at last year’s World Cup, but on this occasion, they didn’t need to be.
Eighteen of their 23 points came from McKenzie’s right foot. After a year in which the Chiefs player has seen his game-management questioned, this was his strongest outing of the Test season and best argument yet that he can be Richie Mo’unga’s long-term replacement. In different circumstances McKenzie may not even have started in Dublin, but with Beauden Barrett ruled out he grasped the opportunity with a player of the match display.
Three McKenzie penalties had New Zealand 9-6 up at the break, and he doubled his tally after the interval.
Ireland felt they hadn’t fired a shot in that scrappy first half but they were right in it thanks to a determined and impressive defensive effort.
By the time the opening 40 came to a close the home side had thrown themselves into 89 tackles, almost three times that of their visitors. Some of those were desperate recovery attempts to slap plasters on pierced holes. Josh van der Flier went low to tumble McKenzie after Hugo Keenan produced a try-saver on Tele’a out wide. The light-footed McKenzie always looked a threat and was later thwarted by another excellent intervention from Jamison Gibson-Park. The Leinster player led the fight throughout, Ireland’s sniping scrum-half becoming the bullet as he fired up to suffocate Jordan.
The sight of green jerseys scrambling after black ones was a familiar sight. New Zealand made nine linebreaks and beat 30 defenders across the 80. Ireland had one linebreak for 14 defenders beaten.
Some of Ireland’s defending was bone-rattling. Garry Ringrose emptied Rieko Ioane with a shuddering hit, one of three dominant tackles by Ireland in the opening 20 minutes.
McCarthy was also in the thick of the action alongside the equally busy James Ryan in the second row. ‘Big’ Joe thumped into Sam Cane, made a notable effort to rise the home crowd and found himself involved in a heated exchange with Scott Barrett – the All Black lock suspecting a cheap hit from the Leinster man.
A strange first half was followed by a promising start to the second, Ireland enjoying plenty of ball before finally forcing the first try of the game through Van der Flier while New Zealand were reduced to 14.
The Aviva roared as Jack Crowley kicked Ireland into a 13-9 lead but with 37 minutes left to play, that would be where Ireland’s scoring stopped.
They will look back and feel haunted by uncharacteristically sloppy errors. Bundee Aki twice lost ball he would expect to hold while Crowley, Iain Henderson and Ciarán Frawley were also among the guilty party. The sight of a frustrated Frawley booting the ball away after Ireland’s latest spill with 10 to play summed up how most of the 52,000 in attendance felt. The time for deep breaths had passed.
It was all so oddly flat. The attack so oddly stagnant. Ireland had not felt like this since the early days of Farrell’s tenure.
How they react will be fascinating. This team have taken huge pride in trusting their instincts and backing their game against any opposition, but when stuck in a scrap Farrell saw his players overplay the ball and make repeat errors. The counter-argument is that the game can turn if just one of those moments click.
Nights like these have grown increasingly few and far between and Ireland may not find themselves in such an arm-wrestle over the remainder of this month, where they play a talented Argentina team, the fun and free-wheeling Fiji and a slumbering Australia.
They are three games Ireland will be expected to win but in starting this series against the headline opponents of the month, some of the energy has already been sapped from this November window. With their momentum clipped, this run of games has taken on a new complexion.
He must be thinking, “What do you people want?” Undefeated this season, joint top try scorers in the URC, probably second seeding in the champions cup and people are still complaining.
@Fagin Strauss: Well said
@Fagin Strauss: if all you care about is results that’s absolutely fine. 100% record. If you want to charge people to watch you play rugby every second week and all you serve up is fantastic defence well many people will either watch the game on TV or just wait for the result. I have bought 3 tickets at €50 a pop to bring my family to Saturdays game( like I do most home games) the boys won’t want to go to many more games if we don’t have an attack that even tries to run and pass the ball. Defence might win but if we don’t entertain we won’t be able to play the bills.
@chris mcdonnell: 100% correct. at the end of the day sport is a business and entertainment is what fans are willing to fork out on. there’s only so many times you can go to the well of ticket price increases but if the product you are selling doesn’t represent value, then people will stop going. this doesn’t just apply to leinster, it applies to all teams across all sports.
@chris mcdonnell: I am, like most Leinster fans, disappointed with how the attack has gone with Neinaber but considering the recent years of close calls and I’m willing to give it a pass for the season.
Regardless of the outcome, next season I’ll be expecting a shift in focus even if it comes with a detriment to the results but for now I’m willing to let it cook.
@Barry Moran: most seasons have gone exceptionally well until the games that really matter. He was here last season and we fell short again last season. This season will only be judged when the trophies are handed out and at that stage we can decide if this direction is the way to go. Personally I belive we have an empty trophy cabinet because of selection rather than style of play. For example we dropped james Ryan and josh VDF for last years final. Against DuPont we don’t play the best 7 we have ever had. Even during the final Ross was clearly injured for close to 8 minutes before frawley was brought on.
@Fagin Strauss: I agree about winning, they should be winning though. Any loss with the squad Leinster have is unacceptable, that’s what the standards have become. They are unbeaten this season so far but that’s the minimum expectation given the teams they’ve played.
@chris mcdonnell: Yes, yes we all know you know team selection better than any of the highly trained, highly successful coaches that actually do the job.
No one is tired of hearing about it.
@Barry Moran: He is right though,cullens team selections have been baffling at times and just right out wrong,leo has cost us a few times with his decision making
@chris mcdonnell: that’s absolute rubbish, 6O million south Africans playing the so called dros many in here claim would cut off their right arm to watch the boks play
@Fagin Strauss: LOL! It is always the way with supporters.
@chris mcdonnell: Chris… most of the opinions that you express are about demand results in the form of trophies. We cannot have it both ways. For the record, I have been to lots of Leinster games in which the attack is blistering and Leinster are out of sight by half time. Fans are bored, chatting to one another and the atmosphere drops off a cliff. I would much prefer an error strewn, tight game with strong defence. I think alot of fans would feel the same.
@Barry Moran: dropping James ryan and JVDF for a champions Cup final? Did you honestly think either before or after the game that was a good call?
@chris mcdonnell: Tbf it didn’t seem a bad call at the time with Connors but he just played so poorly in that final he made Cullen look a bit silly. I’d blame Connors more that than Cullen. The Ross Byrne selection at 10 last season cost Leinster a trophy. I reckon 20 year old Sam would’ve got the job done last year.
@Eoin H: What would be the maximum expectation? Put in a few extra games during the week and win them too?
@chris mcdonnell: Totally agree. It is all down to team selection in the end and Leo hasn’t helped in that regards the last 3 seasons.
@Fagin Strauss: You forgot to mention one of the worst scrums and lineouts in the Champions Cup and indeed URC for that matter. SA has dominant scrums and reasonably effective line outs. So if he’s trying to morph Leinster into SA, he’s wasting his time.
@chris mcdonnell: Dropped is a narrative you’ve developed yourself. Ryan had literally just come back from a 3 month injury and connors was a specific selection decision, that had worked wellagainst la rochelle, for taking down giants like Meafou.
@Ray Ridge: No he is trying to improve the Leinster defense and the last LAR game showed progress. Leinster fans view rugby through their own lens which is running rugby. Was it Alex Ferguson that said attack wins games but defense wins trophies?
@Stuart: how many of these 60 million pay to watch rugby every week? From the tv pictures half empty stadiums and lots of those are there for the water slides and fairground entertainment just as much as the rugby.
@Paul Ennis: i understand the appeal of suspense and drama. I want trophies, I want titles and i understand that we can’t always win. Simply I want leinster to be the best they can be and for the past few seasons we just have not been as good as we should when it mattered. We won’t know until may if what’s happening will be turned into titles or not but it’s an expensive business being a leinster fan who brings kids to games, buys jerseys and all the other merchandise for them. But like it or not they are not entertaining the next generation at the moment with the current style of play.
@chris mcdonnell: apart from maybe the lions I’d say based on stats recently seen, bums on seats in South Africa is well above average in relation to Ireland/UK in comparison . Can’t help infrastructure in stadia with an Aviva equivalent in every province but most games get at least a European size audience or better. Maybe a few water slides might cheer you up. I’ll strive to make you a saffa concert yet
@chris mcdonnell: Winning pays the bills, if you didn’t think Sunday was entertaining. Maybe you’re watching the wrong sport. Entertaining isn’t always about putting 50 points on poor teams.
@Eoin H: Total and utter BS!
To be honest i am not impressed with the line outs and scrum. That’s a very big concern of mine. Everything else will go in place if they sort of them issues.
I don’t understand to be honest. If I read the comments correctly, we have a terrible set piece, no attack, we’ve gotten worse relative to last year scoring and yet we’re unbeaten in all competitions, we’ve scored the most tries and points in the URC and we’re topping our table in the Champions Cup with top 2 firmly in sight. And people aren’t happy because it’s not fancy enough? As a Leinster fan I must say, some Leinster fans on here are an embarrassment.
@PJ Smith: worst part is it’s mostly the gobs that don’t support Leinster that called us soft and bottlers that are now saying well your attacks rubbish.
@PJ Smith: we also have by far best squad of players in the URC and the most expensive side in the league to watch. I spend my money to watch leinster so forgive me if I want to see leinster players running and passing the ball to one another.
@PJ Smith: As a Leinster fan, you can’t but be happy for them. If they get their defence nailed, they can work more on their attack. In a final, if they get there, the defence is what counts, first and foremost. As for Chris, well, he’s just a moan. He’ll always find something to moan about with Leinster. If it’s not Leo, it’s Ross. If it’s not them, it’s their attack……
Hold on there Jacques. Ireland had THE meanest defense in the 6N over the last few years under Faz’s coaching. 1 try per game we shipped!! We also attacked like a hornets nest and scored for fun. I say Ireland as most starters in blue are also in green. How do u forget the enjoyable stuff of slick passing and intricate movement so fast??? Brainwashed into “The System” I guess?
@Noel Lynn: it also took a couple of years to get there if memory serves
Can’t argue with the results this season but I find the style absolutely horrible to watch, to be honest. Leinster has always been noted for its exciting and exhilarating back play – that disappeared the day Nienaber arrived. Incredible defence but the attack just consists of barrelling up the pitch through one off runners most of the time. Incredibly effective but so boring to watch – which pains me to say.
@Aidan Farrell: Nienaber’s job description was make the defense like the Bok’s defense (absolutely horrible to play against) and it looks he’s achieved that. He doesn’t coach the attack. While it looks like the energy/focus employed to implement the defensive gameplan may have an impact on the attack, I think the finger should be pointed at Cullen/Bleyendaal fir that. We were told it was Goodmans fault but he’s gone now and the attack is even worse
The SA way works with a 6-2 split and extremely quick wingers.
@chris mcdonnell: And vegetables stay fresh longer if you keep them in the fridge. Join us next week for more random facts unrelated to the article!
@Sambo: But it is related to the article as Nienaber talks about a system, which includes 6:2, 5:3 split as well. The key difference is the quick wingers. For me the quickest wingers would include the 2 Osborne brothers and JO’B.
@Con Cussed: also understood comment was related to article. SA have lightning fast wingers who can score direct from turnovers or are able to scramble effectively. So they compliment the defensive strategy very well. This may be a weakness in the Leinster version which could be shown up against the top sides (basically only UBB, Toulouse or Sharks at home with their full complement of boks)
@Sambo: did you read the article it’s all about his SA system and the bench is a massive part of that as to is the fast wingers.
@Michael Corkery: that’s the issue with our attack, our wingers are not quick enough to score on the counter attack without support and everyone else has put in massive energy sapping phases in defence to win the ball so we just don’t have the numbers to support or attack. The extra forward in a 6 -2 helps with that
https://www.planetrugby.com/news/stuart-barnes-claims-jacques-nienabers-springboks-esque-approach-could-be-leinsters-undoing
@Patrick byrne: If Stuart Barnes says something, it’s a good idea to back the opposite