WITH THE RAIN pelting down at the Stade Jean-Dauger, this always has the potential to be a pig of a night for Ireland. A greasy ball, a physical Samoan side and perhaps even a few pre-squad announcement nerves – all the ingredients were there for a disjointed, sloppy Ireland performance.
And for 40 minutes that’s exactly what played out, the sight of Cian Healy being helped off the most concerning moment of a first-half display littered with 10 handling errors and yet more set-piece woes, with Ireland losing five of their 12 first-half lineouts and their scrum being demolished before Lima Sopoaga kicked Samoa into a 10-7 half-time lead.
By the end of that first-half the positives were few and far between for Ireland but most of their best play came courtesy of a 23-year-old who was winning just his sixth cap, and third start, at Test level.
Andy Farrell will be delighted to have Johnny Sexton back available for selection when his team kick-off their World Cup campaign against Romania in two weeks’ time but it will be fascinating to see how he manages Jack Crowley and Ross Byrne across the tournament.
Byrne had a good run-out against England last week but on a miserable night in Bayonne Crowley brought flashes of invention, working nicely with his fellow Munster man Conor Murray in the half-backs.
His best moment came 10 minutes into the game. After a strong carry by Caelan Doris and with Paul Alo-Emile haring in, the out-half looked up and flicked a beautiful cross-field kick out wide to Mack Hansen, who cut inside before releasing Jimmy O’Brien for his first Test try. Crowley knocked over the conversion to cap a smart, creative piece of attacking play.
Ireland were up and running and, briefly, purring.
Crowley added other classy touch with a perfectly-judge kick to the corner, only for Ireland to again botch the lineout, and then got stuck into the dirty work with an important tackle to end Tumua Manu’s charge forward.
While Ireland struggled for cohesion Crowley’s passing was sharp and a varied kicking game kept Samoa on their toes. At one point he took a lovely soccer-style touch to control the ball before a step, chip and chase which also resulted in a Caelan Doris blockdown-try.
Yet the weight of wearing the 10 shirt means he’ll have to shoulder some of the blame for Ireland’s struggle to take control of the contest, even if that the breakdown and that malfunctioning lineout proved the most problematic areas for Farrell’s side.
And a tricky night took a turn when Duncan Paia’aua took advantage of a poor Stuart McCloskey pass to run-in an intercept try before Sopaga nudged the Pacific Islanders into the lead.
Crowley’s output was perhaps the only positive of the opening period and in the second half Farrell got another good look at what the Munster man can offer during the World Cup as injuries forced Ireland into a rejig – Jimmy O’Brien’s departure seeing Ross Byrne come in at 10 as Crowley switched to fullback.
A different test, and one which produced mixed results for the versatile Corkman as he was less influential playing at 15 and had a couple of rushed moments in possession.
It can be tempting to over-analyse every decision Farrell makes during these warm-up games but it was interesting to see Crowley remain on kicking duties as Byrne watched on, although he’ll be frustrated with his return off the tee – skewing a challenging conversion attempt wide after Murray pulled Ireland back to within a point early in the second half before Samoa scrum-half Jonathan Taumateine got a hand to his sideline attempt when Rob Herring had powered over to push Ireland into the lead.
The end result of those two miscues was that Ireland lead by four points when they could have been six clear.
It had long become evident that no Irish player was getting out of Bayonne with a clean performance. Jacob Stockdale – a late replacement for Keith Earls before kick-off – found some spark after his contribution to Murray’s try but much of the game passed him by, while Tom Stewart’s first Test start proved a difficult experience as Samoa went aggressively after Ireland at the lineout.
Tadhg Beirne was nowhere near his usual influential self and Robbie Henshaw also had a quiet night before seemingly, and surprisingly, playing through the pain barrier in the second half.
Experienced heads helped turn the tide. Ulster hooker Herring made a game-changing impact off the bench as Ireland’s setpiece settled, with the introductions of James Ryan and Peter O’Mahony also telling.
However tonight was a reminder of just how quickly things can unravel when your strongest XV isn’t on the field.
That in itself could prove a valuable experience as the big show looms into view.
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