IRELAND COACH JOE SCHMIDT allowed himself a moment to ponder Ireland’s first Triple Crown in five years but is refusing to countenance title talk after witnessing his side shred Wales 26-3.
The New Zealander masterminded his first Test triumph over compatriot Warren Gatland as Ireland’s superior maul and breakdown saw the reigning champions annihilated at the Aviva Stadium. With victory over Scotland already in the Six Nations satchel, a win away to England in two weeks would see meaningful silverware secured for the first time since the 2009 Grand Slam.
Schmidt said, “To be honest, I’m not going to think too far ahead. We’re going to get together in Clonmel for a couple of days with the core of the squad and try to review what we’ve done in the first couple of weeks and plot a course going forward to Twickenham.
That’s obviously a massive game. I think they were very unlucky [against France] last week. The fact is, Yoann Huget was being a fantastic player and gave the French an early lead and then Gael Fickou finished it off at the end. The French were resilient but England dominated long periods of that game. They will be incredibly hard to beat at Twickenham.”
Wales coach Warren Gatland admitted, post-match, that his team had been thoroughly beaten by the better side but did express his surprise that Ireland won through forwards-dominated rugby that is not the Joe Schmidt trademark. The former Leinster coach admitted the weather played a key role in his team’s preparations. He said, “The forecast today was awful and we felt that if there was an area we could be accurate at, it would be in the maul, nice and tight, and that we’d have to work fairly hard; putting the ball in with little risk.
“We preconceived a few tactics on the basis of a weather forecast that didn’t eventuate but we decided to stick with the tactics we had.” Luckily for Ireland they decided to stick with the rolling maul of lineout claims as their two tries came about from the set-piece move.
Ireland also dominated at the breakdown and Schmidt declared that zone was one of many that his team looked to exploit. “I wouldn’t say we targeted it but it was an area that we wanted to make sure we were very good at,” he said. “I think Peter O’Mahony, particularly, but Rory Best, too, put pressure on, as well as Gordon D’Arcy.” The Kiwi was well aware, however, that Gethin Jenkins, Sam Warburton and Dan Lydiate were well short of top level match practice and ripe for a harrying.
One of the only blemishes of Ireland’s game was some errand kicking out of hand from Jonny Sexton, who limped off with a shin injury but should be fine to feature against England. Schmidt chose to focus on two penalty kicks to touch ‘where he carved off 50 metres’ rather than a simple effort from the out-half that was easily pouched by Leigh Halfpenny.
“I also think Jonny defended really strongly,” the coach added. “There was one time towards the end when he did get taken off [the ball]. He hit the guy back in the tackle, dragged him back a little further and brought a bit of physicality.” Schmidt joked Sexton was under pressure to make amends with that tackle ‘as he’s our biggest back’.
By this stage last year, Ireland had lost six senior players to injury and suspension. Ireland must do without lock Dan Tuohy [fractured arm] for the remainder of the tournament but Schmidt should be able to call on either Mike McCarthy or Iain Henderson to fill the breach. Luke Fitzgerald, Eoin Reddan, Simon Zebo, Richardt Strauss and Tommy Bowe will also be hoping to force themselves into the reckoning for the England game.
Schmidt was asked, with the final question of the briefing, if his message was finally getting across to his new team. “Not really, to be honest,” Schmidt responded. “One of the great things about this team is that, as Paul O’Connell alluded to it before, there is kind of a melting pot of ideas. We try to galvanise exactly which [plans and plays] are going to be the important ones for the weekend. We prioristise our training load as a result… I have to say, a lot of what we do is player driven and it is great to have a group that drives themselves.”
