IRELAND ATTACK COACH Mike Catt has called on Ireland’s players to apply two months’ worth of collective training to tomorrow’s performance against Scotland and “play the way we want to play” in their final Test of 2020.
Catt’s attack has been one of the areas most publicly scrutinised during underwhelming recent performances, most notably following defeats at the Stade de France and Twickenham and, more recently, after a second half against Georgia in which Ireland scored only three points to the visitors’ same tally.
But the South African-born former English international evinced a cool demeanour as he fielded questions from the media following Ireland’s captain’s run on Friday, from which there were no injuries to report.
Catt spoke of a “relaxed week” in camp despite last Sunday’s abject performance against the Tier-2 Eastern Europeans, and said it’s “very, very clear” to the players what Andy Farrell and co. expect of them when the Scots roll into Dublin having doubtless smelt blood as they crossed the Irish Sea.
“I think the players that are running out tomorrow need to make sure that what we have done over the last seven or eight weeks, we put it into play now,” Catt said.
“We have seen some new faces on the international scene for the past seven or eight weeks, a little bit of injuries, chopping and changing, trying different combinations.
“Hopefully, tomorrow, we can really cement what we’re about as a group and go out and play the way we want to play.
“We’re very disappointed about last weekend across the board — the players as well,” added the former World Cup winner, who stressed that tomorrow’s encounter with Gregor Townsend’s Scots “is an opportunity for the players to go into the Christmas break on the back of something pretty special.”
Aside from the technical aspects of Ireland’s offence which Catt hopes will tomorrow bear both more fruit and more of a resemblance to the system he has been seeking to install, the former Italy attack coach acknowledged that on-field communication is an area in which Ireland can still improve.
He stressed, though, the need for cool heads in order for Ireland to be able to sufficiently execute at key junctures, an aspect of their game which has proved terminal to their chances of earning results against France and England, and rendered last Sunday’s second half a near write-off.
“When you talk about peer pressure and that’s driven by the players and it is something we need to get better at I think,” Catt said.
“But in the same breath, to play a game at international level, you have to be calm, you have to be patient and you have to stay in the moment. But at the moment, we’re still learning.
“We’re still trying to get to a place where we can execute things and be in the right frame of mind to do that. The players certainly hold themselves accountable. But it’s something we can be a little bit better on.
If you’re not in a clear-headed zone, you’re not going to make the right decisions. And rugby union is all about the right decision, whether it is defence, kicking or whatever it is. You have to be in a good head space to do that. So if you’re getting frustrated with others around you, you need to make sure you get yourself out of that. It’s very easy when people make mistakes to scream and shout about it. But it’s about being composed and moving onto the next thing.
As for what he expects from the Scots, “a big, physical battle” is naturally top of the list. Top of Ireland’s priorities, by extension, is to be able to impose themselves to a far greater extent at the breakdown — another area in which they have been found wanting over the last two months.
“They didn’t have a game last week, so they’re pretty fresh,” Catt said of Townsend’s men, whom he remarked had played “exceptionally well” since international rugby’s return.
“They’ve been very physical at the breakdown — they’ve been talking about it as well — so we need to make sure we try and get parity there.
“It is always a big physical battle. They came down here in February and it was a big physical battle. We don’t expect anything less tomorrow and hopefully the conditions will allow us to play some good flowing rugby as well.”
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