NOBODY IN AN Irish jersey was satisfied leaving Soldier Park on Saturday evening, but the sense of disappointment was perhaps strongest among those sprung from the bench against New Zealand.
As the All Blacks’ replacements made a telling difference in the final quarter, Ireland’s fresh legs failed to deliver the desired impact as Scott Robertson’s men charged from 13-7 down to win 26-13.
It would be too simplistic to say that was solely where Ireland lost the game, with earlier setpiece issues and a blunt attack other notable problem areas, but the contrasting performances off the two benches certainly played a major part in how the end-game unfolded.
Ireland hooker Rónan Kelleher was one of those sent in to see out the game, replacing Dan Sheehan in the 60th minute.
“It was difficult out there,” Kelleher says. “We just didn’t get our dead stops, we didn’t manage to do what we said we were going to do which was to get two-man shots, slow up their break-down with dominant collisions and we just didn’t manage to do that.
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Kelleher speaking to the media in Dublin yesterday. Henry Simpson / INPHO
Henry Simpson / INPHO / INPHO
“Then obviously once they got a bit of momentum on us they managed to keep the foot on the throat and we just couldn’t wrestle that momentum back.
“You have to get your two-man shots in, you have to stop their momentum, you have to create a bit of time in that tackle,” he continues. “You can’t let them have that lightning quick ball that they want, because then all of a sudden they’re playing on top of you.
“We just didn’t do that in the last 20 minutes. We never really dominated the collision, never really dominated the tackle, and then that just led to us absorbing pressure, absorbing pressure, and then we ended up defending whilst they had penalty advantage, which made it difficult as well.
“So I think it was on us as players, the responsibility to make sure that we get those two-man tackles, create that time and tackle and actually create a bit of momentum for the team and get a bit of energy back.”
It’s made for some tough reviews back at base in Abbotstown this week.
“Obviously we weren’t good enough in a large part of it, particularly defensively so it’s back to the drawing board really. It’s up to each player individually just to make sure they’re doing the bit of extras, doing whatever needs to be done to make sure we put our defensive plan in place in the game. That’s what we’ll be looking to do this weekend.”
Ireland will be expected to deliver a cleaner performance against Japan on Saturday [KO 12.40pm], but it will be the following games against Australia and South Africa that give us a clearer read of where this team currently stand.
One of the main frustrations around Ireland’s performance against New Zealand came at the lineout, where Andy Farrell’s men had a 69% return off their own throw. It’s the latest in a series of disappointing days for the Irish setpiece.
Ireland didn’t actually lose any lineout ball when Kelleher was on the field, but the Leinster man offers his thoughts on the overall lineout return in Chicago.
“Obviously the lineout is multiple components that go into it. It’s a lot of moving pieces into it but I think we just need to go back to nailing our individual drill as players. I thought we had a good plan in place, we had good calling options and stuff like that but at times maybe a bit of our drill let us down. At times it was good. I thought at times we navigated that red card period quite well but obviously ultimately in the end it wasn’t what we wanted.
“It just comes back to really knuckling down and nailing our drill individually so everyone has an individual role in the line-out in that whole process. We have to make sure we’re at 100% in that every time really.”
Given Ireland’s setpiece issues, there may be an argument Farrell’s team would have benefited from simplifying their calls, but Kelleher rejects any such notion.
“I think really with the lineout, with the quality of defences nowadays, you need that speed of movement, the speed of transition into the lineouts, just to bring a bit of tempo to it,” he explains.
“So I think it’s more so individually making sure everyone’s across their detail and making sure that we’re really nailing that individual process, making sure we’re getting max jump, max lift, max throw as well. I think it’s just a combination of all three.”
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Ireland go 'back to the drawing board' as they target improvement for Japan
NOBODY IN AN Irish jersey was satisfied leaving Soldier Park on Saturday evening, but the sense of disappointment was perhaps strongest among those sprung from the bench against New Zealand.
As the All Blacks’ replacements made a telling difference in the final quarter, Ireland’s fresh legs failed to deliver the desired impact as Scott Robertson’s men charged from 13-7 down to win 26-13.
It would be too simplistic to say that was solely where Ireland lost the game, with earlier setpiece issues and a blunt attack other notable problem areas, but the contrasting performances off the two benches certainly played a major part in how the end-game unfolded.
Ireland hooker Rónan Kelleher was one of those sent in to see out the game, replacing Dan Sheehan in the 60th minute.
“It was difficult out there,” Kelleher says. “We just didn’t get our dead stops, we didn’t manage to do what we said we were going to do which was to get two-man shots, slow up their break-down with dominant collisions and we just didn’t manage to do that.
“Then obviously once they got a bit of momentum on us they managed to keep the foot on the throat and we just couldn’t wrestle that momentum back.
“You have to get your two-man shots in, you have to stop their momentum, you have to create a bit of time in that tackle,” he continues. “You can’t let them have that lightning quick ball that they want, because then all of a sudden they’re playing on top of you.
“We just didn’t do that in the last 20 minutes. We never really dominated the collision, never really dominated the tackle, and then that just led to us absorbing pressure, absorbing pressure, and then we ended up defending whilst they had penalty advantage, which made it difficult as well.
“So I think it was on us as players, the responsibility to make sure that we get those two-man tackles, create that time and tackle and actually create a bit of momentum for the team and get a bit of energy back.”
It’s made for some tough reviews back at base in Abbotstown this week.
“Obviously we weren’t good enough in a large part of it, particularly defensively so it’s back to the drawing board really. It’s up to each player individually just to make sure they’re doing the bit of extras, doing whatever needs to be done to make sure we put our defensive plan in place in the game. That’s what we’ll be looking to do this weekend.”
Ireland will be expected to deliver a cleaner performance against Japan on Saturday [KO 12.40pm], but it will be the following games against Australia and South Africa that give us a clearer read of where this team currently stand.
One of the main frustrations around Ireland’s performance against New Zealand came at the lineout, where Andy Farrell’s men had a 69% return off their own throw. It’s the latest in a series of disappointing days for the Irish setpiece.
Ireland didn’t actually lose any lineout ball when Kelleher was on the field, but the Leinster man offers his thoughts on the overall lineout return in Chicago.
“Obviously the lineout is multiple components that go into it. It’s a lot of moving pieces into it but I think we just need to go back to nailing our individual drill as players. I thought we had a good plan in place, we had good calling options and stuff like that but at times maybe a bit of our drill let us down. At times it was good. I thought at times we navigated that red card period quite well but obviously ultimately in the end it wasn’t what we wanted.
“It just comes back to really knuckling down and nailing our drill individually so everyone has an individual role in the line-out in that whole process. We have to make sure we’re at 100% in that every time really.”
Given Ireland’s setpiece issues, there may be an argument Farrell’s team would have benefited from simplifying their calls, but Kelleher rejects any such notion.
“I think really with the lineout, with the quality of defences nowadays, you need that speed of movement, the speed of transition into the lineouts, just to bring a bit of tempo to it,” he explains.
“So I think it’s more so individually making sure everyone’s across their detail and making sure that we’re really nailing that individual process, making sure we’re getting max jump, max lift, max throw as well. I think it’s just a combination of all three.”
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ronan kelleher Rugby Team: Ireland (rugby 1)