SINCE JACOB STOCKDALE’S breakthrough in 2017, Ireland’s first-choice back three has felt very much cut and dried.
If fit, the young Ulster tyro combined with the experience of Rob Kearney and Keith Earls made for a brilliantly balanced setup and the trio duly delivered a Grand Slam and the 2018 win over New Zealand.
With elder statesmen Earls and Kearney struggling with knocks early this week, it appeared as though Joe Schmidt was being forced into a contingency plan.
Yet speaking after this morning’s pivotal bonus-point win over Scotland in Pool A of the Rugby World Cup, Schmidt railed against the assertion that today’s starting back-field of Andrew Conway, Jordan Larmour and Stockdale was a back-up plan at all.
“We hadn’t made any decisions earlier in the week so they were first-choice selections and they played like that,” said the Kiwi, instinctively looking towards room for improvement.
“They made a few errors, but very difficult conditions out there. Even prior to the rain, there was a little bit of film on the ball. It was quite slippery, so it is going to be one of those challenges if the weather comes in like that.”
Conway proved a very effective weapon for Ireland in those slippery conditions, his aerial ability allowing him to contest the excellent high balls sent up by Conor Murray. The adopted Munster man played a part in the lead up to tries for James Ryan and Tadhg Furlong before his leap and subsequent finish delivered the bonus point score.
Larmour, a source of concern in the absence of Kearney’s experience, swept up the back-field with little fuss; reacting sharply to gather a Stuart Hogg chip early on and also beating the Exeter Chief in the air.
“He looked dangerous and opened them up one time and got in behind them,” added Schmidt.
“We probably made 10 line-breaks and Jordan and Andrew were the recipients of a couple of those, one for Andrew to score and one for Jordan to open people up.
“I thought he covered the space really well because they’re so dangerous on the edges Scotland and he closed those channels down really well, both those guys. But so did Jacob Stockdale.”
Schmidt naturally moved to highlight Stockdale’s shuddering hit on Hogg after he shot out of the line to kill a Scottish attack. The Ulster star, who was suddenly the senior man in Ireland’s back three with 22 caps – seemed to enjoy the moment as much as his international tries.
“My defence is something that has been talked about quite a bit,” said Stockdale, “and it was good to actually get a few good shots on Stuart Hogg. It was good to get a good, solid defensive performance in.”
Nailed 💪#RWC2019 #IREvSCO pic.twitter.com/PnRD5igyEG
— eir Sport (@eirSport) September 22, 2019
The 23-year-old also showed flashes of his ability in attack, most noticeably a trademark chip-and-regather that created an opening up the left flank before an excellent counter-ruck rescued the situation for Scotland.
“All the wingers in our setup would be practising those, wee grubbers ahead and kicks ahead because they are really dangerous kicks, as today showed.
“It’s something we are practising all the time. It isn’t always going to work out for you but sometimes it does.”
While the back three performed like a first-choice unit, the tone of the victory was undoubtedly set by Ireland’s pack. The tight five bullied and thwarted the Scots at every turn and Gregor Townsend’s men had no answer for the physicality.
“Whenever you’ve got a pack that’s going forward and you’ve got guys like Iain Henderson running over people, it makes it a lot easier because you’re always on the front foot.”
Stockdale wasn’t quite ready to claim this side is peaking at precisely the right time after a brilliantly clinical victory — “ah, it’s one game. It’s hard to tell… but we’re happy with the performance’ — but this Ireland squad are happy to embrace the sense that they are proving doubters wrong after the concern raised by their disappointing Six Nations and the August drubbing at Twickenham,
“The England game didn’t reflect what we are like as a team at all and that was really disappointing for us.
“We’ve turned around now and beaten Wales back-to-back and beaten Scotland in our first game. I’m not saying that we are world-beaters now but we are going in the right direction and going nicely.”
We hear everything, you know? We see everything. It’s just one of those things. If you have a bad defensive day then people say you can’t defend. You have a bad attacking game and people say you’re not ruthless in attack.
“That’s just part of sport. I kind of liked it whenever people slagged me off because then I get to prove them wrong.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
