JAMES TRACY REFLECTED on Ireland’s Autumn series as a whole, and why he isn’t overly concerned about the team’s lineout, on the latest episode of Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
“Yes, we won three out of the four games, but the standard that this team and coaching staff have set in previous years, we’re just a little bit off that,” Tracy said.
“I feel like the overriding feeling is just trying to find the why. I’m sure the coaches and the players will be asking themselves why this happened? The good part for me is that these things are possible to fix.
“I think we have some really quality players. Our defence, I thought, was really good for the majority of the series. I think we tried a couple of different things around our kicking tactics. I thought we finished pretty well in the air, although we started pretty badly, but we rectified that in the last two games.
“I thought our scrum was decent, but our lineout definitely isn’t humming just yet. But if that was all because of the throw, or the calls or mislifts, then you would be a bit more concerned. But it was a combination of all and I think we have the players in there to be very effective. It’s just about how we go about winning the ball and executing on the game plan because mistakes were happening for whatever reason.”
Tracy added: “I think we were being a bit conservative with our calling towards the end and then Australia just banked on taking away that front and putting real pressure on our delivery.
“Overall, there was a lot to work on, but nothing that I would say isn’t fixable.”
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Non of these people old enough to remember the fallow decades I take it.
@Thesaltyurchin: To think then that people would be getting salty now after 3 wins and a narrow loss to the All Blacks. Careful now, expecting endless winning means no joy. These are the great days people will look back on, but not always appreciated by all in the present. Ask a Welshman.
The time to rebuild was after the World Cup. We lost a season playing the same players in last years Six Nations, summer tour etc
@Liam23: 6 nations isnt a time for experimenting, we won £5m (same as winning world cup) and had a number of home games to boost income further, that one trophy is worth more to the IRFU than a WC every 4 years. This summer tour will see a lot of new faces.
@Kingshu: in prize money yes. but increased commercial revenues would dwarf current revenues if we were world champions. winning six nations no longer suffices. its a bit meh.
@Niall English: meh? Remember the 1990s. Not winning the wooden spoon was a big deal then.
@PatN: yes, and thats why we celebrated the wins to get over the famine. but now its just par for the course, especially as the quality of the opposition is now greatly diluted from what it used to be.
@Niall English: quality of opposition is not diluted, obviously.
@Kingshu: there’s more than one way to skin a cat liking bringing games to Cavan, Castlebar, Pairc Ui Caoimh and Croke Park.
You have to balance the books and the IRFU seems to be the best union at doing that but there are many ways of doing it.
We have blooded the least young players since the World Cup of the big teams and it will probably cost us again at the next World Cup. It is frustrating and seems to be the same steps taken over and over again.
We should never discount the six nations though it is a great tournament to win and the 90s were from bar the odd big win over England or Wales a very grim time.
We don’t have to blood 5 new players at a time but McCarthy seems to be the only new starter in last season’s six nations and Crowley through necessity. We don’t seem to trust the younger players and make them wait longer.
@Liam23: since the world cup we have capped 2 tightheads, 1 hooker, 1 backrow, 2 outhalves, 1 centre/full back and 1 winger. Also back ups like Craig casey and joe mccarthy (who is now a starter since world cup) have gained valuable experience during this time. Considering we had france and eng away in the 6 nations and summer tour to south africa i think we did well in bringing in new players whilst still winning the majority of our games. I would have liked to have seen a few more guys be capped like tom ahern, cathal forde, edogbo as well as loosehead options and back up 7 explored but this summer tour will be an ideal time to do that.
@Conor: a competition with teams ranked 10th and 11th in the world. its not the force it used to be. its akin to winning a world cup pool these days.
@Niall English: a good old fashioned bad take English
@Scott: worth remembering Ahern and Edogbo have never been fit during a test window since the world cup.
Difficult to cap them when they aren’t available
@Joe O’Regan: we may have blooded the fewest players of the big teams since the world cup, but we also have the smallest player pool of all the big teams. The summer tour will see a host of new caps and additional caps and see if they can push past and be starters/backups for 6 nations 2026 and 6N 2027 for the WC in 2027.
@teuO6nLS: I’m a munster fan so I’m very aware of lads injuries, I was more implying that I would have loved to have seen them capped but I ran out of space to say that they were injurued for long periods. I did hear that Edwin is back training so fingers crossed he could be back by feb/march
@Niall English: God that is an awesomely stupid thing to write. Do you think Ireland should just sack off our largest income injection?
@Kingshu: To make your point even stronger, there is actually no prize money for winning a world cup. The 6N is integral to the long term development and financial security of Irish Rugby.
@Joe O’Regan: Have you forgotten about Calvin Nash already? Crowley deserved his starting spot… plus Stuart McCloskey & Ryan Baird got plenty of gametime. Frawley and Osbourne came of age in the summer.. This year will see Gus McCarthy, Sam Prendergast & Cormac Izuchukwu get plenty of opportunities. You cannot introduce new players by changing the entire squad in one go.
@Paul Ennis: there is prize money, just that the costs, squad travel etc and no home game income makes it a net loss overall, guess winning it would give a small profit. Someone mentioned the increased commercial income would dwarf currnet income, I highly doubt that, 6 nations champs and or grandslam champs, prize money, home games, would be more than winning a WC, and we get to go for that 4 times, for every WC. IRFU know what side thier bread is buttered, the 6N is the tournament, the WC is a bonus tournament, and would be nice to win, but 6 nations is better to win.
@Kingshu: the prize money for 4 wooden spoons is 10 times what we would get for reaching a WC semi final . Anyone suggesting we use the six nations as a development tool for the WC is economically illiterate.
@Niall English: but you have six nations every year as opposed to once every 4 years a world cup. Your point makes no sense. Even the RFU came out and confirmed the six nations was far more lucrative than the world cup. Six nations is the bread and butter. We are the envy of the southern hemisphere. Why do you think South Africa rugby are so eager to join
called getting old. alot of the players in their 30s.
Capping players doesn’t necessarily make them better. Yes they may be internationals, rather than mere ‘prospects’ but it doesn’t always improve their skills.
Farrell has been an astute selector and the majority of, but not all, players who have been included in National Squads, have graduated to be long-term potentially selections. However, by a combination of fitness and form players like Ahern & Edogbo have not yet graduated to that level.
We need a LHP and at least one second-row lineout player. Not enough candidates for these vacancies showing up in Provincial selections.
Not the most thrilling pod ever. Think James lost interest in what he was saying a couple of times. Please fix the lineout by the 6N Paulie. I don’t want to hear any more about it. Thank heavens for the Champions Cup!
As I said there’s a serious rebuild job coming down the tracks in Irish rugby, whether we like it or not. The provinces are struggling to put any sort of half decent performances together so far this season. The National team is stale and very predictable and the age profile is not good. We can forget about slams and the likes for the foreseeable.
@Ray Ridge: genuine question, what do u consider a major rebuild (as in how many players do we need to replace for the next world cup)?
@Scott: It’s not so much about the quantity as it is about the quality. We have serious issues in several positions it would appear. I’m not saying we will dip as low as Wales have, but I’m expecting a few years of mediocrity relative to our performances over the past 10 years, for example.
@Scott: why would you even interact with that ray lad?He’s a waste of space
@Scott: of the current squad come world Cup 2027 the age profile will be as follows
Porter 31
Healy 40
Bealham 36
Herring 37
Furlong 35
Henderson 35
Berine 35
Van der flier 34
O mahony 38
Murray 38
Gibson Park 35
Aki 37
Ring Ringrose 32
Henshaw 34
McClosley 35
Lowe 35
That in anyone’s language is a serious rebuild job.
@Ray Ridge: Of the 8 starters on ur list, ringrose will only be 32 and porter 31 so that is not as issue. I also don’t have issue with a 34 year old henshaw, vdf or furlong as although they wont be at their peak, lots of players in their positions have performed very well at that age. There are also a lot of young lads to replace henshaw. My main concern would be Gibson park and lowe and having back ups of sufficient quality at loose head, tight head, scrum half and wing (in case of injury or loss of form). We don’t have great wing depth or loosehead prop but tight head and 9 have quality back ups or young lads with potential. Lads like POM, Murray, henderson, herring and healy are in the process of being replaced. Aside from loosehead, young lads have been capped in their positions.
@Ray Ridge: I ran out of space in my last response as I was rambling on but even at our best (between 2021 to 2023) we weren’t guaranteed to win 6 nations as playing one off games against France and England (particularly when olaying away)is always going to be close. Maybe we won’t achieve the same high levels for the next year or so but I still thinkbwe will always be in with a chance
@Scott: Granted we can carry some of the above into the world Cup but we can’t afford to be fielding a team where half are mid 30s. There’s a serious amount of talent there that needs replacing in the coming years. Not sure that we have the same calibre of player coming through and Farrell would tend to agree with me if his Autumn international squad selection is anything to go by. Bar one or two who were not available for selection.
@Ray Ridge: half of the irish team won’t be in their mid 30s by the time the next world cup kicks off (beirne, vdf, gibson park, furlong, lowe and henshaw will be mid 30s – assuming they dont get replaced over the next 32 months). I do agree that there is no guarantee that replacements or back ups won’t be to the same standard but that’s sport. U can do everything right and still not produce the talent. Farrell is no fool, if he thinks he has a talented young player he will bring him in even if it’s over an established player. We simply do not have the depth of France, SA, ABs or Eng to make massive changes
Second cycle syndrome?