IRELAND CREATED TWICE as many clean line-breaks as their Australian counterparts on Saturday but, oddly, they looked far less likely to score tries.
Part of the reason for the Australian threat when they were in possession was that Ireland’s defence was so passive, but there was also a strong element of excellent support play. In stark contrast, when Irish players broke the Wallabies’ defensive line, there was a lack of passing options in order to finish off the move.
Poor support play has not been a feature of Joe Schmidt’s teams in the past, so that aspect of Ireland’s performance last weekend will have annoyed him particularly. Experienced wing Tommy Bowe admits that he and his teammates were not clinical enough with their chances.
We had quite a bit of possession, we looked like we were taking it through phases at some stages. When it came down to the critical last pass, when it came through to the stages to really put them under pressure close to the line, they gave away penalties or we made mistakes.
“That’s something that we’ve definitely addressed. For us not to score at the weekend, we’re very disappointed with that. With the players we’ve got, we know we can score tries. To beat the All Blacks this weekend, we know we’ll have to take the game to them, finish those chances.”
Bowe himself will be expected to play a starring role in Ireland’s improvement in that area. The Ulster wing hasn’t scored in either of the November Tests, and hasn’t been in his best form either. Defensively, Les Kiss will look for more aggression from the 6ft 3ins wide man, while Schmidt will call for more decisive attacking contributions.
The 29-year-old missed his one real try-scoring chance early on against Australia, after Rob Kearney had done superbly to get outside Nick Cummins, draw in Israel Folau and create space for Bowe down the right-hand touchline. The Lions wing failed to hold his width though, and the opportunity evaporated.
“On that one it was just a bad read by myself. Rob did very well, he ended up getting outside the winger and getting to the fullback. If I had held my width, I probably would have got into the corner. At the time, the way I looked at it, I thought he was going to get hit man-and-ball unfortunately.
“That’s a bad read by myself. It’s something I’ve chatted to Rob and Joe about as well and hopefully this weekend, if we get that similar opportunity this weekend, I’ll be able to finish it off.”
26 tries for his country show that Bowe can score with regularity at international level and at his best, the Emyvale native is one of Ireland’s greatest attacking threats. However, he admits that the likes of Dave Kearney, Fergus McFadden [before injury] and Luke Fitzgerald will always be pushing him. Bowe is aware that his starting role is under scrutiny.
I think it is all the time. Certainly with Joe coming in, he’s putting the pressure on all the time. For me, I just want to try and get my hands on the ball, get attacking. Having that bit of pressure pushes you on a little bit. I’ll be hoping to be heavily involved and hoping to pull out a big performance.”
Ireland need to utilise Bowe’s power and breaking ability to greater effect against New Zealand. Expect to see him popping up in closer to rucks, as we saw on three occasions against Australia. Schmidt will hope to see his wing running intelligent lines off his scrum-half, out-half and centres.
If Ireland can coax Bowe’s best attacking form out against the “clinical” All Blacks, the prospect of a shock would become all the greater.
“We know what a great opportunity we have this weekend. When you get that, it’s a great chance to make history.”
