If there was any pre-match anxiety about aspects of Ireland’s play, one area would have been the lineout and how Ireland could make it function, especially in the middle and at the tail, a traditional launching pad for attacks and a cause of trouble for France.
As one part of Ireland’s attacking assets, especially from five metres out and with Dan Sheehan on the carry, the lineout was not consistently good during the World Cup last Autumn and broke down when put under pressure against the All Blacks and South Africa.
While Ireland were the only team to successfully defuse the Springbok bomb squad, they lost three lineouts in a row on their throw in the opening phase of the pool match and five of their first eight, although the set piece did improve against Scotland.
It had been excellent for last season’s Six Nations, but something went awry between then and France – timing, communication, throwing and jumping.
With Ian Henderson not involved in Marseille on Friday and James Ryan on the bench, two important lineout tacticians were also not part of the set piece, Ryan coming on towards the end of the match.
So, what a boost it was to Irish confidence to come away from Stade Velodrome with 13 lineouts won from 13 on the Irish throw. Even when lineouts are going well there is usually a blip here and there. Not in Stade Velodrome, where Ireland also nicked two from the French.
It was a concern, but the fix had evidently been put in by Paul O’Connell and the players. The lineouts looked sharp and polished and the players, both throwers and the catchers, went about their business with confidence and a bit of zing.
Both Tadhg Beirne, man of the match Joe McCarthy and Peter O’Mahony were targets in the opening phases and they rose to that task perfectly.
Nothing was missed by the immaculate throwing of Dan Sheehan before he went off towards the end, his replacement Ronan Kelleher coming in to seamlessly carry on. Indeed, it was Kelleher’s throw on 77 minutes that led to one of Ireland’s trademark attacking scores.
The Leinster replacement hit club teammate Ryan Baird, who rose above everyone for a clean take and the Irish pack gathered around to coordinate their push before the French defence had marshalled their bigger men.
As Sheehan has done so often and successfully at hooker, Kelleher did too, the maul collapsing over the line with the hooker at the bottom of it and with the ball in his hands. That score made it 17-36 for Ireland before Crowley added the extra points, finishing off a successful night for Ireland and their streamlined set piece.
