Rewind to March 14th at Murrayfield. With four minutes remaining, Ireland had just been pegged back to 24-all, having lost to Wales and France before beating Italy. A ho-hum season was shaping into a decidedly ho-hum Six Nations.
Thankfully Johnny Sexton landed the difficult 77th minute penalty to seal a win, whereupon Ireland saved their best 'til last when England came calling a week later.
Roll on a two-game series at home against Japan and the USA, and Ireland have rounded off the season with five successive wins. They have averaged almost 40 points per match and scored 24 tries in those five games, albeit conceding 11 tries, which is a mite too many.
True, four of those five games have been at home and 15 of those tries came against Italy and the USA. Even so, considering the flak which was coming the way of the coaches and team, and would have continued to do so had Sexton not landed that late penalty in Murrayfield, it’s been a strong end to the season. With the All Blacks the opposition on four occasions next season, when Ireland will play another dozen matches, that’s no harm.
In time, to overcome such a brilliantly inventive and skilful side as Japan without 10 of the starting line-up from the win over England will be viewed as a good performance.
It’s one of the curiosities of emphatic, clinical wins such as the 71-10 dissection of a porous USA last Saturday that despite overcoming a rickety start before then putting together some thrilling spells of rugby, the more a superior team ruthlessly pulls away, the more it almost seems to devalue the scale of the win.
The decision to have Garry Ringrose undergo a procedure on what must have been a troublesome shoulder problem proved a blessing in disguise
Granted, the skillset of the two teams underlined the vast gulf between the Pro14 and Major League Rugby, and the Eagles had only come together for the first time in 21 months last Wednesday week. Their huge effort against England at Twickenham seemed to leave them drained too.
Experience
By contrast, Andy Farrell could afford to pick a much-changed side, whose enthusiasm more than made up its striking lack of experience.
As well as the youthful, free-spirited ambition of the performance, there was a pleasing diversity to the team as well, from the Enniskillen-born and reared Robert Baloucoune to Gavin Coombes from Skibbereen, who was introduced to the game by Bandon Grammar School and Bandon RFC, and various points in between.
The starting XV was neatly drawn from Leinster, Munster and Ulster - which each provided five players - while the bench was drawn from all four provinces and featured four Connacht players. So this finale to the season will also feed back into the provinces who, would you believe, begin staggered pre-seasons later this month.
Four summers ago on the tour to the USA and Japan, James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale and Andrew Porter were three of the eight debutants who quickly became staple parts of the squad during an all-conquering 2018 as a prelude to the 2019 World Cup.
If three, or more, of the nine Irish players who made their debuts over the last two weeks go on to establish themselves in the frontline squad from next season onwards that would be a good return.
You’d back the aforementioned Baloucoune and Coombes to do so. The former has genuine X-factor and while we knew about the quality of Coombes’ work on both sides of the ball, and his eye for the try line, his performance last Saturday showcased the subtlety and variety of his handling game.
When you also consider Jack Conan and Caelan Doris, CJ Stander's retirement doesn't appear to have the left void that might have been the case given his indestructibility and voracious workload. But Conan, Doris and now Coombes as much as any of them have shown that this Irish team can have another dimension with more of a playmaker, or enabler, at '8'.
The decision to have Garry Ringrose undergo a procedure on what must have been a troublesome shoulder problem proved a blessing in disguise. James Hume has strength, footwork, offloading and a range of passing which are the hallmarks of a quality player. His problem is the logjam in the Irish midfield, with a couple of them on Lions duty and a fully fit, recharged Ringrose back next season.
Although they weren't making their debuts, on their first starts last Saturday both Ryan Baird (another to add to the improving skillset of the Irish forwards) and Craig Casey went some way toward cementing their place in the squad.
Plus, of course, Ronan Kelleher has surely established himself as Ireland's first-choice hooker going into the 2021-22 season, and all the more so if the Lions on Tuesday confirm that he is South Africa-bound.
Record-equalling
For sure Kelleher’s record-equalling haul of four tries, like the majority of his 14 tries in just 38 games for province and country, is in large part down to the quality of the Leinster and Irish mauls. But in his dynamic carrying he has a point of difference which can make him world class.
Farrell's best move of the season was to enlist Paul O'Connell, despite it being questioned at the time. It has been a masterstroke
Yes, there were another two lineout blips against the USA (not both his fault) to add to the three against Japan, but his darts are actually quite good for a 23-year-old, and probably better than Keith Wood or Jerry Flannery at the same age.
Often using the under-rated passing skills of Stuart McCloskey and then Joey Carbery as a second receiver in the wrap, Ireland have looked a potent and well coached side this past couple of weeks, especially considering that was basically a brand new team against the Eagles.
Even leaving aside a maul that has rediscovered its teeth, this five-game winning run, and the range of strike plays over the last two games has underlined how the Irish lineout is the absolute life blood of their attack. Hence, in all of this, Farrell’s best move of the season was to enlist Paul O’Connell, despite it being questioned at the time. It has been a masterstroke.
Indeed, another feature of this Irish set-up is how well they have finished micro campaigns in bio-secure bubbles during this prolonged and trying season, whether it be against Scotland in the Autumn Nations Cup last December, England last March in the Aviva or the USA last Saturday.
They have finished them all with a flourish, which is a healthy reflection of squad spirit as well as the quality and standard of training in their new High Performance Centre in Abbotstown.
gthornley@irishtimes.com
