It is the manner of the defeat as much as losing the match, a Grand Slam opportunity and the chance to break an Irish record for the most consecutive victories that will smart most. Ireland had enough possession, territory and opportunity to win this match but ill discipline in the first half and poor game management proved an insurmountable hurdle.
Wales deserve massive credit for their performance in defence. Luke Charteris tackle tally of 37 and man-of-the-match, Sam Warburton’s 30 are astonishing figures, and as if to reinforce the point, Ireland’s leading tackler, Robbie Henshaw recorded 11, which graphically illustrates, which team had to defend more. The home side made 289 tackles with a completion rate of 92 per cent.
Their ferocious aggression at the breakdown was a huge factor in forcing seven turnovers to Ireland’s one but they were facilitated by some of Ireland’s shortcomings. The visitors were too narrow at times in attack. Despite multiple issues, Ireland could have won the match if they been more aware close to the Welsh line.
Discipline
Ireland conceded the first four penalties of the match, pretty much for identical offences. Referee Wayne Barnes didn’t care if a player had to dig a tunnel to get away with his bare hands but no one was allowed to crawl out the opposing side. He was consistent in his interpretation for 40-minutes and also in stopping the defending team from deliberately slowing down the ball.
He did not officiate in the same fashion after the interval, allowing Wales in particular to contest ball for a second or two longer before releasing than the first half. It denied Ireland the quick ball they craved. He gave the home side the benefit of the doubt twice, pulling up a dominant Ireland scrum twice for an early engage, one penalty, one free-kick, and having watched the last scrum penalty incident 10 times I have no idea why Ireland were penalised rather than Wales.
However, Ireland’s penalty count of 11 was too high again and it’s the repeat offences that must grate with Joe Schmidt. Penalties cost Ireland on the scoreboard, in momentum terms and field position.
Attack
Twice against England, Irish forwards succumbed to white line fever when Ireland had a numerical advantage out wide. On Saturday afternoon in Cardiff the same flaw was readily apparent. There are two issues; one is a lack of peripheral vision or awareness by the key decision-makers, generally the halfbacks, and the other is the lack the depth and stationary nature of the forwards who are trying to rumble over the line.
Brute force doesn’t generally suffice against a massed, aggressive defence, something which Ireland found out to their cost. Ireland players need to improve, footwork, angles and the quality and timing of passes from both backs and forwards. The inside passes around the ruck area almost worked on a couple of occasions but Irish ball carriers generally ran cutbacks into areas where Wales had plenty of players.
At one stage Ireland retained the ball through 32 phases going from touchline to touchline but in the process went from two metres short of the Welsh line to the home side’s 22, a net loss of 20 metres. There isn’t enough nuance to Ireland’s back play and the reliance on pods to form and one-out ball carrying was both ponderous and predictable.
Aerial Battle
Wales won this comprehensively. The variety and accuracy of their kicking and their ability to reclaim possession from the aerial duels was a key factor in building their early lead. In contrast, Ireland’s kicking game lacked the precision of former matches. Jonathan Sexton had an off-day with his performance and that permeated all aspects of his game while Conor Murray too was a little laboured. Ireland got so much currency from their kicking game in the first three matches but they came off second best in Cardiff, from Garryowens to chip kicks.
Set Piece
Ireland turned over four lineouts, two at crucial times when presented with good scoring opportunities. The driving maul was largely excellent and led to one penalty try and might have engineered another as Wales looked equally culpable of pulling down the Irish maul as they chugged towards the home side’s line for a second time soon afterwards. Ireland didn’t get the reward that their dominant scrum deserved and that is disappointing.
Defence
Wales’ try came from a lack of communication between Jamie Heaslip and Tommy Bowe. Heaslip bit in on the Welsh ball carrier who passed to Scott Williams while Bowe stayed out expecting his number eight to drift. Williams didn’t have a decision to make. Otherwise Ireland were pretty solid and scrambled effectively with a tackle completion rate of 89 per cent.
Precision
Ireland had 14 turnovers - Wales won seven of that number and the other half came from Irish errors - lost four lineouts, kicked one re-start out on the full, knocked on at another, were twice penalised for not releasing within five metres of the Welsh line and conceded two penalties and a free-kick against a Welsh scrum that buckled periodically. Too many mistakes, certainly, but it’s what Ireland failed to do when chances presented themselves that is arguably the biggest concern going forward.
