Whether you have talent or not, in business or in sport, the most important predictor of success the world over is grit.
On 28 minutes Paul O'Connell embraced his outhalf like a father for he knew that when referee Craig Joubert blew his whistle Ireland were to be gifted another three points bringing the score to 9-3.
Moments before the whistle England got a lineout on their 10m line. They mauled it a few yards before Ben Youngs fired the ball back to his outhalf George Ford. From my vantage point I could see his inside centre Luther Burrell was poorly aligned; Johnny Sexton like a flash broke defensive ranks and rushed to maximise England's poor backline alignment. Ford sensing Sexton forced a poor pass to Burrell but Sexton didn't stop there. As Burrell juggled the ball, Sexton continued his manhunt and shifted across to the English centre smashing him from behind, putting him to deck and eking out the penalty. This was not lost on O'Connell.
Who would you follow; O’Connell or Chris Robshaw? As for Sexton, he sensed a pretender to his throne and bullied Ford at every turn where he was in no mood to let the talented English man in. Five minutes later (33:05) Sexton was at it again, this time Ford, who lacked authority throughout nervously entered traffic on the tram tracks with Sexton smashing him. Ford does the criminal in rugby; offloads in contact, the ball spills and an errant English man picks up from an offside position; another penalty. This one was missed but there was no way back for Ford.
Grit is one thing but aligned to variety and accuracy it is a very powerful tool. Considering Mike Ross's experience with Joe Marler in his Leinster shirt, the Irish scrum was immense. From it Ireland varied their game in a most subtle way. A scrum under the English posts had Jordi Murphy going right with the deftest of passes to fullback Rob Kearney. The third Irish scrum out right had another slight variation with Sexton sliding open as his centres scissored with Jared Payne taking it into contact. Yet another scrum on 27 minutes and Ireland decided the old eight-man drive would do; sucked England into wheeling clockwise and conceding another penalty.
Huge accuracy
These variations are built on huge accuracy and to see so many forced changes occur without the slightest impact on the variation and accuracy was very pleasing. For instance, Tommy O’Donnell’s early touch from the enforced loss of Seán O’Brien was exact. It was off a lineout and O’Donnell found himself in midfield executing a precise circle pass with huge movement and options. This is no easy task and it epitomises the degree of knowledge the players have in their roles.
The loss of English fullback Mike Brown looked a terminal one until I saw the rain teem down but although Alex Goode fielded well and carried back into traffic he simply couldn't unlock the Irish defence.
At this level and as the day turned out fine, the loss of Brown was huge. He would have tested Ireland’s defence, broken tackles, offloaded, energised his team-mates and would certainly have punished the errant kicking that occurred after Sexton’s departure. Ford looked lost without him. So too Jonathan Joseph in midfield who was in the main anonymous. But that’s the knock-on effect of the Irish breakdown.
As for the English and their breakdown; James Haskell looks better with his shirt off than he does with it on. Last Friday I supposed that if Ireland keep the English recycle to more than five seconds they would win. Time and again Youngs stood waiting for the placed ball while the Irish defence comfortably rearranged. The Irish breakdown work has technique but is abundant with grit.
Sexton's crossfield kick to Simon Zebo on 51 minutes was a beauty and bounced. Goode lacking Brown's pace arrived late but England managed to collect. It was miles from where the Irish pack were but somehow they summoned the drive to get across, counter-ruck and steal the ball. The rewind into midfield brought a heavy high hit on Kearney from Burrell and as Joubert indicated a penalty, Conor Murray, who was simply outstanding throughout, chipped over the top to the dead-ball area. Goode had a full 8m headstart on Robbie Henshaw. The ball landed just behind the line which meant that it travelled 16 metres. Henshaw made up 8 metres in 16 metres to beat Goode; collect and score. The turnover ruck on the far side and Henshaw's try were pure grit and determination.
English positive
Although they looked off the boil, partly their own making (silly penalties; shabby offloads etc) and mostly Ireland’s, the one real English positive was their number eight.
Billy Vunipola
is the same height as me at 6ft 2 ins but is five stone heavier. That he continued working till the end is remarkable. He was the one threat to Ireland’s breakdown ball; stealing a couple, counter-rucking with venom and feeding off the few Ford passes but his scrum break on 56 minutes was superb. Nick Easter at 36 came on in the secondrow but managed to display skills and impact his flankers couldn’t.
Leaving it very late and as Ireland's accuracy dipped a tad and Billy Twelvetrees put his winger Jack Nowell over for a disallowed (marginal forward pass) try. The clock had seconds on it but a well-received restart for England could have given them hope of a draw. Muscle has a memory and had this occurred it would have been devastating to Ireland as potential World Cup semi-final protagonists. But Ireland are winning these games that in the past might have been lost; the harder you work the luckier you get; grit. liamtoland@yahoo.com
