Starting at the end of last Saturday’s game at the Millennium Stadium, Mike Ross doesn’t know why Ireland were penalised in the final scrum of the match. He has one or two ideas but from his vantage point in the stand and not being privy to what Argentine touch judge, Federico Anselmi, said to referee Wayne Barnes, he doesn’t want to deal in conjecture.
What’s interesting in moving on what has become a dog-eared debate is that Ireland’s tighthead prop and on-field scrum guru felt that while it’s possible to argue the toss on a number of penalties depending on perspective, Barnes was largely consistent in his approach to that facet of play.
“Referees are really trying to clean it (the scrum) up, so we probably fell foul of that a little bit. At the same time it is good to see (that) they are paying attention to it and we will certainly be looking at any pictures we painted that might not have been to the referee’s liking; we will tidy it up this week.”
In relation to an earlier scrum penalty, when Ireland’s Jack McGrath was penalised for walking around the outside and wheeling the scrum, Ross explained: “I thought it was on the edge to be honest. Looking back you can probably see why the referee called it when he did, but then you could argue the other way too.
“But as long as there is consistency in the refereeing, you can adjust to that. It is when they interpret it different ways both teams that the confusion arises and to be fair to Barnesy, he officiated pretty much the same the whole way through. Each referee will have his own strengths and weaknesses and you have to identify those and get on the right side of him.”
Ross was satisfied with the way that the Ireland scrum went, the penalties notwithstanding, but did point to Samson Lee’s early injury and the fact that Gethin Jenkins may have tweaked his hamstring in the warm-up, presumably based on a conversation with the latter afterwards.
He expects Scotland to present a formidable challenge up front, even with a raft of injuries, pointing to a good scrum, an excellent lineout, and a backrow that can be a real nuisance at the breakdown. The fact that the Grand Slam is no longer attainable is disappointing but he maintains that Ireland will bring a hard-edged focus with a potential back-to-back championships available for the first time since 1948-’49.
“It (winning the Six Nations) would be huge and would certainly give us a good lift going into the World Cup. It is something we really want as a squad. There was a lot of disappointment in that dressing room after that Welsh game because for some lads . . . when is the next opportunity going to come around for a Grand Slam again?
“If the fact that we learnt a lesson in the Millennium stadium saves us from learning the same lesson in the World Cup, it probably would have been worthwhile. At the same time it is not something you want to happen in the first place. You have to try and take the positives from it.
“We are not going to go out and play Sevens (on Saturday). I can’t do that anyway. If you do that, make a mistake, before you know it one of their fast ball carriers will be scooting up the pitch.
“Each one of their back three has managed an intercept so far in this Six Nations, so it is something we will be conscious of; we will put width on it where it is appropriate but we are not going to just play wide for the sake of it.”
