Sending off should not be used as a smokescreen -- Ireland were dismal
Poor defence was our undoing, writes Frankie Sheahan
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I should know by now how unpredictable sport can be, and that is probably why so many of us are drawn to it over and over again.
Last week, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to write on these pages, trying to predict where the key battles would be.
The All Blacks were never more vulnerable, I imagined. Super 14 form had been poor, they had a litany of injuries and they were starting with several new caps. Plus, they traditionally started poorly, losing, for example, to France in this fixture last year. Given that the game was being played in New Plymouth after a foot of rain during the week, at a stadium that is not renowned for its hostility, and that this was the All Blacks' first outing together of the season, I felt that Graham Henry would concentrate on the scrum and lineout. I felt he would attack both, which would ultimately starve Ireland's match winners, such as Brian O'Driscoll and Tommy Bowe, of the quality possession they thrive upon.
I surfaced at 6am yesterday morning and put together a template for how I would analyse the game: scrums, breakdowns, kick-offs, carries, and especially the lineout and scrum. The withdrawal of John Hayes convinced me that the scrum was going to be my main angle.
By the 16th minute all my plans, and Ireland, were blown out of the water.
How do you beat New Zealand? This is the $64,000 question. In Munster, we gave it a good crack in 2008, so we learned a bit about what to do and also what not to do.
Firstly, you must put them under an incredible amount of pressure and play a structured game at your pace, not theirs. You cannot miss kicks for touch or throw loose passes. You cannot let them take quick taps or quick lineouts because this will allow them to increase the pace and create mismatches -- in other words, outside backs running at tight-five forwards.
You must own the ball and not give it away. Two of the most obvious ones for me though, and which became the biggest problems during the game, were defence and ball retention.
There is no doubt in my mind that the sending off of Jamie Heaslip and the sin binning of Ronan O'Gara were key moments because New Zealand scored 21 points in that period. However, the main area that really disappointed me was our defence and I would imagine that Les Kiss's defensive video session during the week will be like a scene from The Exorcist.
In defence, the idea is to first get organised and mark a man. You must then tackle the ball carrier and hold onto him -- if possible, at a height which will not allow him to pass it; then, finally, you must slow up the ball so that your defence can get organised for the next phase of play. We did not do any of these effectively and this allowed the All Blacks to look a far better side then I believe they are.
I must say that the body language of some of the players worried me before the kick-off. You may have noticed how relaxed, even complacent, they looked. Jamie Heaslip's departure should not be used as a smokescreen because even when he was on the pitch, New Zealand were allowed to run freely through holes and over the top of us and, more importantly, left with free arms to off-load the ball in contact.
If Jamie had stayed on, we would not have conceded as many points, but I have no doubt that we would have been comprehensively beaten regardless.
On the positive side, I feel that the second-half attacking display was admirable and to get four tries against New Zealand at any stage is very encouraging.
People will say the All Blacks had taken the foot off the gas, but it is still a serious achievement. Tony Buckley had a very positive outing and I was delighted to see John Fogarty get a well deserved cap. Dan Tuohy and Sean Cronin were both lively also.
In my experience, when you take a beating like this, it is important to review the game as soon as possible to see exactly what went wrong. In this case, handling errors, careless kicks and poor defence let Ireland down. When this is done, you must draw a line in the sand, focus on the positives of the game and seek to put the next performance right. Remember, Ireland only lost the second half by 28 points to 21.
This is where real leadership comes in. Brian O'Driscoll and Declan Kidney will have a mountain to climb this week, but they have done it before and I'm sure they will do it again.
Originally published in
