How well Ireland cope with sick bay this week will be a trial run for the World Cup

Brendan Fanning

Ireland's Garry Ringrose gives a thumbs-up as he is taken from the pitch on the medical buggy during the Guinness Six Nations clash against Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh. Photo: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

March 12 2023 09:54 PM

There is a deep unease that ripples through a coaching group when it becomes clear the Freaky Fairy has arrived on the scene, and is not bringing any magic.

You lose one player after the game has even settled – the tournament’s leading No 8, as it happens – and put it down to bad luck.

Before the first quarter is done you’ve lost four horsemen and it’s beginning to look like the Apocalypse.

Before the Fairy flutters its wings and leaves the scene you’ve arrived at number five: Garry Ringrose, another player whose form is first class.

The impact of this sequence goes beyond the potential damage to morale when players see close friends being carted off. First and foremost, there is the question of collateral damage.

When Doris started the ball rolling it was relatively straightforward: bring on Jack Conan and ask him to read from the same hymn sheet as Doris.

The impact down the line is that you’re robbed of the turbo boost from Conan arriving into the game with 25 minutes left, and getting match-ups with a few tired men who’ve been on from the start.

In quick succession there were questions posed by the departure of Dan Sheehan and Iain Henderson.

Rónan Kelleher is hardly a drop down in standard but his arrival meant the hookers’ corner was now empty, so he needed to avoid a card of any colour, and also not to get hurt. He got hurt. Not badly enough to go off straight away, but it meant he couldn’t throw to the lineout. The ripple effect here was then turning into a flood.

When Ryan Baird came on for Henderson it also denied Ireland of a final-quarter surge from a very athletic player, and he too couldn’t afford to put a foot wrong because there were no back-five forwards left on the bench.

Meantime, Josh van der Flier became a lineout thrower, of sorts. Giving him that job had obvious implications for where the ball could be thrown at the lineout, and it also took him out of any plays that involved him as a flanker bouncing off the back of a fake maul.

Ironically, the easiest fix was Cian Healy for Kelleher when it came time for Sheehan’s replacement to leave.

It didn’t weaken Ireland’s scrum, and with Van der Flier taking the heat at the lineout, Healy had a handy enough run.

The loss of Ringrose too was easily covered thanks to Robbie Henshaw’s first game back on duty. The nature of it, however, is a different story.

It was a sickening head collision in a tackle that had a few quickly moving parts, which left his head on the wrong side and the player going off on the buggy.

So while the game was safe at that point the attention quickly shifted to Saturday and the Grand Slam game against England.

As Steve Borthwick’s sodden crew trudged off the field at Twickenham 24 hours earlier, the only crumb of comfort to sustain them was the extra day to prepare for Ireland.

That is reduced somewhat by having to travel, but the pressure now on the Ireland camp to produce a decent crew, ready to go, has ramped up.

Eh, can you think of any other scenario where this happens and you’re under the pump?

This Murrayfield Test had clear implications for the pool meeting between this pair in France in the World Cup.

All the advantage is with Ireland. But in 2015 they suddenly saw a great win over France put into perspective by the cost – through injuries and suspension – which Ireland could not cope with against Argentina in the quarter-final.

Running repairs has been high on Andy Farrell’s list of challenges to embrace in keeping this team moving in the right direction.

We’ll see how this pans out as the week unfolds, but how well Ireland can cope in their quest for a Grand Slam will be groundwork for what’s coming in France in the autumn.

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