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Ireland’s World Cup Campaign Begins in Earnest on Sunday
Two weeks into the Rugby World Cup and Ireland have been flying under the radar. A straightforward opener against Canada in Cardiff was followed by victory over Romania, where the only headline was a World Record attendance at Wembley. While other teams have been dealing with pool defining games, exhausting battles and 24 tournament ending injuries, the Irish have been strolling through and taking in the sights. Their build up has been shaped by a very favourable draw, which only sees them begin their World Cup in earnest this weekend.
On Sunday, Ireland will ramp up their campaign against an Italian side that has struggled so far. They were blown away by a French outfit in the opening game and scraped through against Tier 2 Canada. Ireland shouldn’t have any issues dispatching of Italy. Their only major concern will be if Parisse returns from injury. We saw against Wales in the warm up games, that once the Italian Captain is on the field, they can at least challenge. Ireland will still prevail; it will simply be more of a test if Parisse is on show. They will then line up against France for a pool deciding showdown in Cardiff.
So what have we learnt from Ireland’s warm up games and who should we look out for against Italy? The biggest talking point in the Irish squad and one of the main critiques of Joe Schmidt’s team is their style of play. This ultimately stems down to two major issues, a refusal to offload and a lack of creativity in midfield, where converted full back, Jared Payne, has been shoehorned into 13.
Let’s start with Payne. A phenomenally talented Fullback, he is not a 13 and never has been, but given Ireland’s injury problems in this area and the inability to replace O’Driscoll, he has been asked to do a job here. While his defence is solid, he lacks the experience and quality to be a world class 13. Fitzgerald or Earls would have been alternative options had they not struggled with injury. So Ireland must make do with a 13 that will always limit the Irish backline.
When it comes to offloading, Ireland are just not interested. The stats during the six nations highlighted Ireland as the team with the lowest number of offloads in the tournament. Instead, they rely on a manic aggression at rucks to win ball and wear teams down with phase after phase of exhausting and extremely precise rugby. Risking an offload is not in Schmidt’s Irish playbook, instead he preaches a diligent and conservative game plan focused on putting pressure on the opposition through well chased kicks and a low error count.
This second point highlights one of Schmidt’s main characteristics - His ability to identify strengths within his squad and play to these. Ireland are never going to play like the all dancing & offloading Fijians, but they will wear a team down, frustrate them and outsmart them. So while Schmidt does not win points for style, he certainly does for substance. Ireland are real contenders at this World Cup and a favourable draw has added to their chances. If they can negotiate the next two games against France and Italy, a route to the final via Argentina and Wales is a distinct possibility. From there?? Well, I’ll let Irish fans smile at the thought of a packed O’Connell Street on the 31st October.
Schmidt is doing what he does best - Making the most out of his resources.
Fred Culazzo
