All posts in category Uncategorized

Ireland: Season in Review aka The Kidney Clock

At this stage, after 11 months and 17 tests, only three of which produced memorable performances, our over-riding emotion is relief… that it’s over. Ireland’s season started dismally with four desperately scratchy pre-World Cup warm-ups. It ended horribly with a 60-0 drubbing at the hands of New Zealand. In between it huffed and puffed, briefly sparking into life intermittently only to collapse in a heap again. Ireland produced one good backs-to-the-wall performance in each series, offering themselves a shot at redeeming the season (or genuine glory in the case of the World Cup) but couldn’t see the deal through to the end.

The year will be characterised by three pallid performances: against Wales in the World Cup, England in the Six Nations and the final Hamilton Massacre, and epotimised by three passive defensive moments from our centres – formerly the bulwark of our defence: Keith Earls ushering Ooooooooooooh Manu Tuilagi in in the Aviva, Ferg being bumped badly by George North, and Sunny Bull’s ruthless treatment of Paddy Wallace in Hamilton.

The Coaching Ticket

Kidney and his team finish the season under serious pressure. Not before time, a hugely supportive media are finally asking questions of the performances, game plan and selection. This was Ireland’s third poor Six Nations in a row, and the win-draw-loss record for the year stands at 6-1-10 with four of those wins coming against Italy (twice), the USA and Russia. So we’re not winning. And yet blooding new talent is a can that gets kicked down the road at every series – for fear we might lose.

We need to get the team right for the World Cup. The Six Nations is our annual target, we can’t change now. You don’t experiment in New Zealand.

Next year’s Autumn internationals have already taken on an air of must-win to ensure second seeding for the World Cup. Then it’s the Six Nations again – so what’s the solution?

To be fair, new players have been introduced to the system, but more by accident than design. Injury continues to be the single biggest driving force to get new faces into the team. It was responsible for Sean O’Brien and Mike Ross’ belated entrances to test level (after being overlooked for the entire November before  immediately becoming un-droppable), and McFadden, Tuohy, Fitzpatrick, Donnacha Ryan and Kevin McLoughlin would probably still be awaiting test debuts if it wasn’t for injury to others.

Ryan has been a starter for all of five tests, yet is a key man already … at the age of 28. Ireland survive week-to-week, with little in the way of forward planning. Does Kidney have a long-term plan, you wonder, for Iain Henderson, the outstanding Ulster lock who has shone in the U20 World Cup and has already impressed at Pro12 level?

Dan Tuohy, for example, was in terrific form during the Six Nations but was overlooked for a way-below-par Donncha O’Callaghan and Mike McCarthy. For the summer tour, he was eventually elevated to first choice. It would have benefitted him to have tasted test rugby during the Six Nations before being plunged in against the World champions. Ireland had home games against Scotland and Italy that they were never in danger of losing, but Deccie stuck to the usual suspects. McCarthy himself was surplus to requirements in NZ despite being capable of the type of impact that Donncha only makes when windmilling on the touchline these days.

When Kidney is forced to delve deeper into the well (again, through injuries), he tends to look southwards. Simon Zebo and Peter O’Mahony managed to elbow their way into the squad by generating column inches becoming regular starters at Munster  – a source of huge frustration in Ravenhill where better and more consistent seasons from Craig Gilroy and Chris Henry went virtually unrecognised – Ireland doesn’t need more inter-provincial carping, but Kidney doesn’t do himself, or the fans, any favours in this regard.

It’s hard to see how things will improve. Deccie now faces into the last 12 months of his contract. Unless his paymasters in the IRFU have lost their minds, they won’t be offering Kidney a new contract before the Autumn games or even the Six Nations. (In truth, they will probably be looking for a new coach to start in Autumn 2013). Already an embattled leader, Deccie will have to face questions about his winding-down contract and whether he’s effectively living on borrowed time. It’s not the best point from which to move forward.

Playing Personnel

The good news is that Ireland have plenty of good players. Not all opponents will be as good as New Zealand, so we don’t have to worry ourselves overly about how, say, Rob Kearney stacks up against Israel Dagg. It’s more how Rob Kearney stacks up against Ben Foden (ah, that’s better). Several individuals performed well for Ireland this season: Rory Best, Stephen Ferris, Cian Healy, Rob Kearney and Sean O’Brien were the pick of the bunch. Donnacha Ryan, Keith Earls and Johnny Sexton have all shown increased authority and fierce commitment. Paul O’Connell was routinely magnificent when off the treatment table – add in our solid tighthead prop and Ireland have the guts of a quality team right there.

Others have found the going tough. Conor Murray had a poor season with province and country, seemingly caught between his duties as scrum half and being an auxiliary flanker. He has the talent to recover, and the hope will be that never seeing Dutchy Holland again Rob Penney’s coaching can help him improve. Fergus McFadden is a game fellow, but not an international wing. Peter O’Mahony’s lack of beef was cruelly exposed by New Zealand – he needs to bulk up and sharpen his tackling technique on his left shoulder, and while the man he stepped in for in Hamilton, Jamie Heaslip, couldn’t be faulted for effort, he never hit top gear.

It’s time to say goodbye to a few great servants. Nobody will forget Ronan O’Gara’s contribution to Irish rugby, but at 35 and with his tactical kicking game looking more than a touch dated, this is a good place to part ways. Ian Madigan waits in the wings. Donncha O’Callaghan is another unforgettable servant of Irish rugby, but has come to epitomise Kidney’s loyalty to a select few and has been our bête noir all season; the sight of him entering the fray only to give away a needless lineout penalty and then disappear from view ought to be his last contribution of a busy, if over-extended, test career. Better players are already in place and Devin Toner can be added to the list next year.

Inside centre is becoming a problem position for Ireland. Paddy Wallace has had a mixed international career to say the least – three World Cups (!) and the silkiest pass of an Irish 12 in many a year, yet it’s the bloodied face of 2009 and the battered defence of 2012 that people will remember. He deserved better than he got on Saturday, but again, he has the look of yesterday’s man. Gordon D’arcy is a curious case – hopeless in the Six Nations, but robust since then with BOD back outside him, he is the man you don’t miss until he’s gone. The feeling persists that we need more attacking threat than he offers at 12, but until such a player presents himself, it’s hard to see who can be put in there.

JJ Hanrahan and Luke Marshall look like future test players, but both are probably at least 2 or 3 years away yet. McFadden is a more immediate option, and he would improve his case if he can depose Dorce from the Leinster team first – it’s a bit silly to criticise Kidney for favouring Dorce there when Joe Schmidt does the same. Nevin Spence was the heir apparent to BOD at 13 last year but has slipped behind Darren Cave in his favoured position – to be honest, 12 looks more natural fit, but a Spence/Cave partnership looks a bit bosh-tastic – i’ts a big year for him, but if he does manage to get starts in Ulster, he could fit in for Ireland.

Of course, BOD might have to move inside, a la the first test in NZ, to shore up Ireland’s problem position. This would continue the succession at 13, where, amazingly, and in contrast to inside centre, we seem to have plenty of options. Keith Earls has grown immeasurably in the role this season, and wants to play there full time. Darren Cave arguably outplayed him this season at provincial level (and kept him on the wing through their underage careers), and is better than his 7-minute lose-lose cameo illustrated. Eoins Griffin and O’Malley are also in the picture.

Next Season

Here’s five things Ireland have to do next season to get the show back on the road.

1. Hire an attack coach

Attack with ball-in-hand has long been the weakest part of Ireland’s game, and failing to appoint a dedicated specialist to the role has been Kidney’s biggest error this year. The players are crying out for a new voice and new ideas. Worse still, Ireland’s defence has slipped off since Les Kiss has been asked to double-up. Kidney and the IRFU have the summer to make the appointment. We can probably forget about Schmidt stepping into this role, for the immediate future – for a start, it would be Gatty/Eddie 2000 all over again, and Schmidt would be mad to go anyway.

2. Cap Madigan and Gilroy

Both deserved to go on the summer tour to New Zealand – of the 3 players nominated for IRUPA young POTY, only O’Mahony made it on the plane. This autumn both should get their chance – Gilroy is a natural succesor to Denis Hickie on the left wing, and Ian Madigan is the best young fly-half in the country. The suspicion remains that Kidney would run a mile from his style of play, but he would offer thrilling impact from the bench for Ireland and would be an unknown quantity outside of Ireland. Both should start against Fiji, at the very least.

3. Beat South Africa

Ireland need a good autumn series. They should have the measure of Argentina in Dublin, but that’s a game its hard to look good in – the Pumas tend to come over here with chips prominently positioned on shoulders and seem oddly content to lose but make Ireland look rubbish. That seems to mean we need to beat South Africa to declare the series a success. Lose that game, even with a good performance, and the vultures will start to circle. No pressure then!

4. Win back the fans

Kidney has lost the backing of Leinster and Ulster supporters in what has become a provincially-drawn rugby public. Munster-centric selections, poor results and dull, grinding rugby have seen to that. Even loyalists from Munster are teetering, tiring of the gnomic utterances and failure to move on. Supporting Ireland is no craic at all these days. If we are to avoid another Six Nations of tedious griping and in-fighting, Kidney needs to give the paying fans a bit of excitement and get them back on his side. Positive, form-based selections and some attractive rugby would be a start.

5. Embrace the Provinces

A worrying theme from the latter portion of the season has been Kidney seemingly turning the provinces into an enemy rather than providers of players to the national team. Rather than tapping into what has won Leinster back-to-back H-Cups, he appears threatened by it, continually droning on about test rugby being much harder than provincial rugby and seemingly unwilling to pair the Leinster half-backs or get Sexton to play flat on the gainline. His dig at Ulster not giving Fitzpatrick experience was embarrassing and unnecessary. Kidney must embrace what is going on at provincial level, or risk irrelevance.

At least four of the above look like long shots. Ireland have regressed badly in the last twelve months. Wales are now far ahead of us, and somehow we have allowed an England side high on endeavour but low on talent to pass us out. Even with the changes above, we suspect Kidney is no longer capable of rousing this Ireland team to any sort of consistency. In all likelihood we’re staring down the barrel of two wins at best in the Six Nations and two from three in the autumn series.

In the interests of some balance, Kidney is badly served by his paymasters in Lansdowne Road – it seems only the Six Nations (which fills the coffers) has priority – and the immediate results-based incentives exacerbate Deccie’s conservative nature. We bet Robbie Deans, Steve Hansen and Heineke Meyer have to tell their bosses who they envisage coming through from youth level in this RWC cycle – we doubt the IRFU even bring it up.

There is a history of messy successions in professional Irish rugby (Brian Ashton, Gatty, Eddie, Deccie at Leinster, Eddie at Connacht, Brian McLaughlin, Gary Ella) and we don’t expect this one to be any different – expect himming, hawing and no little politicking, but the reality is this – the Kidney Clock ticks onwards, and Ireland will have a new coach in situ in fifteen months time.

by whiffofcordite on June 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Ireland, Uncategorized
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by whiffofcordite on June 27, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/06/27/ireland-season-in-review-aka-the-kidney-clock/

Back Up The Truck

We didn’t see that one coming – an intense and physical performance that could (should?) have given Ireland their first win over BNZ since forever. Although, with 20-20 hindsight, it’s clear the occasion was symptomatic of two regular occurrences that perhaps should have been closer to the fore of our minds.  The first is Ireland’s ability to deliver occasional, one-off outstanding performances, seemingly out of nowhere and usually when at their lowest ebb and after a bout of soul searching.  The second is New Zealand’s tendency to do a wobbly on big occasions (ref. France 1999, 2007, 2011).  All week long we could only see the significance of the first game in Christchurch since the earthquake as being a catalyst to them unleashing all hell on Ireland – for some reason it never occurred to us that the emotion of the occasion might get to them.  And it certainly did.

We’ve been intensely critical of Kidney in the week, so let’s give him his due.  His selection, gameplan and substitutions all came off.  Splendidly.  D’arcy played well, Murray had his best game in a year, and bagged a great try, and Kevin McLaughlin proved he can be Ireland’s Tom Wood – even better perhaps.  Turns out there’s a place even at the highest level for a workhorse who does pretty much everything quite well.  And when Locky began to fatigue, Kidney wasted no time in bringing on O’Mahony, who had a marvellous impact.  We thought replacing D’arcy with ROG looked a lily-livered substitution (we were crying out for Ferg to move to 12 and Zebo to come on), but ROG played well and Sexton continued to have a very fine match at 12.

The gameplan was a similar triumph.  Ireland had been excellent at the breakdown last week, but by committing to it so heavily, perhaps it cost them out wide.  Credit, then, for sticking to their guns and targeting the breakdown again and resisting the temptation to simply fan out and not compete for the ball.  Ireland were again outstanding at the ruck, but this time made their tackles and chased superbly – New Zealand’s gameplan is based around committing minimal men to the breakdown and keeping numbers in the line, this time they were forced to bring 4 and 5 men into rucks, removing some of the openfield threat exhibited last week. Fergus McFadden’s performance epitomised the turnaround; error-strewn and given the run around by Julian Savea last week, on Saturday he chased like a dervish and was feral in contact. New Zealand were rattled and looked uncomfortable not being in control of the situation.

The pack were outstanding to a man.  The front row deserve particular credit.  Come to think of it, so do the locks and the loose forwards.  Rory Best, Cian Healy and Sean O’Brien have genuine world class credentials.  It beggars belief that Donnacha Ryan was a Munster reserve until this season; he has a streak of badness in his face, and he backs it up with his ferociously aggressive play.  Jamie Heaslip silenced his critics.

Now for something we don’t like doing – blaming the result on the ref.  We’ve grown tired of this easy way out over the last 18 months (Gerry, hilariously, blamed the ref or his officials for no less than four of our results in the 2011 Six Nations), but today we’re going to give in and take it.  Ireland lost the game because of a classic spineless hometown decision by Nigel Owens in penalising Ireland at the final scrum.  We can claim no expertise when it comes to this facet of the game, but we’re happy to lean on the knowledge and experience of Emmet Byrne, David Flatman and self-confessed scrum nerd extraordinaire Duncan Bell – all of whom took to social media or the radio to say it should have been a penalty to Ireland, not New Zealand, an opinion echoed by Steve Hansen in the aftermath of the game. It was reminiscent of the harebrained decision Owens gave in Thomond Park when he penalised a forward-marching Northampton scrum when it wheeled.  Whatever your thoughts on Poite and his refereeing style – at least you know where you stand with him, and that the forward-moving pack will get the decision.

Now, back to a familiar question.  Can the real Ireland please stand up?  Which team are we?  The one which lost 42-10 or the one which came within a wrong decision of winning in Christchurch?  Kidney’s Ireland have earned a reputation for occasional greatness followed (and preceded) by mush.  The result is a handful of truly memorable games, but little to show for them.  This isn’t really an acceptable pattern for an international team which seeks to be among the world’s best.  Ireland have shown themselves capable of scaling giddy heights and playing with wired intensity, but only when they have a wellspring of emotion on which to draw.  At the very least this group needs to learn to hit the ground running; they appear to sleepwalk through the first match in any given series and respond from there.  If they have designs on winning the Six Nations next Spring – as surely they must – they will need to reduce the range of a wildly fluctuating performance graph.  Ireland must now go to the final test and play in a similar vein.  It’s a tall order, but if they do so, we can consider the tour a success; something which seemed unlikely last week.  Another thrashing and we’re back where we were.  And we really don’t want to go back there.

P.S. how bad was Piri Weepu’s pass for the first Carter drop attempt? It was flying over his head and on the wrong foot. Carter creditably managed to get his kick out which SOB partially blocked down. The ridiculous ‘touched in flight’ law meant NZ were awarded a 5m scrum – O’Brien may have been better taking the chance that Carter’s kick was going to go wide. This is a law which should be changed.

by whiffofcordite on June 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Ireland, Uncategorized

Posted by whiffofcordite on June 18, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/06/18/back-up-the-truck/

Please don’t be Clermont

Next season’s HEC draw has been tortuous completed in Dublin today – the myriad of rules confused just about everybody, including us, but its finished, and here’s what the heated balls threw up:

Pool 1: Munster, Edinburgh, Saracens, Racing Metro 92

Pool 2: Toulouse, Leicester, Ospreys, Benetton Treviso

Pool 3: Biarritz, Harlequins, Connacht, Zebre

Pool 4: Northampton, Ulster, Glasgow Warriors, Castres

Pool 5: Leinster, Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets, Exeter

Pool 6: Cardiff Blues, Toulon, Sale, Montpellier

What’s the immediate reaction? Let’s start with the Irish perspective:

  • Ulster: got a dream draw after last season’s shocker. The home games should all be won, Castres are bunnies who won’t care (though better to visit them later in the schedule than earlier), and one other away win will guarantee a home QF
  • Connacht: will be happy. Biarritz aren’t what they used to be, Quins have already shown that they weren’t comfortable facing Connacht and Zebre didn’t exist last Friday. They will be targeting 3 wins here
  • Munster: are relieved. While that pool is tricky, it certainly could have been worse i.e. had Clermont in it. Embra and Racing Metro are beatable, albeit potentially difficult away from Thomond. Sarries at home is already a must-win game, and could be decided under the Owens-Poite paradigm
  • Leinster: will be disappointed. Aim number one was to avoid Clermont and they didn’t. Llanelli and Exeter need to be 4 wins for Leinster to qualify. Two teams could go through here, but neither with a home qf

And what else do we think:

  • Toulon will be happy – that pool sets them up for a real run at the HEC – they’ll be expecting at least a home quarter-final
  • Leicester got another stinker – for the 6th year in a row they’ll be in a three-way dogfight after 2012 (Clermont, Ulster), 2011 (Perpignan, Scarlets), 2010 (Clermont, Ospreys), 2009 (Perpignan, Ospreys) and 2008 (Toulouse, Leinster). For all Richard Cockerill’s moaning, they haven’t had it easy

On the away trips front, Leinster and Connacht got the best draws of the Irish sides – cycling and Clermont fans in Clermont-Ferrand and some surfing day-trips and beer in Exeter will go down very well in D4 thanks, and surfing and wine in the Basque country and a trip to Italia will suffice in Galway. Munster have some capital cities to go to (conspiracy!) – no three day boat trips and wading through moats of molten lava to get to the South of France this year, and Ulster will have the delights of … er …. chatting with locals in bars.

by whiffofcordite on June 12, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by whiffofcordite on June 12, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/06/12/please-dont-be-clermont/

Embattlement

Normally unflappable Declan ‘sure, wouldn’t we prefer to play them four times’ Kidney is becoming embattled.  How do we know?  He’s coming out with a lot of silly stuff.

Test Rugby vs. Provincial Rugby

It’s becoming Deccie’s must-say piece in any interview to mention just what a collosal step up international rugby is from provincial rugby.  It was the first thing he said in his Sky pre-match interview on Saturday morning.  As Demented Mole highlighed in this excellent piece, he even described the Barbarians match as ‘an unforgiving environment’.  It’s pretty obvious why Deccie is so keen to pedal this line: at a time when the Irish side are struggling badly, Leinster are carving up Europe, and Ulster aren’t exactly chumps either.  Okay, Munster are having a tough time of it, but they can still contribute quality players to the national team.  Leinster playing such an attractive, exciting and winning brand of rugby makes Declan’s coaching look moribund by comparison.  The way he’s talking you’d swear Leinster’s success was detrimental to the Irish cause, and that provincial and test rugby were entirely different sports.  It doesn’t wash.

The New Caps

We had two debutants at tight-head, it is a pity that we have to be using the Irish team to give them experience. In fairness, they went out there and gave it their best shot and they will be better for it.

Deccie’s post match comments, which can be read in full here, stepped up the sense of a man on the defensive.  It’s a pretty thinly veiled dig at the provinces, in particular Ulster, for daring to play a non-Irish tighthead. 

Where to begin? With the fact that the IRFU have to endorse every signing that comes into the provinces?  Or by pointing out that Loughney racked up hours of gametime, including Heineken Cup starts with Connacht, while Fitzpatrick’s season was hampered by missing five months through injury?  Maybe by recalling that Kidney could have picked Loughney for the Ireland A game in February, but went with Munster reserve Stephen Archer instead?  How about by rewinding to Autumn 2010, when Mike Ross had established himself as the starting Leinster tighthead, but got zero minutes of gametime over four matches, while John Hayes was able to pad out his impressive caps total, despite being obviously no longer capable of playing at that level. 

Kidney has had plenty of chances to give a number of players on the fringes of the team test experience before now, but passed the opportunity up at every turn.  The sprightly Ian Madigan is at home kicking his heels.  To turn around and claim he’s the only one developing players is absurd.

The Provinces

For us to be really focused for this, would have cost in the season earlier on.  We would have had to have given up a number of other things. I don’t think the appetite is there for us to give up those other things to prepare for this tour in the way that you would have really, really needed to. That’s fine.

The digs at the provinces keep on coming.  He’s here all week, folks.  Those awful Leinster players, getting to the Heineken Cup final and having the gall to actually win the thing!  Couldn’t they have taken a three month sabbatical like the Welsh provinces?  This is really risible stuff.  It’s not like the Heineken Cup schedule sneaks up on you – he would have budgeted for exactly how long he’d have the team in camp from the start of the season.  Besides, the New Zealand players were playing Super 15 up to last week, and it was their first game since the World Cup final.  Exactly how long does he want the players in camp for anyway? 

The IRFU player welfare programme gives Kidney the sort of control over his players’ exposure that other national coaches can only dream of.  Kidney appears to be claiming that Heineken Cup success is no longer a positive thing, and would prefer to see the provinces take it easy between March and May.  This is a particularly strange state of affairs.

You have to admire the gusto with which Farrelly hoovers it all up.  At one point he even describes the Irish system as one ‘which favours provincial success over national development’, when in fact the entire club-province-country pyramid has been precision designed (and widely praised for it) to do exactly the opposite and put the national team as the top priority.

Kidney’s cutting an increasingly embattled, defensive figure, despite his army of media apologists continuing to search for reasons to explain it all away and pin the blame anywhere but on him (although Thornley is showing minor signs of disgruntlement).  It’s a most dispiriting state of affairs.

by whiffofcordite on June 12, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Deccie Kidney, Uncategorized

Posted by whiffofcordite on June 12, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/06/12/embattlement/

Season in Review: Connacht

As we say goodbye to the provincial season, we sign off with the last of our provincial reviews – a look at the men from the West.  We sought some external assistance for this one, and went to our own man from out west, known on Twitter as ummm, a long-standing Connacht fan, for his views on how Connacht’s first season went.

Ummm’s general mood was upbeat, and supportive of Elwood’s second season at the helm.  Elwood is something of a polar opposite to his predecessor Bradley, who targeted specific games and was happy to turn out 15 marshmallows in others.

In general, though, I think Eric has done as good a job as he can. I can’t say it’s a complete success, not with a 14 game losing streak in the middle of the season, but those depressing winter months aside we’ve been more competitive than in previous years. Even during those months we were competitve, just incapable of taking that extra step.

When Eric was named coach some were worried he was too closely associated with the Bradley era, when we would follow a good performance one week with a shocking capitulation the next. But Eric came in and promised to bring a new mental attitude. I think it shows. While we’d rather be winning, having the highest number of losing bonus points in the league shows how close we are to gaining those extra points that will make us a more competitive team. He has also brought in Mike Forshaw as defensive coach and that has worked wonders, with only Scarlets and Toulouse (both away) getting try bonus points against us this season.

The flipside of course was a horrendous losing run in the middle of the season, when  Connacht’s inability to see out winning positions bit them hard.  They were minutes from a remarkable win in Gloucester, but slipped off a tackle; a drop goal at home to Leinster dropped just under the bar.  But ummm argues Elwood had little choice but to persevere.

It’s hard to see what else he could have done. Connacht have the smallest squad in the Pro12. Any time we have rested players it has meant playing academy kids. They haven’t been overwhelmed when they have played, but it’s a massive step up for them. Inclusion in the B&I Cup will help us in that regard.

Of course, the season was all about the Men From the West’s adventure in the Heineken Cup.  Drawn in something of a nightmare group, the additional six games on top of their league commitments drained the squad.  But they did produce one monumental, season-defining win.  On a gale-force night (in Galway? Who knew such things were possible?) they defended a two-point lead into a 12-point breeze against a Quins side who needed victory to qualify.  Ummm reflected on a dream that threatetened to tip into a nightmare at times:

Ultimately it was a dream come true, but the fact that it took place during our losing streak nightmare took the gloss off. Our attendances for the home games against Gloucester and Harlequins were not that different from the visits of Ulster and Aironi this season, which doesn’t sit right with me. In the end the win against Harlequins managed to resuscitate our season, but I have to wonder where were the 9,000 who turned up for the Toulouse match.

One area where Connacht have been weak in the past is recruitment.  Sure, the budget isn’t there for marquee signings, but some of the South Sea Islanders just look like dead money, while offcuts from other provinces, such as Leinster’s Paul O’Donohue have failed to convince.  However, ummm sees some improvement.

To be honest it will always be tough with the money we can offer. Compare Connacht’s signings to the other provinces and, yes, there is a distinct lack of Rocky Elsom/Ruan Pienaar-ness, but compare it to previous Connacht signings and it’s looking good.

It didn’t help that thanks to the IRFU having impose a 1 year contract rule on Connacht the majority of the squad were out of contract at the same time. Connacht don’t really have the resources to deal with so many contract re-negotiations. A lot was made out about the Big 4 of Carr, Cronin, Keatley and Hagan leaving, but Connacht lost half their
squad before the start of the 2011 season. Recruitment may have looked ordinary, but it’s a wonder it happened at all. We weren’t helped with Keith Matthews (a great servant to Connacht Rugby) being forced to retire, but the signing of Kyle Tonetti eased the pain, he has looked very dangerous.

The experienced Parks signing is exciting. Many say he’s a spent force but he’s exactly the kind of player we need to control tight games, to turn the Losing Bonuses into wins. With our signing history it’s all relative and I’ll take an international out-half with RWC experience any day. The fact that we can attract Parks shows we are heading in the right direction and will hopefully serve to attract even better players. Some won’t be impressed with the signing, but from a Connacht perspective it’s baby steps. Parks today, Richie McCaw in about 3 years time!

All in all, ummm was happy to reflect on a positive season for Connacht.  Eighth in the table, a spirited showing in a tough HEC group, and a sense that the club is starting to move in the right direction.

Has it been a good season? By Connacht standards, absolutely. Our highest ever Pro12 ranking, all while playing in our first every Heineken Cup season. To better last seasons finish while not being able to rest players during the early Amlin stages has been an incredible achievement. If I’m honest I was not expecting that, I thought the Heineken would take it out of us.

Add to that a 105% increase of home match attendances and season ticket sales going from 800-odd to 3,500 shows there is a market for rugby in the west, no matter what the IRFU may think.

Best performance: securing a famous 9-7 win over Harlequins in the Heineken Cup.

Worst performance: losing at home to Treviso in the Pro12

Best player: Tiernan O’Halloran is a diamond in the backline and brings a running threat and finishing ability.

Worst player: Paul O’Donohue struggled at scrum half.

See you next season: Willie Faloon arrives from Ulster.  He will be required to fill the boots of much-respected opensides Ray Ofisa and Johnny O’Connor.

Thanks for the memories: Keith Matthews was forced to retire after years of distinguished service.

With thanks to ummm,  follow him on Twitter here for more Connacht and general rugby related stuff.

by whiffofcordite on June 5, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by whiffofcordite on June 5, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/06/05/season-in-review-connacht/

Anglo-French Moaning – Episode Deux

As an addendum to this morning’s post on a potential new HEC structure, lets explore how next season’s HEC would look following our rules. The automatic qualifiers would be as follows, with new entrants in bold:

  • France: Toulouse, Clermont, Toulon, Castres, Montpellier, Racing Metro, Stade Francais
  • England: Quins, Leicester, Saracens, Northampton, Exeter, Sale Sharks, London Bosh
  • Pro12: Leinster, Ospreys, Munster, Glasgae, Scarlets, Ulster, Treviso
  • Bonus Places: Leinster, the HEC winners, have already qualified, so lets give their place to the next best Pro12 team, Cardiff (as the Pro12 is one distinct qualifying competition now). Biarritz qualify as Amlin winners, as before. The top-ranked non-qualifier by our calculation is Edinburgh, pipping Perpignan and Bath.

So, its not all that different from now. The tournament would lose Aironi and Connacht and replace those with Stade Francais and London Irish. There is no doubt you have an uptick in quality as well as equity, and, lets be honest, Aironi and Connacht might benefit more from an Amlin Cup with had, say, the remaining 4 Frenchies, 5 English, those pair, the Dragons and 8 “developing” teams e.g. more Italians, or some Georgian/Romanian representative teams.

Its a pity in this imaginary scenario Embra didn’t miss out altogether because, lets face it, they deserved to for their derisory gaming of the system which has put other Pro12 teams in the crosshairs of the French and English.

 

by whiffofcordite on May 30, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 30, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/05/30/anglo-french-moaning-episode-deux/

Heineken Cordite Awards

Europe’s done and dusted for another season and – blimey! – Leinster are champions again.  It wasn’t quite the epic journey, or the emotional wringer of a final, of last year, but anyone who thinks Leinster had it easy would do well to name another team in Europe who could beat Clermont in their (sort of) own patch.  Equally, minds should be cast back to the very first week when Leinster had to come from 16-6 down against a Ouedraogo-inspired Montpellier.  That said, a few traditional heavy hitters were either injury afflicted (Leicester), tired and old (Toulouse), rebuilding (Munster) or just plain awful (Biarritz).  We would welcome them back as forces in next year’s tourney.

Without further ado, let’s roll out the Heineken Cup Cordites:

David Brent Award for Networking: Shaun Edwards. When the defence-inventing messiah was applying for jobs back in October, he had his beady eye, pugilist’s nose and stern mouth fixed on the Boshiership. No surprise then that his HEC preview for the Grauniad had no fewer than six (six!) English teams in the knock-out stages – Leicester, Northampton, Sarries, London Samoa, Quins and Ooooooooooooooooooohh Bath – lots of love, but no job, and it was back to Wales for the year until Reading came calling earlier this month.

Abraham Zapruder Award for Film: Sky Sports. Two of the best teams to watch in this years tournament were Embra and Racing Metro. Embra embraced an offloading and multi-phase HEC game while abandoning the league, and Racing Metro used the HEC to practise attacking moves. When the two clashed in front of three fans in Murrayfield, the results were fun – a rollicking 48-47 which featured comebacks from 24 points down and a completely fudged drop goal to lose it for Racing. Luckily, Sky had the cameras present … at Cardiff, where the Blues and London Samoa served up a 10 penalty and 2 try bosh-fest. Ooooooooooh!!

The Memento Award for Selective Memory: Gerry Thornley’s supplement of the 15 Games That Defined The Heineken Cup should have been entitled 15 Games That Gerry really enjoyed, or 15 Great Irish Provincial Wins.  No mention of Stade v Leicester, Toulouse v Wasps or Munster v Wasps.  And Munster v Saints this year, hugely exciting though it ws, hardly defined anything.

Funniest moment for non-English fans:

There’s Something About Mary Award for Hero Worship: Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’arcy.  On Newstalk on Monday night Shane Horgan revealed that in the dressing room after the final, BOD and Dorce were showing him photos of themselves holding the Cup with Brad Thorn, like a pair of fanboys.  They just really, really love Big Bad Brad.  Bless.

The Emilio Estevez Brat Pack Award: Chris Ashton. After Rog’s heroics in Thomond, the Saints had a chance to put their season back on track at home to Llanelli. The Scarlets hit them for 3 first half tries and had Northampton rocking. However, just after the hour, the Saints had ground back some momentum and had a penalty to get within 9. Ryan Lamb strikes the post, and it rebounds back into Northampton hands. A couple of passes later Chris Ashton fumbles the ball … and walks away, leaving a huge gap in midfield for the onrushing speed merchants of the Scarlets. Thirty seconds later, it’s the bonus point and Saints are out.

The Haagen-Dasz Guilty Pleasure Award: Biarritz 21-18 Toulon. We hate an unambitious boshfest as much as anyone (except Barnesy obviously), but there was something oddly compelling about 16 fatties teeing the ball up for 2 of the best generals in the business – Dmitri Yachvili and Le Jonny. It wasn’t pretty, but then if every game was about the piano players, we wouldn’t get to sneer at league. [Note: we know this was in the Amlin, but we don’t care].

Toto Schillachi Award for Fleeting Greatness: Rhys Priestland.  Played like a dream in the World Cup, but like a drain ever since.  Wobbly goal kicking, poor control and when presented with a huge chance to put Scarlets in charge of their group, he went into meltdown and they coughed up a home defeat to a patched up, if mentally resilient Munster team.  Lions fly half? You must be joking.

Best Atmosphere: Ulster 41-7 Leicester.  Palla’s first ever experience of the Ravenhill roar (Ireland A v Tonga doesn’t count), and he sure picked the right night.  Ferris smashed Tuilagi, Trimble scored two in the corner and Ulster blew away injury-stricken Leicester in every facet of play.  The rickety old stadium rocked from start to finish.

Player of the Tournament: Johnny Sexton.  ‘I just let him play’, said Joe Schmidt.  And boy did he do that.  Dug Leinster out of a couple of tight spots too.

Team of the Tournament: Kearney; Matavanou, Rougerie, Fofana, Visser; Sexton, Pienaar; Healy, Ford, Afoa; Tuohy, O’Connell; Ferris, O’Brien, Talei.

by whiffofcordite on May 23, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 23, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/05/23/heineken-cordite-awards/

The Stats Don’t Lie

Just why is it that Johnny Sexton looks so dominant in a blue jersey, and cuts a sometimes cranky, frustrated figure in green?  Because he’s not quite up to test level, right?  Because ROG is on the bench unzipping his jacket every time Johnny misplaces a pass?  The good people at ESPN Scrum are here to offer a clue.

Here are Reddan and Sexton’s kick-pass-run statistics from Saturday’s final:

Sexton: Kick 4, Pass 27, Run 6

Reddan: Kick 5, Pass 90, Run 5

That’s 9 kicks, 117 passes and 11 runs between them.

Here are Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton’s stats from Ireland’s home defeat to Wales in this year’s Six Nations:

Sexton: Kick 15, Pass 18, Run 1

Murray: Kick 7, Pass 62, Run 7

That’s an aggregate of 22 kicks, 90 passes and 8 runs.  Twice as many kicks and fewer passes.  What’s more, after the game Declan Kidney accused the team of ‘playing too much rugby in the wrong areas’.  Translation: they should have kicked the ball more!  Can you see what we’re getting at?

To be fair to Ireland and Kidney, the halfbacks kicked the ball a lot less in the rest of the tournament.  For the middle of the series, when Sexton and Ireland played well, the stats were more comparable to those when they play in blue.  Against Scotland, when Ireland won 32-14, Sexton kicked 4, passed 18 and ran 2, while Reddan, who had replaced the stricken Murray kicked 7, passed 35 and ran 4.

The message is clear: why kick the ball when you have the best running-and-passing fly half in Europe?  And what the stats don’t tell you is how much flatter to the gainline Sexton stands for Leinster.  Whiff of Cordite utterly dismisses the argument that Sexton is incapable of playing at test level when he is so dominant in the Heineken Cup.

We also reject the argument that something akin to Leinster’s gameplan would not be as successful at test level.  Kidney’s apologists have pointed out umpteen times that Leinster have the advantage of playing every week, while Ireland can only convene on the training paddock a few times a year and have to cut their cloth accordingly.  But is the same not true of opposing teams – and therefore should their defences not be just as rough and ready as Ireland’s attack?  I thought test rugby was a step up form the Heiny, not a step down?

Besides, Leinster’s style is based on nothing so complicated as precision-accurate passing, supporting the man with the ball and a feral attitude at the breakdown.  The players have the skills to implement it.  The notion that these fundamentals are diminished at test level is laughable.  After all, it’s worked out ok for New Zealand.

“He’s taught me to let him play, he’s not that bad a player. Give him his head and he’ll call what he’ll see. He’ll come in and have a chat and build from week to week, but to be honest I haven’t seen much of him.”

The above is a quotation from – who else? – Joe Schmidt.  It’s high time Ireland did the same.

by whiffofcordite on May 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 22, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/05/22/the-stats-dont-lie/

Deccie’s Zygotic Mynci

The Irish squad for New Zealand is out. Albeit the first cut before the rest of the injuries.

There are 4 places still to be filled: a loose-head prop, likely Brett Wilkinson (it appears Tom Court is rubbish injured), a second row if Paulie doesn’t recover, a back-row if Chris Henry doesn’t make it and a scrum-half if Hugo “Isaac” Boss doesn’t make it i.e. places for Horan, Micko, Tommy O’Donnell and Tomas O’Leary.

Here’s our initial thoughts:

  • It’s good to see Sherry and Fitzpatrick going – tight-head is a place of low depth, but as we have discussed before, we have players, it’s just they don’t get picked, so we can’t know if they are good enough
  • Dan Tuohy (at last!) makes a non-extended squad – let’s hope he gets in the team ahead of Stakhanov.  I know we’re approaching broken record status on this, but O’Callaghan has done very little this season to keep getting picked.  As a senior player in the Ospreys Debacle he was particularly culpable.
  • Kevin McLaughlin is seriously unlucky – his leadership, versatility and form over the last months probably deserved a call-up (admittedly backrow is competitive). Given the usual mounting up of injuries, we still think we will see him out there before the last test
  • Despite being in the best form of his career, there is no place for Paddy Wallace. It seems Darren Cave is a direct replacement, and Earls is a winger again
  • Bob is the only specialist full-back, and it looks like Earls is his backup
  • The squad is short on specialist wingers, but Earls and McFadden are wingers in Deccie’s world
  • Simon Zebo is blessed, Little Bob and (especially) Craig Gilroy are much more rounded players – the All Black wingers will have him for breakfast without so much as a burp. 
  • It’s a real shame Ian Madigan didn’t get the nod.  Unlike many in a breakout season, he has kept his form up right to the end.  It was a real opportunity to bring a player who will go on to win many caps into the fold and show him what it’s all about

All in all, it’s a squad that’s got Deccie written all over it.  It’s nice to see names like Cave, Tuohy and Sherry involved, but we suspect they’ll be spending more of their time familarising themselves with the coffee machines than playing test rugby.  Ah well, we’re used to it by now.

by whiffofcordite on May 21, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 21, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/05/21/deccies-zygotic-mynci/

Heineken Cup Final: the Ulster Reaction

Phew, that wasn’t much fun. Egg’s much-vaunted high hopes never materialised and Ulster deservedly lost to Leinster, a team who, after 2 years of being head and shoulders above all comers (a short head in Clermont’s case), can be proclaimed as the best European side of the professional era.

What can Ulster take from Saturday? First of all, a few bruises and a few regrets. But mostly pride in their performance, pride in their fans and, when the dust has settled, acknowledgment that this could be the start of something.

Here’s a thought:

Its funny how good sides varnish dominant displays with late scores. And there was no doubting who was the dominant force here.

That’s from our muse, Le Gerry. And it’s from 2006, after Munster beat Leinster. In many ways, Ulster’s key games have mirrored Leinster’s that year – a breakthrough win in a notoriously tough venue, followed by a humbling at the hands of their neighbours. Leinster took the lessons learned that day, quietly built big-game fortitude and came back with the team of 2009, which now looks prosaic compares to the all-conquering 23 men of 2011-12. That’s Ulster’s task now – their position in the pecking order is well below Leinster, but above most others, and it gives them a clear level to aim towards. We said before that Thomond Park was Ulster’s Stoop moment – that no longer applies, so let’s at least hope it can be their Le Stadium Municipal moment.

[In an eerie parallel, Leinster had a duff bench that day as well – only a young Bob stands out].

There is no doubting Ulster will benefit from having played in a final – Egg had a brief thought yesterday that perhaps it would have been better if Toulouse had scraped past Embra and beat Ulster in the Palindrome – but it’s not true. If (when?) Ulster get back to the final, they’ll know what the day feels like, they’ll know how to manage the build-up, and they will be able to focus on the 2% extra to get over the line. The experience will stand to them.

As we hope it stands to Paddy Jackson – it was a harrowing day for the youngster, who looked nowhere near ready for this level. Hindsight is 20-20 of course, and the Ulster coaching staff know Jackson better than anyone, but when they selected him for Embra, they knew they would have to pick him for the final. Jackson looked overawed and nervy – understandable of course, but it is the coaches job to prepare him both physically and mentally, and their effort came up a long way short. We think Jackson will recover, he’s a talented guy, but it does seem to be a rather cavalier way to treat a talent of his nature. Conversely, iHumph looked spritely and expansive when he came in, his arrival corresponding to Ulster’s most threatening phase of the game.

Many other Ulster players who can be very happy with their individual days work – John Afoa was excellent, Rory Best nuggety and driven. Dan Tuohy didn’t look out of place at this level, and of course popped up on the wing to score his try from a sumptuous pass from Paddy Wallace, who skill level illuminated mostly pedestrian attacking moves. Cave and Gilroy also had good days; and the backline will have Tommy Bowe and Jared Payne next season.

Fez had a solid day – while not as explosive as he can be, he too looked comfortable on this stage, albeit not quite 100%. Speaking of not quite 100%, Chris Henry was not fully recovered from his injury – he was a marginal presence, and came off for Willie Faloon on 65 minutes. As the Mole said, if you see Faloon coming in, it wasn’t going to plan for Ulster.

The bottom line for Ulster is that they were beaten by a much better side on the day. But it was one of the great, if not the greatest, sides that did it. In terms of getting to the final, Leinster’s win in Bordeaux was the toughest task, but Ulster beat Clermont as well, and also beat Leicester and Munster, both better sides than anyone else Leinster beat. They were in the final on merit, and came across a whirlwind, a maelstrom of physicality, high skills and intelligent players who just weren’t going to lose.

Ulster can reflect on a breakout season, one where many of the core players had their best seasons to date (Cave, Wallace, Best, Tuohy, Ferris, Henry) and some outstanding youngsters moved into and to the fringes of the first team (Gilroy, Marshall, Fitzpatrick, Jackson, Henderson) – Ulster have proved themselves against some of the greatest sides on the continent, and fallen short of the best.

No shame there – SUFTUM.

by whiffofcordite on May 21, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged , , ,

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 21, 2012

https://whiffofcordite.com/2012/05/21/heineken-cup-final-the-ulster-reaction/

« Older Posts
Newer Posts »