What can we read into the first few matches?
Ireland have gotten off to a very solid start. The composed performance against Canada was set up by a very well executed game plan.
It was good to see as there were legitimate areas of concern after the last two warm-up matches while we have traditionally we have struggled to get out of the blocks at the Rugby World Cup.
This was an Ireland more similar to what we have become accustomed to seeing since Joe Schmidt took over; a well-oiled machine.
"Ireland played a high tempo that tested the Canadian fitness levels and were very efficient at the set piece"
You need to be on your game as the Tier 2 countries bring a lot of passion and emotion, especially in their first match.
Dealing with teams playing on emotion is all about being clinical. Ireland played a high tempo that tested the Canadian fitness levels and were very efficient at the set piece and attacking ruck. That starved them of quality ball and made them lose their discipline, something which usually happens faster under stress and fatigue.
Were there any changes?
Tactically what we saw from Ireland was a real willingness to play that pass out the 'back door' and shift the target point to a wider channel. In the warm up games Ireland had often been content just to hit the "front door" runner, carry the ball to the line and create a ruck.
The @IrishRugby team went Alton Towers yesterday. And the photos are fantastic. https://t.co/FVscbaNgAG
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 25, 2015
Canada used a drift defence – without much linespeed and quite passive and that meant Ireland could play those extra passes to get the ball wide. Interestingly, Romania use a similar type of defence and I expect Ireland to attack in the same fashion on Sunday.
Getting the set up right is important. France were poor against Romania because they played with far too much depth in their back line and also made basic errors, dropping too many balls out near the wings. I think Ireland will exploit that space against a Romanian team that will struggle with the short turnaround.
On that subject, I think it is incredibly hard on the Tier 2 countries that they have to play matches with just a four-day turnaround. Fatigue certainly looked to have affected the Japanese, who had taken the greatest scalp in Rugby World Cup history by beating South Africa in their opening match but then had only four days to recover before playing Scotland. Physically and mentally they couldn't back up that performance. They now have 10 days off.
Ireland have a great schedule with a pattern of 8-7-7 days between games. For those that may argue that New Zealand and Australia only have 4 days between 2 of their matches, it is not the same thing. Tier One countries have 31 quality players whereas the strength in depth in the Tier 2 teams is not there.
I still believe that Ireland are on target to win our group but I would not read too much into the fact that the French were not impressive against Romania. This French team has been horribly inconsistent under Phillipe Sain-André. Having played reasonably well against Italy, a few changes and a match they were certain they would win saw their concentration levels drop significantly.
It led to a very sloppy performance. But they got the bonus point because they have the individuals with a huge amount of natural ability and that is what will worry Joe Schmidt and co.
Outside Ireland’s pool, New Zealand have been the most impressive team so far without hitting their peak. They just do the basics so well and at no stage of the match against Argentina did they panic, even though they picked up two yellow cards. To do that against a quality opponent was a real statement.
Australia dealt with Fiji reasonably well and I think they are also potential winners.
South African rugby is at an all-time low following their loss to Japan and as a coach I can only imagine how hard this week has been for Heyneke Meyer. The Boks have brought in players that they left out last week to play Samoa this weekend but can they improve enough to be potential winners?
It is going to be a real test of their character. They do have the experience to deal with this defeat and having got two bonus points against Japan I still think that they top their pool and be quarter finalists. No team has ever won the world cup having lost their first match but that stat will be changed some day.
How teams have played in their first matches or any of the group matches won't matter when we reach the knock out stages. At that stage it is going to be about 80-minute performances and who can implement the best game plan under intense pressure.
