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I thought Ireland were very lucky to beat Wales on Sunday. Looking back on it now, a day later, it's hard to say what the situation was. Were Wales particularly good or did Ireland not play up to their level of expectations? I suppose it shows you how far Irish rugby has come in the sense that we are now disappointed or dissatisfied when we go to the Millennium Stadium and win.
Ireland looked a little ring rusty and certain parts of their game weren't great. Kicking out of hand was inconsistent and some of the tactical play wasn't good, but having said that the scrum was good, the defence was good and, I know it's an old cliché, but it's a sign of a good side that can play ugly and still win.
But I think in terms of where they had been in the autumn and where they've been over the last 18 months to two years, it was definitely a below-par performance from them.
The positives are that they scored three tries and they managed to keep Wales tryless, and also showed that they did have the kind of ammunition that every time they went down to the Welsh half they came away with points, which is something the Welsh didn't do. If you look at the game in its totality, you would say that Wales dominated in the sense of possession and territorial play, but at the end of the day it's the old cliché, have a look at the scoreboard.
Ireland won and when they wanted to move up a gear they seemed to be able to do it quite easily. It's just that Wales were taking every opportunity and I suppose pressurising Ireland into a number of uncharacteristic mistakes. The three tries are certainly positive although one of them, the first by Rory Best, was fairly fortuitous. The bounce could have taken the ball anywhere but Ireland should be applauded for trying to chase down the kick in the first place.
Looking ahead to Sunday's intriguing clash with the French at Croke Park, I think Eddie O'Sullivan will be looking to make a couple of changes. I think Jerry Flannery will come in as the lineouts didn't work particularly well on Sunday and this is an area we thought we would have done well in.
I thought the scrum looked very well in an area we thought Ireland might struggle. I think Geordan Murphy will come in possibly for Andrew Trimble on the wing. I felt that Trimble is more a centre playing on the wing and I think that Murphy proved when he came on to the field with his up-and-under and the try that resulted from it that he is the player to come in on the wing. Other than that, I think the team will stay the same but I do think Murphy and Flannery will start.
Naturally, there has been a lot of concern over the extent of the injuries to Brian O'Driscoll (hamstring) and Gordon D'Arcy (groin). It would be a huge blow to lose one or both. A couple of months ago it would have been the one position that you would have said we could cope with losing one of them as Shane Horgan would have fitted into that breach pretty easily. But he's also injured and the problem now is that they don't have a readymade replacement, although if O'Driscoll is out you would presume that Trimble would then come in to what most would view as his rightful position, with Murphy going on to the wing.
Ireland are not a one-man-band but to lose both of them would be catastrophic. To lose one of them wouldn't be so bad, remember they played away in various games without O'Driscoll and O'Connell and did reasonably well. D'Arcy is the form player in Europe at the moment as proved again on Sunday and as long as one or both of them are fit Ireland still have a pretty strong team going into Sunday's match at Croke Park.
Obviously I'd like O'Driscoll there, he's Ireland's talisman and captain, but my fear with hamstrings, having had a succession of hamstring injuries, my concern is that a hamstring doesn't come right even in one week. I know times have changed and treatment has changed but they are still tough to shake off. We need to know the extent of how bad it is, is it a strain or is it a tear? It's also the kind of injury that psychologically could play on a player's mind a lot more than other injuries. It's one of those ones where you're standing there and you're a bit cold and all of a sudden you have to sprint off and it goes again. But I'm sure the medical team are working overtime and making sure that he's fully fit before he comes back.
I do have to question if he had strained it in the movement that we saw on the replays then why did he remain on the field for so long? It is his call and he is the captain but sometimes you have to think. If it keeps him out now for two or three matches we'll be saying he should have been replaced earlier. But then the game was so tight and if we had lost that the season would have been over anyway so you can understand why he remained on the pitch.
O'Sullivan would have nervously watched France and England score impressive wins from the comfort of the team hotel in Cardiff on Saturday night. He certainly wouldn't have been delighted with what he saw. England took a giant leap forward and Jonny Wilkinson was sublime on his return with an excellent performance that gives them momentum ahead of the matches with Italy and Ireland. There seems to be a whole new air of confidence about the English team and France are much the same.
There were certainly rumblings before the Six Nations that Bernard Laporte was under huge pressure, that players were disillusioned, that this rotation system was affecting the psychology and confidence of the team. So France would have taken a lot out of the win. The worry for Ireland would be that France dismantled what I thought was a pretty tough looking Italian pack. But they seemed to steamroll them at will. Is that saying that France were exceptionally good or that Italy were disappointing?
The one major surprise that came out of Ireland's match was the scrummaging. It has often been criticised and maligned but I thought that the Irish front row had a super match in Cardiff given that Wales can put together a pretty good front row. It won't be as good as the French and that will still be a worry but overall I think Ireland can be reasonably happy that they didn't play particularly well and won. They also won away and they now have France and England at Croke Park, which will both be huge occasions.
Whether it affects the Irish is the next question but I wouldn't expect it to. Having said that I've always talked about a new psychology in Irish rugby, the self belief and the confidence that really disregard any of the outside influences. I'd have to say I didn't really see that on Sunday. I probably saw a slight freezing in the headlights by Ireland. I think they certainly need to make Croke Park and the crowd work for them rather than against them and while that may sound simplistic, it's not, because a lot of teams fail when faced with the huge expectation of crowd and country.
Ireland need to make that work as a positive and say: 'France are coming to our patch, it's our crowd and it's a fantastic occasion, we're going to make the most of it,' rather than get caught in the headlights and let the extra crowd and expectation get the better of them. I would like to think this team is mentally positive as they certainly have the players and the team to beat France.
Brent Pope was in conversation with Shane Murray
