Ireland got their World Cup off to a flying start with their biggest ever win at the tournament.
It was a shaky start for Ireland, conceding the first try to 19th ranked side Romania. There were errors littered throughout the game and if you were to scrutinise the Irish players, there were a few too many uncharacteristic errors.
When there's a gulf in ability between two sides, it can be a bit difficult to find the right decision at times. There was a moment when Furlong received a pass from Sexton after the ball was swept from the first Irish pod.
Ordinarily, the opposition would be quick to confront the second forward pod in an attempt to close Furlong down in that situation. You wouldn’t expect a team to get three passes away in attack before being met by an onrushing defender. In this instance, Furlong had a bit too much time and tried to find another pass which was picked off by Romanian centre, Tomane. It’s just one example of a mistake we didn’t expect to see, but it’s typical of these sort of games where the favourites make too many errors and stop their own flow in attack.
There were many handling errors when Ireland made line breaks. James Lowe had two misplaced offloads when a try was looking likely had the pass gone to hand. Keenan’s pass to Aki later in the second half went astray as well. It’s very tempting to try to score in every phase when there’s such a gap between the teams and Ireland would have been frustrated going in at half-time, despite the 33-8 scoreline.
There were some kicking errors too, Lowe and Keenan both sending the ball out on the full and Sexton not providing cover after he kicked diagonally along the ground for Earls. The dimensions on the pitch have nothing to do with Romania’s ability.
The lineout is yet to show security, which is Ireland’s biggest work-on going into the next two weeks and beyond. They might get away with it against Tonga this weekend. South Africa will pick them apart if they can’t get their own set piece right.
Ireland will go straight into another game, playing against Tonga who haven’t gotten their tournament underway yet. You’d have to think that it’s a huge advantage for Ireland, playing in those conditions and having their first game under their belt while Tonga are waiting to get going.
Ireland’s cohesion improved as the game went on, which should see them confidently through to the next game with a spring in their step.
What was impressive was the impact from the bench and how the game didn’t falter when changes were made. Sexton played 65 minutes, maybe a few more than expected which could impact how long he’ll play against the physicality of Tonga. Most players in Sexton’s boots would be keen to keep playing to find their edge in the build-up to the highly anticipated showdown against South Africa the following weekend.
As much as Sexton can just appear from nowhere with a world-class performance, players like to play and build momentum and confidence in their game, I’m sure he’s no different.
Another advantage for Ireland is that they had a chance to analyse both Scotland and South Africa as the teams went head to head on Sunday evening.
Scotland were well contained by the South African defence. Gregor Townsend has instilled an attacking flair and resilience in the Scottish team of late, but it wasn’t to be seen against Nienaber’s blitz defence, which is a warning sign for Ireland.
When you analyse a blitz defence like that, you come up with ways to beat it and see weaknesses in it. It’s a whole different story when they’re relentlessly in your face making physically dominant tackles, it’s mentally challenging. When a South African tackler missed a player, there was someone else connected with them to shut down the danger and Scotland barely had a chance to breath. Finn Russell was shut down and their star player Van der Merve barely got on the ball.
When you watch South Africa, they're still the team to beat in this tournament. A confrontational defence will always put your attack on edge. Then you add in their set piece dominance, the strength of their maul, their love of the scrum with a second front row that’s nearly as good as their starting front row.
Scotland turned the game with a few scrum penalties just before half-time, so they’re not infallible in the set piece. Yet, just after half-time, South Africa used that scrum to regain their dominance in the physical confrontation.
They have a maul that can win a game for them, we saw how effective it can be against New Zealand at Twickenham, despite the warm-up status of the match.
South Africa have a tall lineout with Peter Steph Du Toit wearing the 7 jersey, defensively they’re likely to cause some issues and with Ireland’s lineout a bit unsure of itself, I’m sure they’ll be licking their lips.
Add to that, their kicking variety from Libbok is elite, they boast a strong midfield and a pair of wingers that are near impossible to tackle with any dominance due to their evasion, speed and body height.
Ireland won’t be getting ahead of themselves and know the threat that Tonga bring to the tournament. The eligibility laws were changed in a bid to bolster tier 2 nations, which has helped the Pacific Island nations specifically. Tonga have acquired the services of four ex All Blacks and a Wallaby, strengthening their squad as a whole.
All eyes will turn to Ireland’s selection this week in an attempt to figure out Andy Farrell’s thoughts on using his squad. With five match points on offer, it’s crucial that Ireland put themselves in a position to get the maximum while ensuring that some players get off the pitch along the way.
Farrell doesn’t change his squad too much usually, unless forced to do so with injuries. He was very consistent with his selections across the Six Nations, which is a different management of players admittedly, without the pressure of another disappointing four-year cycle at the World Cup looming.
I don’t expect to see wholesale changes or anything too clever from Farrell. He has the luxury of swapping Gibson-Park out of the side to stay fresh for South Africa because he can trust both Murray and Casey to drive Ireland’s game. Sexton has already partnered Gibson-Park which was important, and with the Murray-Sexton relationship, we might see them team up to start well against Tonga.
There’ll be a few changes in the pack, more than likely one at hooker and two to three more in the back five. Henderson and Van der Flier impacted the Romania game from the bench and you’d expect them to get a start in a rejigged pack.
Robbie Henshaw will be in need of game time now, considering he was pulled as a precaution last week. However, McCloskey could be used for his physicality against the heavy hits of Tonga.
It will be another fascinating week following the Irish pursuit of success at a World Cup. Beating Romania 82-8 has done nothing to dampen the expectations of the country. Ireland travel to Nantes this week in a bigger test against Tonga. We expect that they’ll get the job done before a showdown with South Africa.
