Bernard Jackman is backing Paul O'Connell to straighten out Ireland's lineout problems, but says the Ireland forwards coach is under pressure to iron out the issues quickly.
Ireland have been inconsistent on their own throw across the last two seasons, and those issues have come back into focus this month after a number of frustrating missed throws in their games against New Zealand and Japan.
Ireland lost four of their own throws in the first half against the All Blacks in Chicago, for an overall return of 11 out of 16, and while they improved to 14/17 in Saturday's win against Japan, they lost three of their first seven.
The Irish players and coaches have stressed that those numbers don't paint the full picture, saying minor tweaks are the answer rather than a total reconstruction of their setpiece.
But with games coming up against two impressive lineout defences - Australia and South Africa - Jackman says they need to get it right quick.
"Part of having the ball is the lineout and I don't think O'Connell has ever been under as much scrutiny as is [now], and he's responsible for it," Jackman said on the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"I think they're all they're going wrong because of a lack of confidence."
"It's not just a blip, it's become something that's slowly been eroding..."@bernardjackman breaks down the lineout issues Ireland are struggling to shake off.
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 12, 2025
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Perception is reality when it comes to lineouts, and Jackman believes that the longer Ireland's inconsistencies persist, the more teams will attack their throw.
"It's not just a blip it's become something that slowly is eroding.
"The last few times we played the All Blacks we've got ourselves into a lot of trouble in that area so that is now eking away in players' minds and you can actually see that when you look at their body language, you look at their movement, you look at their triggers, they're second guessing each other.
"There has been confusion around calls, there's been a couple of overthrows and all in all it really lacks a lot of cohesion and consistency and calmness. Calmness is the key word, and that's the challenge.
"When the spotlight's on that and the rest of your game isn't humming as much as you would like it does become a critical area and if you're Joe Schmidt this weekend you're saying, 'look, we need to get bodies in the air, we need to get after this lineout, we need to change our defensive shapes after the call'."
Communication appears to be part of the issue.
After one of Ireland's lost throws on Saturday against Japan, hooker Rónan Kelleher could be seen gesturing to his ear, with the suggestion he couldn't hear the call which had been changed in the lineout.
And Jackman pointed out that if volume was an issue on Saturday afternoon against Japan, it's likely to be an even bigger problem in the future.
"You'll see Andrew Porter going to the hooker with a call and a trigger but at that stage any team who changes their defensive shape late is putting doubt in the lineout caller's mind.
"If there's an issue with that [hearing the call], it needs to be fixed because we're going to play in a lot louder stadiums; Stade de France, the Thursday night of the Six Nations.
"It's an area we need to fine tune, so maybe it needs to become less verbal and more more visual comms that the hooker can see, and everyone can see.
"This is an area that O'Connell (above) will fix. It's just that he'd like to see it being fixed this week."
While Jackman has backed O'Connell to get Ireland's lineout humming again, he also believes the players have to step up and take ownership.
"I actually think personnel-wise someone within that team has an opportunity to grab that by the scruff of the neck under O'Connell's tutelage and say: 'I am the lineout guru', and make sure that everyone knows their drill and make sure that they can problem-solve during the game and get quality ball.
"Whoever does that, even if they're lacking a little bit of athleticism or power, they will then become a must-start player for Andy Farrell because we, more than any other team are so reliant on our lineout starters.
"It's interesting Darragh Murray got called up this week. I'm not saying he's going to start this week, but that is something that he does very well.
"He mightn't have the same collision power as James Ryan but if Ireland can't find a lineout that's developing consistent or quality ball with this group of locks and back rows, someone else may end up jumping the gun."
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