excerpt from a scathing article by Neil Francis in todayâs Indo:
Do we start analysis with individuals or the collective? I think it is important to look at Jordi Murphyâs performance for the 20 minutes that he was on the field. It is true that he left in the 26th minute, but he was unable to contribute anything for the six minutes after he picked up his rib injury.
Murphy arrived in Japan on Sunday and, given the jet lag and the problems the body can have adapting, he still looked by far the sharpest player on the park. How is that? And, more importantly, why is that? Murphy has been out of the squad for the last four weeks - is that a clue?
Then we look at some of the individual performances. Jean Kleynâs performance was a disgrace. He carried the ball for zero metres. Those hard yards just seem to be very hard yards. He made six tackles, missed one, gave away one turnover and made one pass to a Russian player.
Apart from that, Kleyn did precisely nothing. He was completely outplayed by his Russian opposite numbers, as was his second-row partner Tadhg Beirne, who looked like he was injured when he was unable to pack down for the last scrum of the game.
There were some half-decent individual performances, but you would expect that against an almost exclusively amateur rugby team. The Russians were admirably resilient and, strikingly, they kept their shape and stamina going until about 10 minutes before the end of the game.
How can these amateurs do that? Physically, they were a match for Ireland up front and they seemed to win their lineout ball and their scrum ball far easier than Ireland could manage. They were difficult and illegal opponents at the breakdown and they flooded far more players into this area, even with 14 men on the pitch. Once again Ireland were operating on front-foot ball, but it was of no value once the Russians either got more men in to the breakdown or got set again for the next recycle.
This was a stagnant, thoughtless performance and once again Irelandâs lack of cohesion was so disheartening. We heard about the head and shoulders applied to the ball prior to the competition and yet the amount of handling errors and, more importantly, unforced handling errors makes you wonder whether it was just the conditions.
Errors of this kind sometimes mirror what is going on in the camp. If the team say mood and morale are good at this juncture, well who am I to question it?
Bundee Aki knocked the ball on four times during the match from very simple situations. How does that happen? The longer the match went on, the further Ireland retreated into themselves.
In fairness, Russia did not present themselves to be turned over. From the 35th minute to the 65th minute Ireland did not score any points, when you would have backed them to put a marker down and depress the accelerator.
As soon as Sexton went off, all of Irelandâs mental starch and tactical discipline went out the window.
There was no tact or guile or imagination in anything that they did for long periods of the game, and when they did get close to scoring opportunities they panicked or rushed it or got white-line fever.
Occasions
This is not the sign of a team that is holding their special plays back for the big occasions. Ireland butchered several opportunities here and nobody can convince me that when it counted against far stronger opposition that they would be able to convert those chances.
Jack Carty reminds me of one of those kids who has all the skills in a schoolyard kickabout, but you would not under any circumstances expect him to control a tricky semi-final in a schools cup competition.
Our back three, who looked ill-at-ease with any contestable ball in the air, finally got into the game in an offensive manner in the last quarter. Keith Earls, who looks electric, and Andrew Conway along with Jordan Larmour, finally did what they should have been doing all game long.
Ireland will beat Samoa but if they are not in a position to give everything against either New Zealand or South Africa - absolutely everything - then they should spare us the agony and come home.
Irish Independent
