“We asked the lads all week to stand for something and I think you could easily see that true grit.”
CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony will have had Scottish fans irate thisSaturday evening.
Andy Farrell was hammering this point home before Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations opener against Scotland. On Saturday night at the Aviva Stadium, as he soaked in his first win as head coach, Farrell re-emphasised the point.
Ireland were far from their best in their 19-12 victory over the Scots but captain Johnny Sexton stood up and so did several of his forwards. Chief among them were the Munster duo of CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony but Farrell also name-checked Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson and Rob Herring. Oh, and Josh van der Flier too.
For Stander, this game was a real triumph. It is important to note that the 29-year-old was playing against Scotland, after all, but he will take much confidence and momentum from his man-of-the-match performance.
There were 17 lusty tackles and 17 carries, for gains of 73 metres, but Stander’s biggest contributions were vital turnovers in each half. The Scots were turned over at the breakdown, inside the Irish 22, on five occasions. O’Mahony and Stander accounted for three of them, including this match-clinching play with three minutes remaining.
CJ Stander was named Man of the Match at the Aviva.@MattRCNM & @RonanOGara10 look at his performance here, including those massive turnovers! #IREvSCO #GuinnessSixNations #VMTVRugby pic.twitter.com/ppIhelVptY
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 1, 2020
“His performance epitomised what all the scrum was doing for each other,” Farrell proudly declared of CJ Stander after the match.
For Gregor Townsend, Farrell’s Scottish counterpart, he was less pleased with how Stander’s poach was allowed to stand.
“Having looked, straight away, at a couple of incidents, I thought we were unlucky. There were green players with hands on the ground, not supporting their own body-weight, [and] ripping the ball as players went to their knees.
“So we just didn’t get the luck at the breakdown, but also credit goes to Ireland. They were fast in there and disrupted our ball close to their tryline.
“It was really frustrating with their turnover, right at the end of the game, because I was watching phase after phase and it didn’t look like many of their players were behind the tryline when that was the offside line.
“But we have to be better. We have to be better than the decisions that we’re maybe not getting on the field, and maybe we’re not taking those opportunities. We got to within five metres of Ireland’s tryline, on a few occasions, with the ball, in the second half, but not over the tryline.”
For Scotland captain Stuart Hogg, there was a similar sense of frustration, although he also paid credit to the victors.
“We talk a lot about our conversion rate in attack,” said Hogg, “and making sure when we get into the 22 we’re coming away with points. Unfortunately we came up short there. We got into some good situations and should have finished them off.
“But we’ve got to give credit to Ireland’s defence. They made it a nightmare for us at the breakdown and stood firm in those last few phases of the game.”
True grit. That, poor finishing by Hogg and some 50/50 calls going Ireland’s way.
All combined, it was enough. Just.
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Barry Murphy and Andrew Trimble are joined by Jerry Flannery, Eddie O’Sullivan and Ali Miller in Reardens, Cork as House of Rugby sets its sights on the 2020 Guinness Six Nations.
