“Everybody has to have an ability to do that and if they don’t, they don’t lace up their boots for Joe.”
Joe Schmidt has transformed an Irish side he inherited as fifth place finishers in the 2013 Six Nations into double winners of the same championship and a side that defeated South Africa, New Zealand and Australia all in the space of six months.
Still, we expect more. We beat France 19-9 at the Aviva Stadium and it gets a smattering of applause.
Perhaps we expect more because Schmidt expects more and so do his team. One only had to look at Conor Murray’s reaction after the final whistle to see Ireland are gunning for more.
Former Ireland internationals Paddy Wallace, Jerry Flannery and Victor Costello spoke with The Hard Yards rugby podcast about the high standards Schmidt expects from his squad.
Wallace also spoke about how you won’t get a look-in with Schmidt if you are not fully committed to hitting and cleaning out rucks [Click play below, the chat begins around 18:00].
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-5-the-real-nigel-owens-alternative-tactics-ireland-v-wales-and-grand-slam-memories
“It’s just the way Joe coaches,” Wallace said. “He puts so much emphasis on the ruck.
“Everybody has to have an ability to do that and if they don’t, they don’t lace up their boots for Joe. It is a tactic he employs. It has been very successful. They don’t get turned over very much at the ruck but, if they do, you can exploit it.”
Wallace expanded on the point that Wales would be seeking to turns Ireland’s strength into a weakness at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
“One area that they may target is the narowness of the Irish team when they are attacking,” said Wallace.
“With Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric in the Welsh team, they may focus on the breakdown and target turnovers.
“You could see with Argentina in the World Cup, when they were able to win turnovers, spread it wide and cut Ireland apart. In some respects, Scotland did the same against us. When they got turnovers, they got some width on the ball and looked very dangerous.”
Credit: RBS Six Nations [via YouTube]
Comments from Scotland assistant coach Jason O’Halloran suggest Wallace is not the only one who has spotted this. O’Halloran was upset at the suggestion Scotland only won their two championship games because Ireland and Wales had ‘bad days’. He told the BBC:
“Our analysis said that Ireland get quite tight with their defence and we could beat them for pace on the outside. Hoggy’s second try is a result of that. For guys like Hoggy it’s all quite natural; it’s pretty innate.”
Still, one suspects that Schmidt will not be deterred from piling his men into the breakdown.
Wallace explained that Schmidt puts so much emphasis on the ruck and ‘that goes from one to fifteen’. He continued:
“So even if you are a back – a centre or a winger – you are always committed to the rucks. You’re not staying out. You are heavily involved [in them], especially when you go wide. That compresses sometimes, in the attack, and backs can find themselves quick tight into the rucks.
“If they get exposed with a turnover, those backs are not in the wide corners to defend and that is how mismatches can happen. So Wales would be looking to put width on the ball [after turnovers] and exploit that.”
With Wales naming a second row of Luke Charteris and Alun Wyn Jones to complement a back row of Tipuric, Warburton and Ross Moriarty, Ireland will have to be tuned in from the start.
