The last of the World Cup post-mortems took place on TV3 this afternoon, before New Zealand and South Africa did battle for a place in the final.
Matt Cooper and the panel of Keith Wood, Matt Williams and Shane Jennings ran the rule over Ireland’s quarter final exit at the hands of Argentina, last Sunday.
First up, Wood declared ‘the idea of Ireland choking is rubbish’.
The former Ireland captain lamented the fact that Ireland off the pace and lacking intensity. There may have been injuries, Wood noted, but the need for pace and intensity should have been drummed into the replacements.
Wood commented, “An awful lot of that game-plan is built around Johnny Sexton. That is a flaw in the system… we needed more.”
There were no calls for sweeping changes in playing personnel or on the coaching staff but Jennings feels one change is vital.
The former Leinster and Ireland flanker called for a fundamental shift towards a more attacking mentality, which includes the development of continuity plays and offloading.
Matt Williams was perhaps the most forthright in his opinions.
Williams, who coached Leinster, Ulster and Scotland, felt Ireland’s Six Nations playing style – despite delivering two championships – was never going to prepare them to beat a Southern Hemisphere side a full tilt.
“There would come a day,” Williams said, “when we would have to score four tries to win.”
The Australian continued, “That [Ireland] team was incapable of playing a running game… the game-plan ain’t working.”
Williams wants Schmidt to stay on with Ireland until the 2019 World Cup. The panel agreed that would be only fair and feel that Ireland could still win Six Nations titles while developing a more attacking style of play.
