Ireland shine while France fall foul of Argentina...again!
Tuesday 25 November 2014 11:49, UK
Rupert Cox shares his highlights from the week's rugby action in his round-up blog...
SPARKLING EMERALDS
Joe Schmidt is clearly the shrewdest operator in Europe, with Ireland looking in great shape ahead of the Six Nations and the Rugby World Cup. They finish unbeaten this autumn, with wins over South Africa, Georgia and Australia, which culminated in a cracking game against the Wallabies on Saturday. In among great all-round play, two try-scoring moments stand out for Ireland this November: the Tommy Bowe score against the Springboks, from a set play featuring Sexton and Murray in the build-up; and the Simon Zebo try versus the Wallabies from a Sexton kick. Homework done, plays executed to perfection, five pointers in the bag; lovely to watch. But no matter how smart your game plan is, or how cleverly the fancy dans at 9 and 10 put it into practice, there comes a time when the team just has to hang in there and fight like hell to the end – led by the phenomenal Paul O'Connell, Ireland tackled themselves to a standstill at the end of the Australia game. The Irish skipper made a quarter of all his tackles in the final two minutes of the game, smashing the Aussie number 8 five yards back in the 78th minute, before getting up off the deck to make yet another hit just before the final whistle – rousing stuff! The only hurt Joe Schmidt felt this autumn was ending up in hospital after Saturday’s game with a burst appendix. Get well soon, Joe, you’ve got the entire Emerald Isle behind you.
ENGLAND UNCHAINED
I would like Stuart Lancaster to conduct an experiment – it's called, Chuck The Script In The Shredder. Tear it up, Stu, and let your boys improvise. Say to them, before they run out against Australia on Saturday: “there is no game plan. You have complete freedom to do whatever the heck you like – make instinctive decisions, react to what's in front you and let rip those natural instincts all good rugby players have and yearn to use.” Jouez jouez as our friends and rivals across the channel like to say. Sure, the fat boys up front will need to follow some sort of protocol at the set piece and win plenty of ball (which they always do anyhow, by the bucket load). But that aside – all bets are off, it's a blank sheet. George Ford can call whatever moves he likes and unleash some of the pace and flair England possess out wide. It would feel good, look great – and in my humble opinion they'd be a better team. Echoing the thoughts of former England coach John Mitchell – it's time to switch off the PlayStation!
PUMA POWER
They've done it again. Argentina have conquered France at their national stadium – the same patch of grass where they twice beat Les Bleus at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, en route to the bronze medal. Led by their ferocious captain Agustin Creevy (who got up to all sorts of skullduggery in the front row), and with three drop goals to Nicolas Sanchez and another to Juan Martin Hernandez, the Pumas battered the French for forty minutes, and held on in the second half for a roaring win. Having beaten the Wallabies last week, the feeling was that Philippe Saint-André had finally found the recipe to get France cooking ahead of 2015 – but once again they failed to really bubble, and looked tepid at best. And, whoever you support, you can’t help but like the Argentines – vamos, Pumas!
TWO OUT OF THREE AIN’T BAD
Scotland must be feeling pretty good about life. They scored five tries in beating Argentina three weeks ago, ran the All Blacks very close seven days later, and finished their Autumn campaign with a five try defeat of Tonga in Kilmarnock. New coach Vern Cotter seems to have figured out how to get the best out of his players, and while winning two out of three friendlies isn't an intergalactic achievement – the signs are nonetheless good for 2015.
Wales were excellent against the All Blacks… for about 70 minutes. Alas for Warren Gatland a game lasts for 80, and the three-try onslaught from New Zealand in the final minutes only emphasised the gap still to be closed between the best and the rest – and left Wales languishing on their 61 year losing streak against the ABs. Richie McCaw's 100th Test as All Black captain (hello?! FREAKISHLY AWESOME) took his team home unbeaten in November. Tell you what, though – Land Of My Fathers before kick-off was absolutely tremendous.
Italy also competed well against the Springboks, but were ultimately undone in Padova by the depth of the South African bench. Just one win this calendar year for the Azzurri – they showed plenty of fight, but still look far off top tier quality. The ’Boks head to Cardiff this weekend to play Wales in the final match of their spring tour.
BRICKBAT
Amidst the Player vs Union spat that has engulfed Samoa Rugby these weeks past, there was plenty of outraged conjecture on social media as to why Samoa didn't receive any income from a Test match against England that sold over 80,000 tickets and generated millions of pounds. Let's clear something up: for all games that fall inside the International window, the RFU don't share gate receipts with any visiting teams. Not Samoa, not New Zealand, not South Africa. They cover the opposition’s tour costs, such as hotel and travel, which is exactly what happens when the roles are reversed and Northern Hemisphere teams travel south. The problems inside Samoan Rugby are clearly complex and in need of urgent resolution, but to accuse host nations of depriving visiting sides of a fair slice of the cake is just plain wrong.
BOUQUET
Having last week made the decision to retire from international rugby, big ’Bok enforcer Bakkies Botha turned down a swan song for South Africa against Italy on Saturday, so as not to pull focus from the team. 'I wanted this Test to be about the Springboks and not about me', Botha said. I raise my hat and my glass to you, Mr Botha – 85 Caps, World Cup winner, and going out with grace, strength, and as a team player. Long may rugby make them like that.
