Ireland’s World Cup plans seem likely to be accelerated as they go into the second half of their warmup programme with two wins under their belt. So far the coach, Joe Schmidt, has started 29 players in the games against Wales and then Scotland on Saturday, after which he dropped some decent hints about the return of stars such as the scrum-half Conor Murray.
So far Murray, along with the fly-half Jonathan Sexton and the full-back Rob Kearney, have been kept under wraps while others auditioned for a chance as understudy. However, after Saturday’s win, where Ireland had to come back from behind three times in the second half, Murray was mentioned as a likely starter when Wales visit Dublin in a fortnight.
Schmidt continues to talk up that game despite the lack of energy shown by Wales when both teams emerged from their training camps nine days ago and needs to, after fewer than 32,000 paid to be at the Aviva on Saturday night to see an entertaining if scrappy game with “names” missing from both sides.
A few more might turn out for what could be Paul O’Connell’s final game at the stadium. The captain played for 24 minutes against Scotland, arriving when Schmidt was calling in the cavalry after Scotland recovered from a poor start to go into the interval level at 7-7 and then take the lead with a scrum-half’s try from their stand-in captain, Henry Pyrgos.
Worse was to follow when the Glasgow centre Peter Horne answered Sean Cronin’s short-range try and the team recently elevated to second in the world rankings were a point behind with 16 minutes to play, before two precise touches from the Irish fly half, Ian Madigan, turned things around.
First a delicate inside ball found the full-back Simon Zebo, then a cross kick for Luke Fitzgerald meant the wing hardly had to break stride before going in for the final score. They were also the two moments which probably confirmed the end of Gordon D’Arcy’s 16-year international career.
Schmidt insisted that he does not need two out-and-out 12s. “To be honest, we haven’t put any rigidity around those decisions,” said the Kiwi. “I think we’re reasonably open-minded apart from we do think we’ll have a 17-14 split between forwards and backs. And how we split that up will be defined by who fits where.”
However, with Jared Payne and Robbie Henshaw in effect nailed on after their centre pairing in the autumn and during the Six Nations, and Madigan’s ability to play at 10, 12 and even 15, the Ireland midfield looks a little cluttered and D’Arcy’s 82nd Test in an Ireland shirt could be his last.
Schmidt, coy about setting anything in stone, was less circumspect when it came to Madigan’s performance at fly-half. “I think he demonstrated that he can play the position,” said Schmidt. “His line-kicking was spot-on, his kicking off the tee was super, his pass delivery was very positive.
“There were two crucial involvements in the lead-up to the third try and the crucial involvement in the lead up to the fourth try.”
Elsewhere Zebo, with tries in both Cardiff and Dublin, probably eased ahead of Felix Jones in the queue to understudy Kearney at full-back, while for Scotland the news is mixed: the coach, Vern Cotter, admitted to worrying doubts about the ankle injury to the prop Ryan Grant.
Cotter speculated that Grant would be out for at least a fortnight, but ligament damage could threaten the 29-year-old’s World Cup. “I’m only really worried about injuries at this stage, obviously with Ryan, then Fraser Brown had a slight hamstring issue and Hugh Blake dislocated a finger,” said Cotter.
Grant was carried off early in the second half and immediately sent for x-ray. There will be further tests on Monday. “We need to wait to be as accurate as we can on Ryan, and we can only wait and see at the moment,” said Cotter, who will be more happy with the centre play of Horne and the chemistry in Saturday’s back row.
Cotter went with the fashion for picking two out-and-out loose forwards and the mix of two Kiwis – Blake and Blair Cowan – and a Zimbabwean, David Denton, kept Scotland in the game during a torrid first quarter and then combined to level the scores by half-time.
Ireland Zebo (Jackson 77); Bowe (D Kearney 60), Payne, D’Arcy, Fitzgerald; Madigan, Boss (Reddan 66); Kilcoyne, Cronin (Strauss 60), Ross (White 51), Toner, Tuohy (O’Connell 56), Conan (Murphy 64), Henry, O’Brien (capt).
Tries Henry, Cronin, Zebo, Fitzgerald. Cons Madigan 4.
Scotland Jackson; Lamont, Vernon (Scott 60), Horne, Visser; Tonks, Pyrgos (capt; Hidalgo-Clyne 65); Grant (Reid 44), Brown (Ford 51), Welsh (Cusack 46), Hamilton (Harley 55), Gilchrist, Cowan (Barclay 57), Blake, Denton.
Tries Cowan, Pyrgos, Horne. Cons Horne Jackson. Pens Horne.
Ref P Gaüzère (Fr) Att 31,780
