Ireland in New Zealand- Summer Tour Review

I think Irish fans entered the Summer tour with a sense of cautious optimism. The backbone of the team (Leinster/Ulster) both reached the final of the Heineken Cup with Leinster emerging victorious.
While, this provincial success was quite amazing, we Irish fans knew that at international level, we have often struggled. Many speculate over the reasons, in reality its is somewhere in between having players who aren't good enough and the tactics of Director of Rugby Declan Kidney and his staff. With the All Blacks replacing former coach Graham Henry with Steve Hansen, I think the Irish faithful saw the first test as their best opportunity to finally notch a win.

So the first game came, the Irish forwards put in an outstanding performance, Sean O'Brien, Rory Best and Declan Fitzpatrick were stellar. Ireland were arguably superior at the breakdown and had some dominance in the scrum. The problems lay outside. The Irish backs have struggled throughout Kidney's tenure, their back play is somewhat archaic and while try scoring isn't a huge issue for Ireland their creativity is. Kidney surprisingly picked a relatively inexperienced team, Simon Zebo and Declan Fitzpatrick gaining their first caps, Peter O'Mahony only had one previous cap while Brian O'Driscoll took on a new role at inside centre. Wingers Fergus McFadden and Simon Zebo were exposed, a lack of communication also proved to be a problem. McFadden got drawn in at times but he and Earls didn't communicate effectively resulting in some terrible gaps in defence. New Zealand winger grabbed three tries on his debut which largely culminated from poor Irish defence. A final score of 42-10 in favour of the All Blacks meant a bleak outlook, yet Irish fans knew if their backs could front up in the tackle and offer something going forward the match would be a lot tighter.

So the second test was held in Christchurch. . Ireland gave the All Blacks an almighty shock, with the home side eventually winning out on a scoreline of 22-19. Ireland made 4 changes. The injured Keith Earls was replaced by Gordon D'Arcy. Andrew Trimble was favoured ahead of Simon Zebo, Mike Ross replaced Declan Fitzpatrick and Kevin McLaughlin replaced Peter O'Mahony. While Victor Vito replaced Adam Thomson in the All Blacks line-up. The Irish forwards picked up where they left out showing superiority at the breakdown and also putting in a decent effort come scrum time. The backs also stood up and brought intensity and physicality that was absent in the first test. At times they showed some intricate backplay but mainly they used physical and powerful runners and recycled quickly . The Irish kept the All Blacks in the game by giving away silly and needless penalties, as the shell-shocked Kiwis struggled to create try scoring opportunities. They managed one in the second half but Ireland managed to tie the game at 19-19, and after Israel Dagg's sin binning for an aerial challenge on Rob Kearney, Ireland were awarded a penalty. While it seemed that captain Brian O'Driscoll wanted to go down the line with the resulting penalty, Johnny Sexton opted for the posts and his effort ultimately fell short. After a penalty which caused consternation among some Irish fans, the All Blacks marched down the field with Dan Carter sinking the winning drop goal to break Irish hearts.

The third test is something most Irish fans have blanked from their memory. In the absence of Dan Carter and Kieran Read, the All Blacks turned in a superb performance, Aaron Cruden and Sam Cane deputising brilliantly for the absent duo. The Irish team of the second test failed to turn up , the lacked physicality, slipped off tackles stood off the All Blacks and looked like they wanted to catch the plane home at times. Some mind-boggling selections like playing Paddy Wallace who only arrived in NZ on the Thursday of the game were a bit odd but all round Ireland were awful and this lead to an embarrassing 60-0 loss.



Irish team Analysis


Coaching staff

Declan Kidney - 5/10
While he obviously missed key players like Tommy Bowe, Paul O'Connell and Stephen Ferris, as well as the versatility of Luke Fitzgerald, the performances of the first and final test were poor. Our tactics were awful and we persisted to kick ball to the All Blacks without a good kick chase. While he isn't directly in charge of our backplay you have to feel his ideas have some merit, it's somewhat strange because his Munster played with more panache then the current Ireland backline do. I think that some fans place a bit too much blame on Kidney but he does deserve a fair bit and I think it might be time to get some new ideas into the Irish team and setup. His marks mainly come from the 2nd test performance and the decent play by our forwards in the first 2 games


Gert Smal- 8/10


The Irish forwards coach deserves immense praise for the way the pack played in the first two tests, they were dominant at the breakdown, the scrum was solid with new cap Declan Fitzpatrick and as good with Mike Ross. If Fitzpatrick can work on some of his fitness/health issues, then there is a spot available for him in the Irish setup.


Les Kiss- 4/10
The rating is admittedly harsh and I don't think it's all his fault, more the IRFU who seem to be insisting on Kiss working two jobs. When Kiss was solely our defensive coach, we had a very reliable defensive unit, conceding the least amount of points in the 2011 6 Nations (tied with England) and had the second best defence in 2009. Yet after the departure of Alan Gaffney, Kiss was also asked to take up the role of backs coach, our defence suffered a sharp decline, dropping from tied first to 4th overall. Our backplay hasn't been great either, at times we put some moves together but overall we seem to just go through the middle and hope gaps appear. Similar tactics work for the Welsh, but they have far more big target runners than Ireland have. I think Kiss could still do a very good job as our defence coach but I don't think he has what is takes to be a backs coach.


Players that enhanced their Reputations


Sean O'Brien- It might seem odd that a former ERC European Player of the year could do much more to enhance his reputation but "SOB" did. O'Brien confirmed that he is a superb backrow operator. While I think the Irish aren't in need of the classic "7" so many claim we need, O'Brien was a menace at the breakdown and arguably outshined Richie McCaw over the first two tests. O'Brien showed he has the ability to play all 3 backrow positions effectively at the highest level having seen him play 6 and 8 for his province and country.

Declan Fitzpatrick- While the Ulster man deputised for John Afoa in the Heineken Cup Semi final and played extremely well, I'm sure I wasn't the only Irish fan worried when I heard Mike Ross was definitely out of the first test. Fitzpatrick and his front partners Rory best and Cian Healy marshalled the All Blacks scrum, and enjoyed a bit of dominance at times but parity for the large part. Most of us expected trouble from the New Zealand scrum but credit to Fitzpatrick he was imperious. There's a spot in the Irish setup if he can work on his fitness and injury problems.


Cian Healy - At times, Healy has struggled in the international arena but over the tour he did a very good job on Owen Franks. He was used sparingly by the Irish in terms of ball carrying but we all know what he can do there and he was effective when used.


Donnacha Ryan- In the absence of Paul O'Connell, Ryan was very effective in the lineout while also disrupting at the breakdown and hitting tackles with incredible ferocity. He should partner O'Connell in the Autumn Internationals with Dan Tuohy, who performed solidly on the bench.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I think some of those individual players are also team players though, even if they are individually brilliant.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Stag, I thought he was, but look at the Munster website:

http://www.munsterrugby.ie/rugby/squadprofiles.php?player=98383&includeref=dynamic

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:
Healy-Best-Ryan-SOB-Sexton-Bowe-Kearney

These are the guys we need to rebuild our team around

Thomond wrote:Rodders, can Ferris be relied upon. I really don't know if any of us know how long he has left what with his injury woes.

valjester wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Stag, I thought he was, but look at the Munster website:

http://www.munsterrugby.ie/rugby/squadprofiles.php?player=98383&includeref=dynamic

That would have something to do with the person in charge of the Munster site screwing up. He has played all of his rugby in the backrow, and it would be extremely stupid by Munster to try and convert him to a hooker, especially considering the amount of hookers they already have on their books.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Thomond - this is off topic, but I checked the Munster website and it says Sean Dougall (I know nothing about him other than what Sin has told me, I hope he can pop in and answer) is a hooker, but I thought he was a flanker? Similar situation for Burns in Ulster, who I thought was a flanker but he is listed now as a hooker. Anyone know what this is about? Have they both changed positions?

anotherworldofpain wrote:Cian Healey was the outstanding player for Ireland for my mind. I think he get injury in the 3rd match and it make some big difference, the all blacks also target him at the ruck for this match after he make a menace of himself in #1 and particular #2 game. There is some big complement!

I think game #2 for the all blacks was very bad one because they go to the well one time too many about "Christchurch" and too much emotional and not enough focus on technical.

One small point is that Sam Cane came in to cover 7 for McCaw and McCaw cover Keiran Read at 8, not Sam Cane in for Read. But this mean the all blacks had more focus on fetching at the ruck and added athleticism and quick to the approach to counter the Ireland dominance at the ruck. This free up the ball and move the point of attack and this really what made Ireland look so lost and AB so many points. They took away the Ireland strength from game #2. Just excellent coaching and combinatorism.

I thought Zebo looked out of depth and was a passenger, in the nicest possible way. He can't defend and has too low work rate in attack. He is fast but lack any penetration skill and not smart rugby brain about support lines. He need to learn from Chris Ashton and Corey Jane.

Thomond wrote:Bowe was not great when he first got gametime for Ireland.

Thomond wrote: I think Zebo gets a lot more stick on here than he deserves compared to the zilch Gilroy gets. I agree Gilroy should be ahead of him in the pecking order (I would have taken both)

red_stag wrote:Anotherworldofpain,

I agree about Cian Healy. I thought he was excellent.

Regarding Zebo, this was an iconic moment in the battle of aspiring Irish wingers which was over looked by the coaching staff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYZJuHJcfdQ

Thomond wrote:He certainly deserves some, not a lot he has flaws too, the way people go on about him you swear he is feicing Dennis Hickie.

Thomond wrote:Zebo hasn't been hyped at all. I think people have actually been quick to have a cut off him. Gilroy is ahead of Zebo at the moment, but he is not the complete article. Zebo gets way more criticism than Gilroy.


It's not having a go it's just an honest statement. He is not the finished article and neither is Zebo.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:What criticism does Gilroy deserve, Thomond? He has hardly put a foot wrong. He scored less tries this season than last, and less than Zebo, if he can be criticised for that. However, that try he scored against Munster was remarkable and nobody saw it coming. It wasn't just poor defence, it was individual brilliance by Gilroy. At that point he seemed to get his confidence back because he started beating defenders with ease from that point onward.

This feels like it is becoming a Munster vs Ulster thing. It shouldn't be, there are plenty of Ulster players who I think aren't good enough, and I know rodders also feels the same way about a lot of the Ulster players. Gilroy has shown fantastic potential so far though, there is no need to try and find things to criticise when there is very little he has done wrong.

red_stag wrote:Thomond,

Zebo's main problem internationally was defense. I feel that he was exposed defensively for that try and the writing was on the wall.

It was no surprise that on a tougher level (people wont convince me that HEC is the same level of intensity as test rugby) he was shown up.

Different horses for different courses. Julian Savea is 6 foot 4 and weight 105kg. Zebo has a great future ahead of him but needs to be used in the right manner.