It’s not very often a Joe Schmidt coached team gets criticised, but he’s in it deep this week.
Having led Ireland to successive Six Nations championships, their humiliation in the World Cup quarter-final against Argentina left a sour taste in many an Ireland fan’s mouth and now their indifferent start to this season’s Six Nations won’t have done anything to ease the pressure that’s slowly building on Schmidt’s shoulders.
On the face of it, an away defeat to France isn’t the end of the world. Nor is a draw against Wales who will always be competitive. But the fact remains that Ireland’s record in the Six Nations reads played two won none, and they certainly would have wanted at least one win from their opening two fixtures, if not two.
It doesn’t take any great amount of knowledge to understand that Ireland are struggling, not just for form but for any kind of coherent flowing performance. At times they have been able to link a few things together but right now this Ireland team is misfiring on all cylinders and with England next up you don’t see any kind of improvement on the horizon.
It seems as if Joe Schmidt has fallen into the favouritism trap.
Much like Declan Kidney before him, who continued to persist with his aging Munster guard regardless of their continued failings, Schmidt has fallen back on his tried and tested and has elected to stick with his familiar Leinster friends, despite their problems at provincial level. International rugby can push some players to a new level, but all we’ve seen from Ireland so far suggests that Leinster’s struggles have translated to the international stage too.
Take, for example, Jonny Sexton at fly-half. On his day Sexton is unplayable and would be one of the best (if not the best) fly-halves in the world. But right now he is a shadow of his former self – his distribution is patchy, his kicking from hand has begun to desert him and he is being targeted by opposing teams which puts him under even more pressure.
Compare that with Ulster’s Paddy Jackson, who is in the form of his life and, alongside Ruan Pienaar, has controlled Ulster’s ascent to the top of the Guinness PRO12 standings. The young fly-half has added a lot to his game this season and now has the composure and ability to control a game without requiring Pienaar’s guiding hand alongside him. He is ready to step into the Ireland shirt, especially with Sexton undoubtedly requiring some sort of a break.
He’s not the only Ulster player who deserves some sort of Irish recognition.
Stuart McCloskey has racked up multiple man of the match performances for Ulster this season and his ability to break the gain line with ease is something that very few players have the talent to do – his partnership with Luke Marshall this season has been excellent. And yet when it comes to the national team Schmidt has shown no deviation from the pairing of Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne even though the former is better at 13 and the latter is better at 15.
Schmidt needs to recognise that there has been a changing of the pecking order in Irish provinces. Yes there are a lot of talented players in the Leinster squad who should be represented within the Ireland team, but their humiliations at the hands of Wasps reflects how far they have fallen, and when you consider that there were 13 Leinster players in the Ireland 23 at the weekend compared to Ulster’s measly three, you see where the imbalance lies.
Just a suggestion though. Things have to change.
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