Ireland beat Portugal 106-7 on Saturday evening to wrap up the summer series that saw them play Georgia and Portugal. They played away in both games and used a number of uncapped players across the 2 games.
The stand out score line in the two games will obviously be the 99 point winning margin against Portugal. We have subsequently heard from Portugal head coach Simon Mannix that they were missing players and didn’t have a good amount of time to build into the game.
The manner of the victory will have people questioning the quality of the opposition but I do think there were some benefits even though it turned into a training session in the second half of the Portugal game in particular.
The IRFU announced this tour in plenty of time and the fact that Paul O Connell would lead a new coaching team to boot helped focus minds heading into to the games. Ireland will have gained plenty from the Georgia game.
The forwards got a serious test up front and the young players within that 23 will benefit from the tough game that followed. The quality of the opposition will be questioned time and again but only World Rugby can put a stop to poor team selections or the timing of games.
The fact the Television Match Official could not be used after 15 minutes of the opening half on Saturday is another situation that World Rugby will not want a repeat of due to the failure of technology.
The referee Adam Leal then told the captains that all he would have at his disposal at that stage would be his two assistants and himself which both players didn’t question and all he asked for was patience from both sides.
The newly capped players like Tom Ahern, Shaun Boulton, Alex Kendellen, Hugh Gavin and Jack Auniger all got game time and will be thrilled to have won their first caps and that of course is special no matter the opposition.
The coaches will be happy with the manner of both wins even though the facile win over Portugal won’t do anything long term. It was good to see Ireland be as ruthless and break scoring records by scoring 106 points.
Back in the summer of 2012, Ireland were battered by New Zealand in the 3rd Test losing 60-0. That of course came after a tight affair in the second test that ended in a 22 all draw. So it isn’t too long ago since Ireland suffered a heavy loss. They also lost 55-19 before the 2019 World Cup away to England.
Anyone that may laugh at the manner of the loss can look at those two previous examples and just think that it isn’t too long ago that Ireland suffered on the score board regularly.
There has been so much discussion around giving the likes of Portugal, Georgia and Romania the chance to face the so called big boys regularly as well as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and a number of so called tier 2 nations.
I have long been an advocate of allowing an “A” squad tour the countries mentioned along with the main side who may be touring another place. It is time World Rugby kept doors and avenues open rather than closing them off.
Rugby Union needs to really try and grow itself, it is 30 years old as a professional sport this year so it is time the governing body started treating it that way rather than a problem child that won’t go away quietly.
Ireland broke a scoring record this summer and that will ultimately be the one and only take away from the games, but from a player’s perspective it will be a good memory for those lads that earned a 1st cap in either Georgia or Portugal…..