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Wake me up when November ends. Oh it has? Thank goodness, because it has been a mess.
Wake me up when November ends. Oh it has? Thank goodness, because it has been a mess.
From fisticuffs to red card fiascos, imploding performances and handwaving by pundits; it has been a real storm of brown colour. But enough about my perspective.
As an Irish man, both in the media and as a fan, it has been an undisputed mess. There is no fun in watching a team of heroes whittle down to a shell of their former selves, in a manner that feels like a deja vu replay of the nightmarish Six Nations loss to France.
The last month has not been all bad, but it has not been good. And unless we want to settle for okay, middle of the class performances, now is a great time to read over Ireland’s submitted assignments and try to gauge where they are, and what they need to work on.
How do you win rugby matches? Score more points than your opposition. In two of Ireland’s games, they were convincing winners. In the other two, their tougher two fixtures, they were thoroughly outclassed.
Ireland’s saving grace is the middle two games against Japan and Australia where Ireland played with more freedom and scored with greater ease. However, naturally, that is offset by the bookending fixtures where Ireland managed just two tries and 26 points across 160 minutes of rugby against two elite sides.
Since the departure of Mike Catt last summer, Ireland have struggled to break down the toughest opponents, and now Andy Farrell and the potentially-departing Andrew Goodman have a lot of work to do to fix an impotent offence.
Stat Totals: Tries Scored - 13, Line Breaks - 23, Offloads 27, Average Points per 22 entry - 2.3 Points per game - 28.25
Averages vs NZ & RSA: Tries - 1, LBs - 3, O - 5, Avg PP22E - 1.25, Pts - 13
Final Grade: C
Attack wins games, but defence wins championships. South Africa won two World Cups with it, while Ireland were ruthlessly efficient at defending their goal line when at the peak of their powers.
Spoiler alert potentially, but despite some ropy issues - like pillar defence - this was probably Ireland’s strongest asset. Ireland remained tough to break down and hard working but when the skillset of the All Blacks and grunt of the Springboks came to the fore, it changed.
These two wore Ireland down, and punished their mistakes. If you want to go a step further, you could point out that Australia and England managed three tries on Ireland while France scored five. Needs patchwork.
Stat Totals: Tries Conceded - 12, Tackle % - 87.25, Line Breaks - 16, Points per 22 entry allowed - 2.45, Points per game - 19.75
Averages vs NZ & RSA: Tries - 4, T % - 86, LBs - 6.5, PP22E - 3.15, Pts - 28
Final Grade: B-
The scrum does not matter until it does. Therefore our conversation hinges on last Saturday. Ireland were pulverised, demolished, pummelled, split, overpowered and outmatched by the superior South African front row in a true exhibition.
For the other 240 or so minutes of gametime, the scrum was solid if not good, reaping reward at times. But ultimately it was a non factor until Rassie’s men came to town, and certainly a factor afterwards.
Stat Totals: Scrums - 32, % won - 96.5, Penalties conceded vs SA alone - 6
Final Grade: C
Arguably the most talked about element of Ireland’s Quilter Nations Series campaign. Paul O’Connell’s legendary status seemed to mean little as Ireland’s lineout endured a frustrating opening game and a half.
Like a perfect mirror, it improved for the next two hours of action before returning to the mean against South Africa, leaving Ireland with lots of room for improvement in the air.
Stat Totals: Lineouts - 54, % won - 81, Maul tries - 1
Average Lineout % vs NZ and RSA - 71
Final Grade: C-
When you put yourself in ‘win now mode’, as Ireland routinely do, then you will be judged on that very metric - wins. Two from four means Ireland close out the block with their worst Autumn since 2013, which highlights the remarkable consistency of the last dozen years.
As I alluded to in the previous piece, Andy Farrell will need to take some ownership on Ireland’s 2025 regression. You cannot excuse losses when winning is your only aim.
Stat Totals: Wins - 2, Players used - 33, New caps - 2
Final Grade: C
Next up, Ireland take on France in Paris in February in what feels like a daunting Six Nations opener, but one would hope they use a sticky last twelve months as revision prep ahead of their next big exam.