Kidney to keep Irish grounded
Ireland will have to get over their disappointment at coming so close to only their third win in Paris in 30 years and ready themselves for next Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Scotland, said coach Declan Kidney.
The 52-year-old – who guided Ireland to the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2009, their first since 1948 – added that despite the disappointment in letting a 17-6 half-time lead slip to a final score of 17-17 against the World Cup finalists, there was much to build on.
“We believe in ourselves, and the manner in which we play, so we didn’t go out there and try anything new and pay for it by giving up silly points.
“However, this isn’t like the team of 2009 when we played France [their last win against the French]. There are seven or eight players in the team now that weren’t on the scene then.
“We are rebuilding and it is through matches like this that winning sides are built on. We didn’t panic in the second-half but we didn’t finish it off either and we must work on that.
“We will take the positives out of it and carry on in the same manner and despite it being a six-day turnaround we will recover to take on the Scots.”
Kidney, who but for a last-minute penalty score for Wales in a 23-21 loss, and the second-half comeback by the French. would be looking at a potential Grand Slam, admitted that there were areas where a lot of hard work would have to be put in the week ahead before facing the pointless Scots.
“There were two areas which cost us dearly in the second-half,” he said.
“One is within our control and that is turnovers which we did on a regular basis and even when we did get the ball and get into their territory we handed it back to them,” added Kidney.
That was in reference to an Irish line-out metres from the French tryline that went askew and a terrible unforced knock-on by veteran centre Gordon D’Arcy when he was well-placed inside their opponents’ 22.
Kidney – who said scrumhalf Conor Murray would undergo scans on his knee to ascertain the damage done after a nasty looking tumble forced him off in the second-half – noted too that his players had found it hard once they lost the ball to get it back from an increasingly dominant French unit.
“The French were more aggressive in the second-half and deployed their ‘ball up the jumper’ tactics when we found it difficult to regain the ball.
“Obviously in that type of situation it is less in our control to get possession back but it is still something we have to work on.”
Irish captain Paul O’Connell – who is yet to win in six visits to the Stade de France – said that lessons had to be learned from such a Jekyll and Hyde performance where not putting points on the board at all in the second-half had been a killer.
“The penalty count also was not great for us in the second-half. What was it? 6-1. Then that has to be improved on because that set us back a fair bit too,” said the 32-year-old.
Star wing Tommy Bowe scored Ireland’s tries – one a brilliantly anticipated interception and the other a superb team one engineered from their own 22.
For him it was a case of an opportunity missed but time to move on.
“We’ve got two massive games now [Scotland and then England away the following weekend],” said the 28-year-old, who took his tally to five tries for this season’s tournament.
“The Wales result was disappointing and the second-half here was as well but in between there have been some really good moments – including the 42-10 win over Italy – and we just have to dust ourselves down and put up two really good performances.”
AFP
