Expert Witness: Shane Byrne’s five talking points

Adam Kyriacou

We welcome back one of our regular Expert Witnesses to Planet Rugby, former British & Irish Lions, Ireland and Leinster hooker, Shane Byrne, to give us five his key talking points of the first round of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and in particular, the encouraging form of his home nation.

Standing tall

A lot has been made recently of Ireland’s mediocre form during 2019 in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup. However, the story coming out of camp is the lads are absolutely cooking and they have targeted the Cup itself, rather than the warm-ups, as their ‘peaking window’.

Looking back to the fine form of 2018, Ireland basically had one goal supported by two aims – to be the hardest side in the world to beat, evidenced by single figure penalty and single figure handling error counts; for first time since last year we’re well on our way to achieving both of our aims and of course, the goal itself.

What’s also great is the depth of squad we’ve created with players like Chris Farrell, Jack Conan and Andrew Conway making big impacts on the pitch and within the squad itself. Elsewhere, the absence of the unfortunate Sean O’Brien, a world-class six and a half, has allowed us the bring in the outstanding Josh van der Flier who adds the balance of being a pure openside – a man who pressures pace with intellect.

Scotland was always going to be a tough game – much tougher in reality than the scoreline suggested; they’re a side that cons you into playing a deconstructed game, bringing their impish runners Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg into their element. Ireland resisted this, stuck to plan and gave them none of the errors they needed to play that fast, free game. They’re still a side that could go a long way, but Ireland showed just how ruthless they can be, and, provided Joe Schmidt can keep the players on this elevated plain, we could go pretty well in the final stages.

Seeing red

One of the key talking points of the first week has been, using the words of World Rugby, the sub-par performances of the referees and other match officials.

The key here is that, as Mario Ledesma pointed out, the breaks are going with the Tier One sides; 50/50 calls are going in the way of the big boys and, in essence, the referees are being what we call ‘homers’ – favouring the pre-match favourites. This is evidenced by Jerome Garces’ refusal to penalise some very basic infringements by New Zealand and also a Wallaby transgressions that went unpunished by Ben O’Keeffe – there are loads more and in fact it’s rather depressing that there’s too many to mention each one individually.

In honesty, there’s a danger that referees are adapting what they see to the law protocols rather than the other way around. There’s got to be more ‘rugby feel’ into the decisions and referees must fuse basic match instinct with the decision frameworks World Rugby have provided – one does not work without the other and this is the crux of the issue.

Big in Japan

One of the five points that really does need making is the fantastic effort the Japan Rugby Union have made in putting on this tournament. The feel-good factor alone is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams and Brett Gosper, Dom Rumbles and the World Rugby team must be utterly ecstatic with the way the Japanese public has embraced both the sport and the tournament itself.

Look around the stadiums – people grinning from ear to ear, and to paraphrase Willie-John McBride desperately wanting their team win but not at all worried about which team has won!

There were 15,000 attending one single Welsh training session – that’s incredible in itself – and everywhere the rattle and the chat is all about the tournament. When thinking about this piece one point that was missing was we hadn’t seen a giant killing event – well, as the article went to press, Uruguay overturned the amazingly talented Fijians in a performance of operatic drama.

This is the tournament of smiles – and long may that continue.

The form horses

After week one, it’s fair to say four teams have emerged in serious credit. Firstly, Ireland, for the reasons discussed earlier, and they will be the hardest team to beat in the tournament, alongside the All Blacks.

New Zealand – well there was much rattle in the press about their midfield and the balance of their back-row – but, when you consider that in the first 21 minutes of the South African Test, they defended without one per cent possession yet, after 22 minutes, the All Blacks were seven points ahead, it tells you everything you need to know about their form, mental state and sheer lethalness. They have power, pace and form in 31 players from top to bottom; it’s not impossible to beat them but when they win, they have the ability to destroy sides from any single part of the pitch.

France were written off before they left Paris, yet any student of the game knows that France at the World Cup punch above their form every single time. In Antoine Dupont they’ve found their new ‘Petite General’, a wonderful running scrum-half with every skill you need at nine, with the ability to play at international level at 10 too. He’s absolutely world-class, as anyone who saw him in the U20s would know. England, lacklustre and lacking in shape versus Tonga, won’t be relishing their French encounter, where France will match England’s power but offer a lot more of a running threat than we’ve yet seen from England.

Team of the Week

Any pundit relishes a chance to pick any XV! It’s a tough week to choose and a few people have missed out – notably the outstanding Richie Mo’unga, Conor Murray, Kirill Gotovtsev and Conan, who was brilliant as a replacement for Ireland. Anyway here’s the official team and it’s great to see three or four Tier Two players featuring purely on merit.

Shane Byrne’s Team of the Week: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Chris Farrell, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Manuel Diana, 7 Peceli Yato, 6 Ardie Savea, 5 James Ryan, 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best, 1 Joe Moody

Shane Byrne played 41 times for Ireland with four Tests for the British & Irish Lions. A great technical hooker and world-class lineout operator, he represented Saracens and Leinster at club level and appeared in the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

by James While

[jwplayer LYkHZsLj]

Features