Paul O'Connell: 'These guys are capable of taking on stronger opposition'

Irish Examiner

19 hours ago

Portugal 7 Ireland 106
Saturday started with Scotland slipping to defeat against Fiji in Suva. It ended with England claiming a series win at the expense of Argentina in San Juan. Wales broke an 18-game winless run in Japan in between, a second-string French team sucked up some hard lessons in defeat to New Zealand, while Italy were outclassed by 14 against the Springboks.
Some of those exercises were more worthwhile than others. Every one of them was of infinitely more value to the Six Nations sides involved than this cringe of an occasion at the Estadio Nacional on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital where Paul O'Connell's romped to a record win for an Irish men's Test team.
Sixteen tries were scored against a host playing its first game for four months, and its last for another four. A side made up mostly of part-timers, the majority of them had prepared by playing in a local league the last 10 weeks that wouldn't match the AIL on its best day. Portugal coach Simon Mannix said that they had been basically trying to 'bluff' it.
'Yeah, the opposition could have been stronger, for sure,' said O'Connell when asked if it would have served Ireland better to be put to the pin of their collar in Tokyo or Buenos Aires. 'These guys are definitely capable of taking on stronger opposition, but it is what it is.'
The stand-in Ireland head coach had by that stage already lamented the lack of a third summer run for an inexperienced squad that has been operating without so many players, coaches and backroom staff as a result of the secondments to the British and Irish Lions expedition in Australia.
The original plan had been for a third Test in Bucharest against Romania but then the Eastern Europeans are still digesting a record loss to another Tier 2 nation this week having gone down 70-8 to Uruguay in Montevideo. That Ireland won't be crossing their paths is no small mercy for all concerned.
It's no wonder then that O'Connell found himself waxing lyrical about the benefit of the tour in a wider sense, focusing in on the worth to young players of being in camp for a month and exposed to the jargon and the culture and the workrate and leadership of men like captain Craig Casey and Ryan Baird.
The Munster legend, while reluctant to pick out individuals who have impressed, explained how Finlay Bealham, now with the Lions after a late call-up, has benefited by singling out areas of his game and prep that others do well and tapping them up for pointers when in the national camp environs.
'That's been a big thing for us. We see it on the Emerging [Ireland] tours, they just need an opportunity, whether it is with Ireland or with their provinces. There are some very, very good players and they just have to gain the experience.
'They have to play a game, review it, train. Play a game again, be reviewed and accumulate. That's what a lot of our frontliners are doing with their provinces and Ireland: they are playing games and reviewing it and putting that into place. Others just need that chance.'
Boil it all down and Ireland scored 140 points and 20 tries over the last two weekends while conceding two. There were nine Test debuts handed out with Shayne Bolton, Hugh Gavin and Alex Kendellen, the three newbies in Lisbon, all getting on the scoresheet two days ago.
To be fair to Ireland, they never stopped playing their game their way in the face of a paper-thin Portuguese defence. Time and again teams have lost their shape and their focus in such circumstances. Not here, not even with the beach within touching distance, almost literally and figuratively, at the end of such a long campaign.
Whatever about the opposition, it's been good to see the likes of Bolton, Tommy O'Brien, Ben Murphy and Alex Kendellen wearing green jerseys at this grade while people like Casey, Jimmy O'Brien and Ryan Baird got to step up to roles of seniority.
It's not yet confirmed if there will be another Emerging Ireland tour next season. O'Connell touched on the strains the concept can cause provinces and coaches while extolling the virtues of the time benefits to be accrued by those in need of such training wheels on the road to better things.
Simon Easterby, his colleague on Andy Farrell's staff, has taken the head role on previous such ventures and challenged players involved to put their hands up for squads to follow come the November and Six Nations windows. O'Connell would do the same while painting this as a picture with a greater measure of depth.
'It's not just about that first game up [against New Zealand in Chicago in November], it's about the next two years.'
Portugal: N Sousa Guedes; S Bento; V Pinto, T Appleton, M C Pinto; H Aubry, H Camacho; D Costa, L Begic, D H Ferreira; A R Andrade, P Ferreira; D Wallis, N Martins, D Pinheiro.
Replacements: G Aviragnet for Appleton (21); F Almeida for Aviragnet (33); G Costa for Andrade (50); M Souto for Begic and A Cunha for Costa (both 57); PS Lopes for Begic (57); AR Andrade for Ferreira (60); V Baptista for Pinheiro 62).
Ireland: J O'Brien; T O'Brien, H Gavin, S McCloskey, S Bolton; J Crowley, C Casey; J Boyle, G McCarthy, T Clarkson; T Ahern, D Murray; R Baird, A Kendellen, C Prendergast.
Replacements: M Deegan for Baird, M Milne for McCarthy, T Stewart for Boyle, T O'Toole for Clarkson and C Frawley for McCloskey (all 52); C Nash for T O'Brien (54); C Izuchukwu for Murray (60); B Murphy for Casey (61).
Referee: A Leal (RFU).