Gerry Thornley: The match was poor, the referee was poor, the crowd was poor and the All Blacks were adequate

So, the old world order has been restored and all the old adages apply again, specifically that one about the fine line between success and failure in international rugby. Apparently it’s called the equator.
Entitlement is alive and well again in the southern hemisphere. Even the eminently likable and normally balanced Kiwi broadcaster and writer Scotty Stevenson, who has previously extolled the virtues of the Irish team and the newfound rivalry between Ireland and the All Blacks, has had a bout of tub-thumping revisionism, perhaps with a dollop of pot-stirring.
The All Blacks were simply returning to business as usual, he wrote, and the notion that the Aviva ranks alongside Eden and Ellis Parks in terms of rugby challenges was “abject nonsense” which was put to a stop “by an All Blacks side that still hasn’t fully blossomed”.
“In the end, there must surely be an admission that Ireland’s ability has been manifestly overestimated. They may have flowered briefly, but they do not look anything like the advertised perennial. Great sides don’t lose games the way Ireland lost this one.”
The latter statement is undoubtedly true and, sadly, the often-hushed Aviva atmosphere was hardly in keeping with one of the great Test rugby citadels. Ireland were poor, the match was poor, the referee was poor, the crowd was poor and the All Blacks were adequate.
But Friday night’s 23-13 loss doesn’t mean Ireland’s previous achievements had been overestimated. A historic series win in New Zealand, a Grand Slam and back-to-back titles, a 17-match winning run, a 19-match home run, a series levelling draw in South Africa, the world number one ranking. These things and more really happened.
Not alone does this team have credit in the bank, there is also plenty of reason to believe they will stoke the hurt from last Friday’s game and sharpen their performance levels in time for next Friday’s meeting with a very, very good Argentina side that plays an appealing brand of rugby and whose confidence levels are high.
Admittedly, it remains to be seen how damaging this first home defeat in 3½ years will prove, and also how Andy Farrell and his think tank will go about rejigging the side, and specifically what they do at ‘10′. This one looks like it’s going to run and run.
When Jack Crowley was called ashore before the hour mark, with Ireland still leading at that point, he already looked wounded before he even reached the touchline.
He hadn’t played poorly but, save for those hanging restarts, he hadn’t imposed his presence or personality on the game. Rarely seeming to go off script, he went through with the game plan and the running game, without ever utilising the crosskicking and shorter kicking game which he has previously demonstrated with Munster.
One wonders if his confidence has been affected by Ciaran Frawley’s match-winning impact in Durban and/or Munster’s difficult start to the season.
No less than Crowley, Frawley must be acutely aware of the Great Irish Outhalf Debate and the management’s evident belief in Sam Prendergast. Maybe he was even affected by his own match-winning impact in Durban as well, because he seemed to be trying almost too hard, forcing passes and then losing confidence with knock-ons when stationed at fullback, where he has frequently played.
Rarely has the fickle nature of sport been better illustrated than by Frawley’s last 21 minutes in Durban and last 22 minutes against the All Blacks. One of the abiding concerns from the night was that both Crowley and Frawley had been undermined by the experience.
So what do Farrell and co do now?
The suspicion lurks that Prendergast has been earmarked for a Test debut against Fiji and will be given the keys to the game plan for the week. If so, then it would make sense to give Frawley an Irish jersey with the number ‘10′ on it for the first time against Argentina. Of his seven caps to date, six have been as a replacement while his sole start has been at ‘15′.
It was a bad weekend for Ireland, and indeed England, Italy, Wales and Scotland, and a good one for the four Rugby Championship sides and Fiji. It also sets up the rest of the Autumn Nations Series nicely.
When Max Jorgensen finished off that coolly-created match-winning try for the Wallabies at Twickenham there were loud cheers, of course, in a jammed St Mary’s clubhouse as was no doubt the case throughout all AIL clubs after Saturday’s 2.30pm games.
But there was also palpable delight at the sight of a beaming Joe Schmidt congratulating his players. That ‘bonus’ fixture to celebrate the IRFU’s 150th anniversary on November 30th looks even more intriguing now.
In the meantime, as well as Ireland’s games, AIL clubhouses can feast on England v South Africa and France v New Zealand back-to-back next Saturday evening.
Superstars have been showcased in the northern hemisphere for the first time over the last two weekends, from Wallace Sititi for the All Blacks to Argentinian winger Rodrigo Isgró, the daddy of the 7s circuit, and Australian rugby union recruit Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.
The law trials outlawing escorting, or blocking, chasers of high kicks has seemingly made aerial duels fairer, safer, more regular and more compelling.
Will Jordan was brilliant in the air against Ireland, while Isgró brilliantly reclaimed a cross kick by Tomas Albornoz in the build-up to a Gonzalo Bertranou try against Italy while Suaalii had the awareness and ability to flick one high ball to an awaiting team-mate while on another occasion beating Maro Itoje in the air to a restart.
This Test debut by Suaalii, and indeed his first professional game of rugby union, was a timely shot in the arm for the Wallabies whose win did likewise for next year’s British & Irish Lions tour.
It had echoes of Israel Folau, another former Rugby League star signed at big expense amid much hoopla, who scored the first try of the series against the Lions in 2013 on his Test debut. Suaalii’s extraordinary athleticism, aerial skills and fearlessness might just have been the most jaw-dropping Test debut of them all.