The decision to travel to New Zealand with just three props on either side of the scrum and three hookers for a tour featuring five games in a 24-day period may have been designed to see how Ireland would cope with stress.
However, one ventures that the management already have more stress than they bargained for heading into Saturday’s first Test at Eden Park after Cian Healy suffered a nasty leg injury which Andy Farrell admitted does not look good regarding his participation in the rest of the tour.
With Jeremy Loughman not reappearing for the second half despite passing an HIA conducted by an independent doctor after being helped from the pitch – when evidently incapable of walking without assistance – it meant that the tighthead replacement Finlay Bealham saw out the game at loosehead.
“Cian doesn’t look too good,” conceded Farrell, before adding: “He was in a bit of pain coming off the field. It’s settled down a bit so we’ll see with him.”
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Loughman appeared to stagger and fall over when groggily getting to his feet in the second minute after carrying into contact, which made his return in the 13th minute all the more disconcerting to see before he was removed at half-time.
“Jeremy Loughman actually passed his HIA by the independent doctor,” said Farrell. “We brought him off as a precaution and brought Cian on and then that happens to Cian, which is not nice really.”
Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong are set to be the starting frontrow, but if Loughman is ruled out for Saturday’s first Test in addition to Healy, the only available back-up would be for Bealham to cover loosehead and Tom O’Toole, after playing the full 80 in the 32-17 defeat by the Maori All Blacks, to cover tighthead.
Bealham has effectively become a specialist tighthead with Connacht, and his last appearance at loosehead, against Georgia in the Autumn Nations Cup in November 2020, merely underlined why this is so.
Furthermore, with Rónan Kelleher ruled out of the tour and Rob Herring seemingly sidelined from Saturday’s Test with an unspecified injury, Dave Heffernan will almost certainly be the replacement hooker after playing the first 52 minutes against the Maoris before being replaced by Niall Scannell, who only arrived from a beach in Portugal the previous day.
In addition to all this, James Hume especially and also Jimmy O’Brien were helped from the pitch, placing question marks over their availability for the rest of the tour.
[ Sloppy Ireland open tour with heavy defeat to Maori All BlacksOpens in new window ]
“James has a bit of a groin injury that needs assessment tomorrow,” said Farrell. “Jimmy came off with a strain. He thinks it’s a strain. He’s feeling pretty good in the changing rooms.”
As to whether further re-enforcements may be sought, Farrell smiled wryly and said: “It is what it is. We’ll have a good think on the way back to Auckland tonight.”
Reflecting on Ireland’s decidedly mixed bag of an opening performance on this tour, when starting well only to concede three unanswered tries by half-time, trailing 32-10 at the interval but win the second-half 7-0, Farrell admitted: “We’re disappointed. The boys are disappointed obviously. They feel that they could have given a better account of themselves, certainly in the first half.
“The Maori team 100 per cent deserved to win that game. I thought the skill set was pretty good in that first half in those conditions so congratulations to them. But I’m proud of the boys, the way that they came back. It could have been a landslide with the way the score was at half-time?
“But I think if you can weigh the game up, we had three or four more opportunities in that second half that we didn’t take. But it says just how gutsy a performance it was in that second half given where they were at half-time, so I’m proud of the boys. The way that some of the individuals have stood up, have learned, done some unbelievably good stuff and then some really poor stuff on the back of that is brilliant learning for this group.
“Five of them played in the green shirt for the first time. A good handful of them have not had too much experience. It’s a new team coming together in seven days and flying to the other side of the world so you’d expect a few ups and downs. In all, I think it’s a good day for us with regard to lads learning lessons and knowing that if we fix a few things especially discipline-wise that we can give a better account of ourselves in the next game.
[ Maori All Blacks vs Ireland player ratingsOpens in new window ]
Bundee Aki, captain of an Irish side for the first time, concurred with Farrell’s analysis.
“I think Faz hit the nail on the head. We had good phases throughout the match. Obviously the Maori team came up with a good start but our discipline let us down. I certainly put my hand up for a few of those. You can’t just back up a [moment of] indiscipline with another, especially with a quality team like that. They’ll just keep piling the points on you.”
In front of a crowd of 9,253, Aki scored a try on his old stomping ground, where the boy from south Auckland helped the Chiefs win the Super Rugby title in 2013. This had been an emotional occasion for Aki and it showed afterwards too when described how much it meant to him.
“It was a privilege. I got emotional. It was an honour. Obviously I haven’t played in front of my family for eight or nine years, especially in front of my mum for the first time. No, it was good. Very good.”
With that Farrell gave him an approving slap on the knee.
Ireland First Test XV (possible): Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Keith Earls (Munster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), James Lowe (Leinster); Johnny Sexton (Leinster, capt), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster); James Ryan (Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Munster); Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster).
