Fifty per cent of possession and seven tries, six coming from the back three and the outhalf with the seventh from the hooker. Something happened over the weekend that will take at least two articles to explore.

I was in Marseille to witness Argentina first hand in the 2007 World Cup, where I adored watching war horses like Rodrigo Roncero, Mario Ledesma and Juan Martín Scelzo. Watching the game unfold last Saturday I got a sense that Argentina really missed their legends, but I was struck by how comfortable Ireland looked without theirs.

In fact I’d go as far to say that the Ireland players unshackled themselves from all that baggage, while Jonny Sexton looked his most comfortable and assured in a green jersey.

Inside him Conor Murray aided and abetted Sexton to unlock that flow and direction to infuse the Irish style amongst their team-mates.

The game started out like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, bizarrely led by Sexton’s kick out on the full, bringing the first contact of these two old adversaries in the form of a scrum; hardly a tactical ploy?

Argentina didn’t bring the scrum challenge of former encounters but huge credit must go to the Irish front five where the secondrows blended rugby football around the pitch to application at scrum time (very fatiguing).

Lineout set the tone

But it was the Irish lineout that set the tone and pace for much that followed. It was inventive, accurate and full of pace. Donnacha Ryan managed it brilliantly regardless of throw in as Ireland launched their attack and stifled the Pumas equally. Hardly cause for concern but the final 20 minutes was less accurate where standards did slip.

What’s the difference between 71 international caps and just one? Gordon D’Arcy’s performance was his 71st with Craig Gilroy’s being his first. I remember back to D’Arcy’s first outing and the same enthusiasm and optimism abounded in him then as did Gilroy on Saturday.

The difference now is but the subtlety of the pass. For Sexton’s opening try D’Arcy sucked in four Pumas before the deftest of offloads inside to his outhalf.

These positive combat indicators came from somewhere and for the first time the entire Irish entity looked assured, with a unity of effort to the task in hand. Put simply, the team had a game plan that they all bought into. It was simple and extremely effective and based around the assets available to the team.

Both wingers were encouraged into the game, be it Gilroy who is a nightmare to marshal (defensively) and was brought into play from first phase, or Tommy Bowe throughout. Both had an immense impact on the game.

A moment I described on Friday from the England v Australia match happened exactly again when Argentina kicked poorly to a waiting line of four Irish players primed for counter-attack. Sexton chose to kick it back and Bowe followed up by fielding it brilliantly.

What happened next is crucial to our future, with positive additions and value added to the ball. Most notably Cian Healy, finding himself down the blindside, targeted two defenders and offloaded inside to a better placed player even though his instinct is to crash through.

Herein lies the difference. Each player was part of a system that added value to the ball and ultimately opened up space where there was none. Sexton and co did it through the boot at times, exposing space behind the Pumas. In the tightest of channels through hard running, full of decoys, they fixed Puma defenders to eventually put Gilroy through holes.

Both wingers mimicked England’s Chris Ashton’s trail running, but crucially their team-mates were alive to them. At times Ireland drifted into lateral running, giving Argentina easier side-on tackles that slowed down the ruck, but it was vastly superior in its simplicity and application.

Pacey attack

The attack was pacey, finding a target and full of rewinds to create mismatches where Argentina tended to leave fatties on the blindside in defence. The real beauty was not searching for space out wide but cracking it open much closer. The end result produces greater dividends. This all encompassing game plan achieves many outcomes, but notably it relies less on its “stars” where the team function much better with all contributing equally. In this environment both half backs looked confident and unburdened, very much like the crowd drifting away from the Aviva; very happy and optimistic for the future.

Looking forward to the Six Nations and the issues I’ll examine in Friday’s article. How should we judge the past months? The real question is whether last Saturday was a blip or part of a master plan. Lest we get carried away with all the positives should we ask deeper questions? Why are there 23 players available on a match day squad and what is their purpose? Why does it take massive injuries to hunt for and discover the quality such as Saturday’s man of the match Donnacha Ryan, the find of the autumn Mike McCarthy and the youthful optimist Craig Gilroy.

Where did Saturday’s game plan come from and why has it been hidden, a style of rugby we all buy into? Who demanded that change and hence who is best to lead us into the Six Nations?

liamtoland@yahoo.com