Four Ireland talking points after they soundly see off hyped Fiji

As the late Meat Loaf use to rumbustiously sing, two out of three ain’t bad. He was right but the Autumn Nations Series situation Ireland currently find themselves still has the encouraging potential to become even better next weekend when their November ends with the IRFU’s 150th anniversary celebration match versus Australia.

Three wins out of four matches would be a fine response after their opening night brain fade versus the All Blacks. There was further clunkiness in the cling-on W against the Pumas but there was much to enthuse heading away from Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening after Fiji were given a dusting.

You will get the naysayers who will say it was only the Fijians in a non-Rugby World Cup year, but the eight tries to two success with an Irish selection far less experienced than the two sides previously fielded this month by Andy Farrell was nothing to be sniffed at.

The opposition wasn’t the club side that Fiji had sent out to the November 2 slaughter in Scotland; that fixture had fallen outside the player release window. No, the Islanders who turned up in Dublin this weekend were the real deal, even audaciously claiming they were primed to take advantage of a ‘vulnerable’ Ireland.

That big boost didn’t age well as the Irish, despite the nuisance of an early yellow card, impressively had the result put to bed by the 48th-minute when they were 35-3 up.

It left Farrell and co content to run the bench and while a scatter-gun 17-14 finale wasn’t the best collective reflection on the impact of the reinforcements, it was no major drama either. Here are the RugbyPass Ireland talking points:

Attack's back

So decent was Ireland’s performance against their fellow Rugby World Cup 2023 quarter-finalists that nothing was going to dampen head coach Farrell’s chipper post-game mood, not even the news he was told as he sat down at his media briefing that his beloved Manchester City were already a goal down to Tottenham.

By the time he stood up less than 10 minutes later, that score would have been two (and ultimately four without reply). No bother. Ireland had given him reason enough to smile and reason enough to believe that their best performance of the series will now materialise next Saturday versus the Wallabies.

Attack had been the point of difference which transformed the Irish since 2021 under Farrell but it had stuttered post Mike Catt’s summer exit and a reminder was needed that they still had it in their locker to execute in a variety of ways now that Andrew Goodman has come on board as an assistant.

That box was very much ticked. Their opening and closing tries featured slick handling in crafty first phase moves off lineout ball involving skipper Caelan Doris. There was also a catchy tap-five penalty variation that wrong-footed the defence, two polished dive-ins at the corner created by a slick offload out of the tackle and a slick against the grain pass, as well as precise crosskick, broken field running and maul finishes. Enough variation to keep the Wallabies very busy in the analysis booth.

What’s more, Ireland inflicted the majority of this damage when the Fijians were at full strength. Just one of the four Irish tries versus New Zealand and Argentina had been against a 15-man opposition, suggesting their attack had been severely blunted, but seven of the eight scores on Saturday happened when the Islanders had 15 players.

You can quibble that Ireland only scored just once in the 20 minutes the Fijians were down players to yellow cards, but it was more reassuring to see Farrell’s charges repeatedly unlock the 15-man defence, something they had struggled in recent weeks with.

A further feather in their cap in a match where they enjoyed 13 linebreaks to the opposition's four was winning the early ‘bin’ 7-3 when they had lost Sam Prendergast to yellow and had 14 against Fiji’s 15. That exemplified the good team attitude that existed, dispelling the notion that they were somehow ‘vulnerable’ as alleged pre-game by the tourists.

That good attitude carried through right to the end where their togetherness ensured no player got isolated in the scrap that ignited after the final score. One for all, all for one. It was good to see.

Naughty step upgrade

Ireland’s general discipline was improved on recent efforts. They came into their latest match in dire need of a upgrade from the naughty step they had occupied the past three matches, a cumulative penalty count of 37-19 against which had seen the opposition kick 54 points from 18 efforts off the tee.

Farrell and co, to their immense credit, had still found a way to win two of those three matches but this run of continued three-point punishments needed to end and it did, as Fiji were restricted to just a single effort through Caleb Muntz which reduced the first quarter margin to 14-3 before Ireland kicked on again.

The overall penalty count was 8-17 against the Fijians, who shipped two cards to Ireland’s one, so this facet of play will go down as a solid Irish improvement. What surely have helped to focus minds was Prendergast getting binned off just eight minutes into the contest.

Farrell suggested it was harsh but the rookie out-half simply didn’t need to get involved in the collision at all as the jersey-grabbing Jacob Stockdale had done enough to cling onto Kitione Salawa and have him tamely grubber kick into touch.

Prendergast was naïve, but you can be sure he won’t be repeating this type of cheap shot as it had the grave potential of turning the exciting career-building day of a first Test start into a miserable mis-adventure.

Instead, he was able to come back on and eventually, after a couple of ropey touchfinders, enjoy some positive moments, none better than the exquisite crosskick into Hansen’s bread basket. Jack Crowley, of course, will continue to be Ireland’s first-choice No10 long into the new year but there were glimpses that Prendergast isn’t a million miles away and can build on this foundation.

Gus sparkle

The mid-afternoon kick-off in Dublin was perfectly timed as the daylight start meant the match was long over by the time the weather took a turn for the worse. The wind was gusty when RugbyPass made good its exit from the deserted stadium before 7pm, with some rain following, a combination that could have made for a miserable spectacle if it was a night time kick-off.

With the earlier conditions benign, Ireland were able to play with a slickness that will do their confidence a world of good. Craig Casey’s standard of passing deserved kudos, something overlooked given the brio that Jamison Gibson-Park generates as Farrell’s favoured No9.

Welcome too was Bundee Aki’s power surge. The veteran was way off the pace versus the All Blacks and unsurprisingly dropped for Argentina as a consequence, but his impressive return should cajole Farrell into at least having a debate over whether the Aki-Robbie Henshaw axis or Henshaw-Garry Ringrose is best for next Saturday.

Two other individual performances that merit limelight came from skipper Doris and the debut-making Gus McCarthy. Doris was a machine, the leading British and Irish Lions No8 candidate the way he repeatedly blasted across the gain line with strong running and wristy hands while his defensive robustness was also critical towards ensuring an upset result was never ever imaginable.

However, McCarthy was our top gun. The 21-year-old rookie’s luxurious collection of grand moments was a reminder that rugby essentially remains a simple game where fearlessly doing smart things well breaks an opposition. His debut, for sure, wasn’t error-free but his fizziness and sparkle lit up the winter's day.

Bench bother

If there is one area of lingering concern for Farrell it’s that his bench once more didn’t gel as it should when thrust into the action. It’s three matches in a row now where the replacements haven’t taken on the challenge and brought Ireland home with a level of comfort.

Remember, their last score versus New Zealand was a 44th-minute conversion from Crowley and the score after that through to the finish was 0-14 to the opposition. It was similar last weekend, Crowley kicking his team’s final points on 33 minutes and the remainder of the game being ‘lost’ 0-10.

It was 35-3 to Ireland when Farrell subbed on four reserves in one fell swoop and two more quickly followed, but its effect was an unstructured game and they were set to ‘lose’ the closing half-hour 12-14 until Ronan Kelleher was belatedly introduced and he pounced for a late, late unconverted try.

Farrell, who ended with a hooker playing flanker, a No8 playing centre and a scrum-half on the wing, can’t be pleased with the direct manner of the two tries conceded and questions need to be asked. The whole point of subs is that they are meant to add value to a team performance via their freshness and energy, but this isn’t collectively happening for the Irish.

Ciaran Frawley, though, demands a hat-tip. He was a 28th-minute sub for the injured Jamie Osborne and his presence coaxed the best out of Prendergast, who had been struggling until that point. Frawley’s standard was high, unlike when he flopped as a second-half sub against the All Blacks. More Ireland subs needed to be like him against the Fijians.