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Ireland: ‘It’s just getting into the groove of all that again’
By Liam Heagney
Ireland – and Bryan Mollen – breathed a huge sigh of relief in the Far East on Friday after a hard-fought 12-7 win over Samoa prevented a disastrous opening day from happening to them at the Hong Kong 7s.
The Irish opened their campaign with a morning defeat against South Africa, a team they had beaten in the pool stages on the previous two legs of the HSBC SVNS circuit in Vancouver and Los Angeles.
Those results led to the South Africans making a change to the management and a rejuvenated team now under the command of Philip Snyman burst into life, scoring twice off scrum ball and then through possession following a no-release penalty to lead 17-0 at the break.
They then added to that advantage shortly into the second half with a fourth try before the Irish charged back into the contest, their fightback to a 17-22 losing bonus point defeat assisted by the sending of South Africa’s Justin Geduld for a high tackle.
That left Ireland needing to pull it out of the bag against the Samoans and they eventually got over the line, second-half tries from Terry Kennedy and Zac Ward rescuing them after they had trailed 0-7 at the break.
With their remedial job done, Ireland huddled at the bottom of the tunnel in the Hong Kong Stadium for a rallying pep talk before Mollen put into words the defiance that enabled them to stay in the trophy hunt ahead of Saturday’s final pool game versus Spain.
“We said we have just got to keep believing in ourselves,” explained Mollen to RugbyPass. “We put in two slow starts where we kept coughing up the ball. If we have the trust to hold onto that ball and put teams through it, we know we will come out on the right side.
“So it’s just getting into the groove of all that again… we just say, ‘Keep hanging onto that ball and keep working together and we will be alright’.”
Knock-ons and penalties hurt in those repeat slow starts. “It’s a bit of humidity, all that kind of stuff, a bounce of a ball at times. We were just not switched on but in that game there (against Samoa), we managed to turn it around.
“The subs coming on managed to click a little bit better, same as we did against South Africa. We just left it a bit too late. They put 22 points and it’s hard to come back from that.”
For Mollen, a try-scorer off the bench against South Africa, being back in Hong Kong for the first time in five years has been a thrill. “I have missed a few this year, I got injured once or twice and a bit of rotation as well.
“I’m just happy to come back. It’s my first time back in Hong Kong since we qualified in 2019 so it means the world to me and I’m happy every time I can put on an Irish jersey. It means the world.”
Ireland were well supported on day one in Hong Kong. “It’s huge. Just having as many green jerseys as we can see in the stand gives us that extra little buzz and that little lift that we need.
"We get great support anywhere in the world we go, and Hong Kong is so special because there is always a load of Irish that come out for us.”
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Latest Comments
We beat Wales. Oh wow.
Go to commentsAs has been the way all year, and for all England's play I can remember. I missed a lot of the better years under Eddie though.
Lets have a look at the LQB for the last few games... 41% under 3 sec compared to 56% last week, 47% in the game you felt England best in against NZ, and 56 against Ireland.
That was my impression as well. Dunno if that is a lack of good counterattack ball from the D, forward dominance (Post Contact Meters stats reversed yesterday compared to that fast Ireland game), or some Borthwick scheme, but I think that has been highlighted as Englands best point of difference this year with their attack, more particularly how they target using it in certain areas. So depending on how you look at it, not necessarily the individual players.
You seem to be falling into the same trap as NZs supporters when it comes to Damien McKenzie. That play you highlight Slade in wasn't one of those LQB situations from memory, that was all on the brilliance of Smith. Sure, Slade did his job in that situation, but Smith far exceeded his (though I understand it was a move Sleightholme was calling for). But yeah, it's not always going to be on a platter from your 10 and NZ have been missing that Slade line, in your example, more often than not too. When you go back to Furbank and Feyi-Waboso returns you'll have that threat again. Just need to generate that ball, wait for some of these next Gen forwards to come through etc, the props and injured 6 coming back to the bench. I don't think you can put Earl back to 7, unless he spends the next two years speeding up (which might be good for him because he's getting beat by speed like he's not used to not having his own speed to react anymore).
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