By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) – If Ireland are to break their quarter-final jinx at the Rugby World Cup, they will need to continue to show the adaptability that helped them crush Scotland in their final Pool B game on Saturday.
Scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park ended up playing part of the second half on the wing, which did not seem to cause him too much trouble.
“I felt like a fish out of water at one stage but we do a fair work on covering positions in scenarios like that,” man of the match Gibson-Park said after Ireland’s 36-14 victory, their 17th in a row.
It was, however, Ireland’ work in the midfield that made the difference in the opening half.
They used the legitimate fear Bundee Aki creates to use Garry Ringrose as their main midfield weapon.
Leading the tournament in runs – 53 before kickoff – Aki was targeted by the Scottish defence, but it freed his centre partner Ringrose and the 28-year-old delivered.
Ringrose’s brilliant foray through the midfield led to Ireland’s first try after 63 seconds and he set up Hugo Keenan for his team’s second.
Ringrose had a quieter second half, until the 57th minute, when with most of the Scotland defence again fixating on Aki, he found himself on the left wing to collect a cross-field kick and touch down for Ireland’s sixth try.
Ringrose finished the game having made 57 metres – only beaten on the Irish side by double try-scorer Keenan – and with three clean breaks.
“I thought our first-phase attack was as good as it’s been for quite some time which was great for us but a hammer blow for them,” Ireland coach Andy Farrell told a press conference.
“The way we attacked the Scottish line was clinical.”
Ireland have never made it past the last eight at a World Cup and will face three-times champions New Zealand for a place in the semi-finals, but they have won their last two encounters in comprehensive fashion.
Ireland beat the All Blacks for the first time in 2016, although their last meeting at the World Cup ended in a bitter 46-14 defeat in the quarter-finals.
“Well it’s what dreams are made of. As far as a quarter-final is concerned it doesn’t get any tougher, the respect we have got for New Zealand is through the roof and hopefully they have got a bit of respect for us,” Farrell said.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)
