THIS was not a night for Ireland’s wide boys, but it was a useful lesson in how badly they are needed.
The failure to stretch this game and properly involve Robert Baloucoune and Jacob Stockdale could have carried a much more severe cost.
The rout of England a fortnight ago showed us what an Irish team with real speed can achieve.
This sludgy grapple showed us how sorely it’s needed.
Missed opportunity: Jacob Stockdale gets a rare chance to stretch his legs against Wales
For too much of this match, Ireland’s attacking was narrow, and focussed on trying to batter over the Welsh rather than zip around them.
It was as if they had borrowed the old football wisdom about good strikers always staying within the width of the two posts.
This uncomplicated approach perfectly suited visitors who were willing to throw bodies under the green barrage.
The few occasions that Ireland did go wide, Stockdale and Baloucoune showed glimpses of what they can add, but they were fleeting.
One of the most significant reasons for Ireland’s glory in Twickenham a fortnight ago was pace, with Baloucoune one of the main pistons driving the Irish frenzy.
His brilliant break not long after scoring his own try put Tommy O’Brien away for his score, and he has speed that Irish players don’t usually possess.
Reaching out: Stockdale tries to claim possession against the excellent Welsh defence
It was typical of Ireland’s misfire here, though, that one of his few meaningful bursts was vainly trying to reel in Rhys Carre after the Welsh loosehead had dummied him and left Tadhg Furlong floundering.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the ball finally got to Baloucoune, fittingly via a deflection off a Welsh defender.
It ended up in touch, but from it Ireland got a penalty that ended with Jack Conan’s second try.
The most distinctive part of this Six Nations has been Andy Farrell’s willingness to try new and unfamiliar faces as the old certainties that held together his reign, and which made it such a success, have begun to loosen.
That has brought Baloucoune in for an extended run, and it’s brought Stockdale in from the cold.
Lethal: Baloucoune on a run against Wales on a night when he should have been used more
It’s a sporting lifetime since Stockdale scored seven tries in the 2018 campaign, setting a record that lasted until Louis Bielle-Biarrey broke it last season.
That was the magnitude of what he did then, as a 21-year-old who was also voted player of the tournament in a Grand Slam-winning team.
What came next was injury, frustration and what looked like Test irrelevance.
His return in this campaign hasn’t followed the giddy arc of Baloucoune’s, either, but is a shrink-wrapped version of his career as a whole.
He started in Paris, and was one of those that paid for that collective meltdown with his place.
Baloucoune was one of the beneficiaries, coming in for Tommy O’Brien as the two starting wingers in the Stade de France were dropped.
When Stockdale was selected for this match, it was but one more bounce back in a Test life that has caromed between joy and disillusionment.
This new bloom weeks before his 30th birthday is credited to Ulster’s strong start to the season that saw five of the province’s mainstays start last night.
Such an analysis fails to recognise the extraordinary personal effort that goes into restoring a player’s game to these heights.
With his physique, his shaved head and his goatee, he looks like the muscle in a 1970s gangster flick, but his attributes are more subtle than that.
He didn’t need lightning speed to get over for his try in the sixth minute, but he displayed power and good timing.
Instead of that score summoning an avalanche against battling but limited opponents, though, Ireland’s game tightened up as the half wore on, becoming narrower and less ambitious, and giving Wales reasons to believe.
Conan’s second try didn’t ease their nerves, and it took Jamie Osborne’s score – off a clever overhead pass from Stockdale – to finally quench the Welsh ardour.
For most of the night, this was a pungent reminder of the flatlining form that Ireland looked like shrugging off against England.
As Ireland’s ambitions shrank, so did the pace of their game. Jamison Gibson-Park was untouchable in Twickenham but this was a more rudimentary performance as he majored on box-kicking, presumably under instruction.
There was none of the daring or invention from the collective that ripped England apart, and a back three that looked made for attacking elan, instead spent most of the game in retreat.
This alarming reversion to the stodgy game that just about accounted for Italy can be plausibly explained away by reference to the significant rotation.
If Farrell is developing a new and expanded national team where places are not just held but constantly open to competition, then nights as nervy as this one can be withstood.
Slick: Baloucoune shows a lovely bit of link play against Wales at the Aviva Stadium
Because it was an 80-minute encapsulation of the hesitancy that stole into the Irish game over the past season and a half, and of the desperate need for a fresh approach.
We’ve glimpsed the future and its blazing possibilities, and this wasn’t it.
The Irish need for speed is pronounced, and Farrell has the men to provide it.
Let them run free, and they will deliver.
