
Share
6th February 2017
11:45am GMT

"I just think that lineout try summed up where we were, myself and Tadhg were a bit behind there, we didn't quite cover all the bases the way you've got to at this level."However, Kevin McLaughlin and Donncha O'Callaghan believe Furlong may have been the fall guy. During The Hard Yards podcast, the former Ireland internationals took issue with a complete communication breakdown. https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/irelands-fall-bonus-points-and-joes-late-gate-episode-1 McLaughlin felt the responsibility for alerting Best and Furlong to the danger of the backs' presence in the line should have fallen to a senior player. He said:
"It would have taken only the smallest of adjustments from Ireland - for Tadhg Furlong to stand side-on rather than facing his man - and nothing would have happened there. "What they have done here is they've looked at footage of Ireland defending with [opposition] backs in the lineout and realised Ireland do nothing with them. They've thought, 'There's potential for a try here', and they've executed it nicely." McLaughlin continued, "I actually don't blame here. That's where someone with a bit more experience [should alert him]. When I was at Leinster, someone like Shane Jennings would have been screaming, 'Watch the 12. Watch the 12!' "It's the kind of thing you solve on the park."https://twitter.com/andymcgeady/status/828193435140124673 From the screenshot [above], Conor Murray, Zebo and Iain Henderson all have a better vantage point than Furlong. One would expect that at least one of them gave Furlong a holler. O'Callaghan added, "I'll be honest, that's a cheeky move because Ireland are expecting the drive there." "It's one of these ones that come off in the first week of the tournament... it will be so frustrating to Ireland as the game was in the balance at that stage. When those sort of things happen, you sometimes start thinking, 'Maybe it's not our day'." Ireland fought back to take a 22-21 lead but ended up losing it in the final 10 minutes after conceding silly penalties. It was not their day.
Explore more on these topics: