The Leinster back-row was strangely passive at Eden Park. He was not the only one.
A look back on Ireland’s 42-19 defeat to the All Blacks only confirmed what seemed apparent on the first watch – Caelan Doris just was not on it.
Coming into the Champions Cup final, against La Rochelle, Doris had won 19 of his 20 games with Leinster and Ireland. Used primarily as a blindside in a Leinster team that boasted a strongest back row of Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan, the 24-year-old was only adding to his reputation as one of the best in Europe.
Defeats followed to La Rochelle, the Bulls [either side of a Glasgow Warriors swatting] and New Zealand. Suddenly, Doris and several of his Leinster teammates look human, and they look flat.
Doris was up in the FG Stadium stands, on Wednesday, as the Test lads watched the midweek team get a few smacks in the mouth by the Maori All Blacks. If any of them needed wake-up calls on the intensity of the upcoming Test Series, this was it. In a pre-match sit-down with reporters, Doris commented:
“They’re unbeaten in Eden Park, they’ve got that track record there. But it’s massively exciting for us as well to come over to their backyard, the best nation in the world, and try and create a bit of history by winning there.”
“We genuinely believe,” he added, “that if we get our stuff right and perform to our capability then we can beat whoever we play on the day.”
When the final whistle sounded at Eden Park, on Saturday night, nowhere near enough Irish players got their stuff right. Two run-throughs of the game fare well on Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier and Robbie Henshaw. Dan Sheehan had a fine game, too, and Garry Ringrose did well but still carded two big errors.
The most disappointing Ireland performers were Caelan Doris, Jamison Gibson Park and the second row pairing of James Ryan and Tadhg Beirne. When all the footage is pored over and the stats logged, checked and re-checked, the result shows an odd Doris anomaly.
A distinct lack of carries from Caelan Doris
If the first 10 minutes of his Eden Park outing had continued on the same track, Caelan Doris would have had a superb game. In the final shake, it was as good as it got.
He slowed down some New Zealand ruck ball by dipping in for an early poach, stopped Scott Barrett on one carry but got driven back on his first carry, into Sam Cane and Ardie Savea.
His second carry was better, as he thundered into Savea and Brodie Retallick. 10 seconds later, he presented for another carry and switched a pass back inside that put Dan Sheehan through a gap. He made a clear-out after a James Lowe carry then worked hard to get over to the left wing and help stretch the New Zealand lines. Those contributions came in the breathless 18 phases that ended with Keith Earls diving over in the corner to make it 5-0.
Two carries and one slick inside pass in the first eight minutes. Ireland were humming and so was Doris.
Caelan Doris of Ireland is tackled by Brodie Retallick of New Zealand. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)For the rest of the game – his next 49 minutes – Doris only made one more carry. 20 minutes into the game, he was driven back by prop George Bower. There was one more possession, late in the game, which he passed away. He was on the fringes.
Struggling set-pieces impact Caelan Doris and teammates
Two areas that hit Caelan Doris, in terms of getting the ball into his hand and posing questions for the All Blacks, were the lack of big launch set-plays off lineout [Ireland were happy just securing the ball, for the most part] and scrum struggles.
All going well, Ireland would have planned for Doris to launch off the back of a couple of scrums. As it all played out, the Ireland scrum was under pressure all day. On the couple of occasions when the ball made its’ way back to the No.8, all he could do was flick the ball up to Jamison Gibson Park.
There was a moment, just before the 29 minute mark and Johnny Sexton’s slip into Sam Cane, when Doris jogged over and went to clear out George Bower when the ball was already available for Gibson Park to pass. Rather than hold his position and offer an extra carrying option, he wandered in to give Bower a knock. Ireland, at this stage, were eight phases into an attack and it was frantic going. Two phases later and the passing between Sexton, Ringrose and James Lowe was not crisp – Sevu Reece took advantage for the breakaway try.
On 31 minutes, he was needed to stop a charging Beauden Barrett after he left Joey Carbery for dust. 10 seconds after that, he went in for an unsuccessful poach after James Ryan brought down Brodie Retallick.
One of his last real impact plays arrived in the 33rd minute as he brought down Jordie Barrett. The ball spilled loose and Sam Whitelock gave away a penalty for diving over that ball and into a ruck.
Doris’ could not prevent Gibson Park getting turned over inside his 22 when the scrumhalf unwisely went it alone with a snipe off the back of an easily won Irish lineout. Seconds later, off that turnover ball, Beauden Barrett was putting through a kick for Quinn Tupaea to score off.
The 16 second minutes Doris played featured no carries or passes. He was limited to clear-outs after teammates’ carries and jumped to claim a five-metre lineout throw. His final moments on the pitch were stuck in re-set scrums and one last foray up-field before a Reece knock-on saw Ireland get a penalty. On as the fresh legs, for Doris, Jack Conan made seven carries for all of 14 metres.
FINAL NUMBERS FOR CAELAN DORIS
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Three carries for six metres gained
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Two passes
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11 tackles
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One lineout won
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Nine rucks hit (attacking)
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Four ruck hits (defending)
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Two poach attempts
Andy Farrell does not have to name his team for the Second Test until Thursday morning, so the next day or so will be all about resting up and, away from the training ground, looking at areas that went right or wrong.
A No.8 is hamstrung in many ways if there is not clean lineout ball and the scrum is holding its’ own. That being said, Doris has often found ways of imposing himself on games without those fall-backs.
He has shown over the past three years just how dangerous an attacking player he can be. The All Blacks saw that for themselves with his stunning try against them, last November.
An option for Ireland are reverting back to that Leinster backline of Doris (blindside), van der Flier (openside) and Conan (No.8), but that overlooks the Leinster forwards having a collective dip, and the First Test impact of Peter O’Mahony.
If O’Mahony and van der Flier stay where they are, Conan could come in at No.8 or Gavin Coombes may be considered. We would not rule out the straight Conan for Doris swap, but the Ballina native may be awarded an immediate chance to redeem himself in Dunedin.
The hope, there, would be that he surely would not be as subdued again. The same hope applies to a batch of others in that starting XV from Auckland.
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