The buck stops with Caelan Doris. His words, Andy Farrell’s too. Not verbatim but in sentiment. The context is a discussion about discipline, penalty counts and the breakdown. The brief back and forth between Ireland captain and head coach is delivered with smiles, and a promise that it would be a topic on the flight from Edinburgh to Portugal.
Resilience of the Rorke’s Drift variety couldn’t mask or mitigate the self-inflicted body blows in Ireland’s defeat to South Africa in November: 18 penalties, five cards. Not that there’s any attempt to gloss over it. In discussing Ireland’s prospects ahead of their opening match in the Six Nations against France in Paris next Thursday, it was front and centre as a legacy issue.
Irish discipline in last year’s tournament was pretty good; in November it was markedly substandard. Everyone’s accountable in the drive to improve, but as captain it’s a little more pointed. Doris understands the dynamic. In an ideal world it’s as much, “do as I do, as do as I say”. He’s working towards that goal.
“I’m aware that an area of my game that I’ve put a lot of focus on is breakdown decision-making, but I haven’t been good enough there in the last while, certainly November and probably since then at times as well.
“I’ve had some good chats with the coaches off the back of that, and I know that’s an area I need to lead and improve, so I’ve been working on that. It hasn’t necessarily come to fruition yet.”
The vexed issue of what’s permissible at the breakdown can be reliant on communication between the referee and players.
“I mean it’s different referee to referee,” Doris explained. “Some are more willing to coach.
Referee Eoghan Cross speaks to Leinster’s Caelan Doris. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho
“There’s obviously quite a bit of grey in rugby, especially around the breakdown, so some will coach a little bit more, some less so. But like we’d always say, it’s based on the habits you build in training and [transferring] that on to the pitch, being good decision-makers, taking the referee out of the game as much as possible and showing good pictures.
“It’s a little bit like what we were saying there around not being able to control the laws, you can’t control what the refs are going to do, you can control what we’re going to do, so focus on that.”
There’s an element of having to be philosophical but not necessarily rigorous. There’s an element of gambling required. Head down and carry on.
“Get on with it,” Doris continued. “Do what we can do, play within the laws as best as possible. I agree with some of what Beirney [Tadhg Beirne] said around it’s not necessarily favouring the best attacking game at the minute or the best watch from some perspectives, but it is what it is, so just get on with it.”
His role as captain also sees him check in on new caps in the squad like Nathan Doak, Edwin Edogbo and Bill Bohan. It’s about providing a welcoming, supportive environment, so the players can feel comfortable and crack on with their work.
“Yeah, just conversation with them, largely is the way to go about it, I think,” Doris explained. “As that organically unfolds, hopefully you can dive a little bit deeper and get to know how things work for them, what sort of a personality they are and how to help them as best as possible.
“While it’s not one-size-fits-all, there’s also commonalities and ways that we do things, so getting them up to scratch at the level that we operate correctly as well, regardless of how it works for them [is important].”
He played against Edogbo in the recent URC match and was asked for his impressions of the young secondrow.
“I think he’s been very good. He’s physical, obviously, but he’s skilful as well. He seems to have good game understanding and awareness.
“He’s a big fellah, capable of putting a stamp on the game, even though Munster will be disappointed with how they’ve gone in Europe. But I think he’s been a standout in some of their games.
“Like Faz [Farrell] is saying around coming into camp, messages have already gone in around getting him up to scratch early. Quite a bit of detail coming in; it can be a little bit overwhelming from that point of view, but there’s plenty of guys who can get an arm around him and help him bring out his best.”
The sunshine of the Algarve will uplift spirits as well as warm the bones. As bulk contributors to the Lions Tour, the tariff was a slightly undercooked or disjointed performance against New Zealand in Chicago in the opening game of the November series. Injuries notwithstanding, everyone else is in a better fettle.
“Not to make an excuse, but some of us were a little bit raw coming back in then,” Doris said. “The best way to improve how you’re playing is by playing, so hopefully we’ll see that come to fruition. “It’s such a good time of year. Coming back into a fresh environment in Portugal, a few new faces, and France on Thursday night sharpens the mind as well. I think if you look back at the last couple of years, we’ve been pretty good in how we’ve prepared.
“Less so for New Zealand, but it’s just about doing the right thing and treating training as close to games as possible and bringing the right habits and the right attitude each day.”