Johne Murphy believes Ireland will be genuine contenders for the World Cup if they can develop their attacking play in the 22.
Ireland secured their first win on Australian soil since 1979 to send the three Test series into a decider in Sydney next weekend.
Joe Schmidt’s side picked apart the Wallabies in a 26-21 triumph at AAMI Park in Melbourne thanks to a clinical and creative display.
But Murphy, speaking to Off The Ball, insists Ireland will only seriously challenge in Japan on the condition they bring a varied attacking threat.
“It’s about developing the power that they have in the 22 a small bit further,” Murphy said.
“That’s something that can take them to the next step of being genuine contenders. They are contenders but they need to develop their attack in the 22 which is very difficult to do.
“You have such a short time frame to do it in. Your time on the ball is completely shut down because of the line speed being so much more aggressive in their 22.
“But if they can manage to develop that I think they are full on proper contenders. Not just for the semi-finals but for winning [the World Cup].
“A lot of their 22 stuff is based on power; get up, get around the corner, beat sides around the corner and sucking them in to get width.
“If they can develop that in terms of three or four man plays in attack [they can compete]. Joe Schmidt has a master plan and I’m sure he is developing this the whole way through.
“Sometimes he gets flack from the media and I don’t think it’s correct. You look at his stats and the amount of tries they’re scoring. You look at the line breaks they create off their line power plays.
“Their multi-phase attack today looked very, very good. They had accuracy at the breakdown and they were taking the right option right on the gain-line.
“Last week there probably weren’t enough short line options. They are developing it all the time and throwing new moves in.
“They bring moves back in that they used four or five years ago that people wouldn’t expect them to use. But they’re there or there abouts [in developing their attack].”
James Hopper
