One of the defining factors of Ireland's huge win over France at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon was their impressive ability to see the game out in the closing stages despite several first-choice players having been sidelined.
In the days leading up to the game, Ireland wing James Lowe had talked up his side's fitness, suggesting that they would outlast the French. With the ball in play for over 46 minutes - about 8 minutes over the average of the 2021 Six Nations - Saturday proved a perfect test of Lowe's hypothesis, and he was proven right, with Ireland eventually running out 32-19 winners.
Ireland under coach Andy Farrell have become one of the fittest teams, if not the fittest team in world rugby. Last summer's test wins over New Zealand were sealed with the Irish team's ability to maintain high energy levels in the closing stages, and France on Saturday was no different.
Speaking on this week's Rugby Pod, former Ireland star Bernard Jackman praised this supreme fitness - but said that it could pose problems for referees down the line.
Bernard Jackman on Ireland's fitness levels
This week's Rugby Pod with Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton enlisted the help of special guest Bernard Jackman to dissect Ireland's Six Nations campaign.
Jackman spoke about the elements of Ireland's game that could hold them back in their pursuit of a Grand Slam, suggesting that the nature of Saturday's game may have hidden some issues with the power of Ireland's scrum and general forward game.
Former Leinster, Connacht, and Ireland hooker Jackman went on to speak about how impressed he was by the "ball-in-play time" during Saturday's blockbuster clash, but expressed concerns about the implications for match officials.
Jackman said that the drive to have the ball-in-play for longer will lead to issues for referees keeping pace with the game:
Everyone is talking about this 46 minute ball-in-play time, it was outrageous. World Rugby want this high ball-in-play time.
The people that are going to suffer are the referees. For Wayne Barnes to go from whatever the average is in the Premiership of 35-36 minutes to 46 minutes - and have less use of a TMO - that's going to put more pressure onto decision making.
That's something that World Rugby have maybe forgotten about. I think a lot of referees were struggling to keep pace with the game as it was, at 36-37 minutes. How are they going to manage it at 46-47 minutes, with less reliance on a TMO? It's going to put them under a lot of pressure and lead to a lot more mistakes, I think.
Saturday's referee Wayne Barnes came under fire for his decision not to red-card France's Uini Atonio for a high tackle on Rob Herring, with Brian O'Driscoll among those to criticise the Englishman in the middle.
Atonio has since been cited and provisionally banned for three weeks - a ban which will likely see him miss France's final three games against Scotland, England, and Wales.
The citing review read:
Having acknowledged there were no aggravating factors and mitigating factors including the player’s immediate admission of guilt, his exemplary disciplinary record and genuine remorse, the committee reduced the six-week entry point by three weeks, resulting in a sanction of three weeks (to be served as the following given the player’s upcoming schedule):
26 February 2023 - France v Scotland
11 March 2023 - England v France
18 March 2023 - France v Wales
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