Barry Coughlan
In 1986, Ireland scored 60 points without concession to Romania at Lansdowne Road. The result was greeted with sadness for a country going through a political crisis.
History has a habit of repeating itself. There’s a political crisis in Europe and Ireland, not Romania, is caught in the middle, but they don’t have the vast excuses of their Eastern-bloc neighbours all those years ago.
They didn’t arrive in New Zealand broke; they had the best of hotels, the best of gear and the best of preparation for a three-match Test series, however daunting that might have been against the reigning world champions.
Ireland went into the games with players on top of their game, players with medals, either winners or runners-up medals, in their pockets.
Leinster illuminated European club football with brilliance and physicality, Ulster magnificently won their way to participate in an all-Ireland Heineken Cup final. Munster were also involved in the business end of the season.
Something is wrong, however, when good players become to look mediocre players simply by changing the colour of the jersey and, a brave second Test performance apart, there was a lot wrong in Tests one and three.
A week out from the Hamilton debacle, Ulster centre Paddy Wallace was basking himself in a European sun spot when he was called up by national coach Declan Kidney. That he did so and then pushed him straight into a Test side begs some questions that need answers, amongst them why Wallace wasn’t brought on the tour in the first place ahead of youngster Darren Cave, why Cave wasn’t given a run, why Declan Kidney didn’t go back to his original midfield pairing of skipper Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Earls, or indeed why he didn’t start Johnny Sexton in midfield outside Ronan O’Gara, which is what he ended up doing.
Nobody can blame the coaches for the way Ireland flagrantly handed back possession to the All Blacks on Saturday but the defeat does highlight the fact that something is wrong in the camp; the selection of Wallace, barely off the plane, jet lagged and ill prepared alongside his colleagues who had been in camp for almost a month, was an irresponsible mistake evidenced by the midfield defensive lapses and a marked lack of communication going forward.
Hard enough for Ireland to successfully play an expansive game against a team like New Zealand; ambition needs to be combined with absolute accuracy but it wasn’t, the midfield was brutally exposed in the opening 20 minutes by which time the game was effectively over as a contest.
After that it was merely a damage limitation exercise, and Ireland couldn’t even manage that.
Somebody has to cop the blame for how the rot started in the first place, and many reckon it started with the selection of an ill-prepared Wallace.
Without doubt, there were mitigating circumstances given the number of front-line players Ireland had in sick bay, but it’s a professional game and Ireland are supposed to be as physically well prepared as the next team.
What happened on Saturday was inexcusable, unacceptable, and the coaching team, from top to bottom, must now be seriously scrutinised and asked to account for their role in what was effectively a national sporting disaster.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/TjwnExhLLy0/post.aspx
Royal Bank of Scotland The Ashes European banks Short breaks The far right St Lucia
No comments:
Post a Comment