Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Previous editions
Monday, November 30, 2009
NOT for the first time in his career, Brian O’Driscoll found himself prostrate on the deck in the heat of battle at Croke Park on Saturday, having smashed yet another Springbok ball carrier with utter disregard for his own well being.
On the previous occasion, it signalled his departure from the Lions tour as the series was lost in Pretoria. On this occasion, once he regained control of his faculties, it was a happier ending. His last ditch tackle on full back Zane Kirchner denied South Africa the opportunity to salvage something from what has been a horrid tour for them. For O’Driscoll and his men, Saturday’s 15-10 win signalled the perfect end to the perfect year – Ireland unbeaten in 2009.
The question now, though, is where do Ireland go from here? What does 2010 hold for this group of players and management? Man Utd manager Alex Ferguson famously stated after finally ending a 31-year wait for the European Cup in 1999 that he enjoyed the night itself, but the morning after was all about how to retain the trophy. One of his players blithely declared in the aftermath that he didn’t care if he never won again. It showed the following season. In sport, ambition is everything.
With this group of Irish players, there is so much unfinished business. Yes, a first grand slam in 61 years is mightily satisfying in its own right but magnificent achievement that it is, it must be seen as a stop on the journey, not a destination in itself.
After the disaster at the World Cup two years ago, with a very talented bunch of players, everything must now be geared to maximising this group’s collective ability to compete for the ultimate prize in New Zealand in 2011. The first step has already been taken. It has been a superb year for the game in this country. Eleven unbeaten games, the only blemish that draw against Australia two weeks ago. However, even that felt like a win with the manner in which the team manufactured that crucial try at the death. Australia too are a better side than recent results would suggest, as Wales can attest to after their experience in the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
The thing that will sustain this Irish team through 2010 is the fact that despite all their recent success, they are still an evolving unit. I believe we have yet to see the best of this squad of players and I use the word ‘squad’ purposely. Over the course of these autumn internationals fresh young talent has been drip fed into the team with positive effect. Cian Healy, Jonny Sexton and Sean O’Brien have now been blooded while Keith Earls, who was only earning his fifth cap last Saturday, already looks comfortable and assured at this level. Sean Cronin was capped against Fiji and has now sampled the demands of being a member of the match day squad for three consecutive internationals.
This team is still very much a work in progress and there are areas that require attention. Foremost is the scrum, which, like it or not, will become the first point of attack for five foes in the Six Nations championship. Ireland were badly exposed in this area on Saturday and were fortunate in the extreme that in Jamie Heaslip we now have an outstanding athlete at No 8, brilliantly adept in dealing with the demands of are treating scrum. It helped Ireland’s cause enormously in the second half that there was only seven scrums in total and none at all between the 46th and 65th minutes, the period when Ireland dominated the contest.
There were certainly mitigating circumstances, given that John Hayes and Jerry Flannery were bothcom promised with little or no game time in the previous four months. Australia boast the most improved scrum in the international game and the Springboks vastly improved their effectiveness by shifting John Smit from prop to hooker and introducing a specialist tight head.
Cian Healy has probably learned more in the last two weeks than in his entire career to date and, from a scrummaging perspective, Marcus Horan has been missed. He will add greatly to the mix when he returns from his recent setback. John Hayes has been super human for so long that his efforts were taken for granted but he is at a stage of his career where games are more beneficial to him than training. Unfortunately that is the one aspect he has been denied in recent times. He will be in a better position to compete at optimum level by the time Italy come calling in February.
The Irish management now need to decide who offers the best back up to Hayes, be it Tony Buckley, Tom Court or Mike Ross, and make sure that their choice is exposed to full international rugby next year. The Bull will be 38 at the next World Cup and there is no guarantee he will make it.
Only a few short months ago there were palpitations every time Ronan O’Gara went down injured as there was nobody capable of lacing his boots in terms of back up. From that perspective the most positive aspect of the last few weeks has been the emergence of Sexton. Once again he was calmness personified in Croke Park and the battle between him and O’Gara for the coveted No10 jersey over the next two years will only be good for Irish rugby. There was that lovely moment caught on television of a smiling O’Gara on the sideline when Sexton calmly knocked over yet another penalty goal with the Cork man acknowledging the efforts of the young pretender. Make no mistake, though, O’Gara is the ultimate competitor. The gloves will be off from here on in as they both fight for the starting slot against Italy.
I have believed for some time now that Ireland have accumulated the strongest coaching ticket in the international game at present at a time when so much young talent has come to the fore. Remember that Rob Kearney, outstanding again against South Africa (will they ever learn the folly of kicking to him), Tommy Bowe, Tomás O’Leary, Healy, Heaslip and Earls have all emerged as genuine international quality in the two years since the last World Cup. Declan Kidney has been magnificent and richly deserves the accolade as the IRB coach of the year even if he does attribute his success to every other coach in Ireland.
The only blemish on the perfect year for Irish rugby was that surely, with due respects to the excellent Richie McCaw, Brian O’Driscoll should have been named IRB player of the year.
It is hard to work out what more he could have done and he may now never receive that accolade. That is simply and sadly wrong.
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