One party that knows how to ruck and rarely turns over possession

HAVE you been following the Rugby World Cup? It’s a peculiar competition. For the first couple of weeks, a whole series of matches that make you wonder about the cynicism of the organisers, totally one-sided affairs involving rugby nations giving tutorials to countries where rugby is still in its infancy.

Then suddenly it explodes in the kind of gut-wrenching excitement that leaves you breathless (especially if you're an Ireland supporter).

Now we're in anticipation mode.

Each of the pools finished more or less as the experts predicted and the knockout phase begins next weekend. Again, the experts have impeccable logic on their side when they predict the outcome of each of the matches.

But rugby has a way of upsetting experts on the day (as Wales showed over the weekend) even teams that are routinely written off have the capacity to raise their game. With rugby, you never can tell and you can never write off any team with character.

I don't want to stretch a metaphor too far, but over the years, following the Northern Ireland peace process has been a bit like watching an extended version of the World Cup.

We've had long periods of slow, plodding activity, great displays of character and courage, several flashes of brilliance, more than a few moments to upset the experts and, of course, occasions when it was better to go and make a cup of tea.

In a sense, we're in the knockout phases of the competition now. The peace process seems to be moving towards an inevitable and inexorable outcome what I call post-IRA Ireland, with the possibility of a new political configuration that might shape the longer-term future of the entire island.

We didn't, in the end, take the giant step in that direction which seemed to be tantalisingly close in the negotiations of the past few weeks. The process was, in the final moments, mismanaged by its key participants.

The new relationship between Adams and Trimble turned out still to have too much expedience and not enough trust in it. The anxiety of the governments to secure a deal seemed to get in the way of good judgment and common sense.

The stumble that resulted was a classic illustration of a rushed process a haggard and clearly exhausted John de Chastelain delivered good news as if he was presiding over a funeral, and the fragile relationships behind the scenes were unable to decipher the real intentions of the IRA, because that bit of the process hadn't been adequately telegraphed and interpreted in advance.

So it will now fall to the new executive to work with the two governments in the next phase of the process, which will be once again about building trust and enabling further movement towards the objective of a post-IRA set of political developments.

I have said it before, and I will say it again in that situation it is absolutely vital that the SDLP has a central and powerful role.

A few months ago, writing about the way in which unionism and nationalism have managed to work together in government for the betterment of the people of Northern Ireland, I said that "the major credit for this, in my view, must go to the SDLP.

They have gone out of their way to be builders rather than wreckers. They have worked for outcomes rather than indulged in process. While some in Northern Ireland always talk to their own first, the leadership of the SDLP talk to the community at large".

Given that their approach has always tended towards solving problems rather than making them, it must have been galling for Mark Durkan and his colleagues to have been left on the sidelines over the last few weeks as others tried to put the deal together.

It was also incredibly foolish on the part of the two governments. I have a little bit of experience of observing Northern Ireland negotiations.

It has been a constant almost since the beginning that whenever there was an impasse or a breakdown in negotiations, whenever a bridge needed to be built, as often as not it was an idea or a suggestion or a behind-the-scenes meeting involving the SDLP that provided the breakthrough.

They are a party of principle, but they recognise the difference between principle and interests. They understand the old truism that you negotiate to reconcile your interests with those of your neighbour, rather than to try to establish primacy for your principles.

Other people in the peace process make it a principle that you can never trust or like your neighbour and that's why negotiations in which they are involved are always so tortured, and the results so fragile.

If you make a deal with the SDLP, it sticks and it works. If you make a deal with some of the other parties involved, it doesn't survive the first bad press conference.

IT'S common currency now that the SDLP face an uphill struggle in the Assembly elections now underway.

Sinn Féin's major objective in this election is to overtake the SDLP and become the largest party on the nationalist side. I fail to see how that outcome could be regarded as positive in the current climate. For a start, in the light of everything I've just said, there would be no justice in it.

The SDLP have deserved better treatment from the two governments over the last couple of weeks and their record, I believe, will command respect throughout the Northern Ireland electorate.

But secondly, the outcome of the process over the past few weeks only proves the folly of ignoring a strong and stabilising influence of the kind the SDLP always provides.

After this election, apart from the work that still remains to be done to bolt down the odds and ends of the decommissioning argument, Northern Ireland needs an assembly and a government that is free to concentrate on education, health, job creation, the environment and childcare in other words, the things the rest of us worry about.

Practical, grounded, experienced politicians, with a broad view of the world and fewer hang-ups about old fashioned identity (because they know who they are, they don't need to keep shouting about it) are needed. No group of politicians in Northern Ireland is better trained and equipped for the job than the SDLP.

There's no doubt they face a tough battle to hold on to their lead over Sinn Féin. Across Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin have a strong, well-financed electoral machine. They have extraordinary numbers of staff and they are all dedicated to one purpose.

But the SDLP under Mark Durkan has been working hard over the last couple of years to get its act together and to compete effectively on the ground. Not only have they got a large number of candidates running, but they are quality very community-based and all very articulate.

The SDLP's secret weapon is the ability to attract transfer votes and as we know down here, in a PR contest that can be vital. In this match, the SDLP is like Ireland in next week's quarter-finals determination, skill and vision have got them this far. They're not going to be beaten now.