Let’s not be too nice to England
I do not think it was brilliant from the psychological point of view to harp on the status (whether true or not) of England as the No 1 team in the world at the moment. It is an opinion that is bound to encourage the English and the World Cup will tell the truth or falseness of it soon enough.
More important was the need to remedy the instability of the Irish scrum that was so evident in the second half in Cardiff and the failure to do so cost us the vital early try by Dallaglio. But we have lost Clohessy, Wood and Galwey from our front five, and this is an irreplaceable loss.
I do not think an Irish scrum will go backwards with Wood and Galwey in it. Galwey’s presence would certainly help to stabilise the scrum, and he seems to be as fit as ever (to judge from his performance for Munster against Gloucester at Kingsholm).
Why this desire to pension him off when he still has so much to offer at international level? We must be less obvious and more creative in our thinking. Youth is not always the better option.
Gerard Morgan,
Arts Building,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.
