Prophets of doom having field day offloading blame

So they’re supposed to give up now. Just like any sensible group of Irish sportspeople should. They failed so they’re failures and would be better of failing to even try again, the nation’s sages in their self-appointed wisdom chortling Cleese that haven’t you forgotten, it’s the hope, not the despair, that kills you, old boy.

The twitterati, including more than one current and former colleague of mine, has been lining up to mock rugby country for even thinking it ever was that for even a day. A sixth World Cup quarter-final and still no semi-final? Bottlers, not battlers. Forget the Triple Crowns, Six Nations, Heineken Cups that Irish teams have amassed in the intervening years, the group-topping displays of the last two WC tournaments. Progress? What real progress has there been since ’87?

Perhaps the most despondent assessment/tweet came from this paper’s special correspondent Michael Clifford within minutes of the Cardiff Catastrophe.