Six victories equals Ireland's best run but we must not get carried away, yet!

BRIAN O'DRISCOLL restrained himself this time and there was no lap of honour.

The players instead trooped off a joke of a pitch content with their day's work and quietly confident the new year will bring even better things. Unfortunately, the ever grating voice of the Lansdowne Road public address announcer informed us Ireland had equalled a record by winning six matches in a row. What he didn't reveal, of course, was at whose expense they were achieved.

Coach Eddie O'Sullivan is absolutely correct when he claims that he and his management team are putting together a squad of serious depth.

Missing from Saturday's squad were players of the calibre of Keith Wood, Denis Hickie, David and Paul Wallace, Paul O'Connell, Eric Miller and Rob Henderson. Hopefully, however, the day is still a long way off when we are overjoyed at beating the likes of Romania, Georgia, Russia and Fiji. If Ireland are still in the second division of world rugby, that quartet doesn't even merit a rating. Friendlies and even mis-matches may have their place but should never be mistaken for the real thing.

Beating Australia, of course, is a different matter, although I will risk the ire of the large bulk of Irish supporters by suggesting the circumstances at Lansdowne Road in November 2002 will be so far removed from those in Melbourne come the World Cup 12 months later as to be totally irrelevant. The conditions at Lansdowne Road three weeks ago were farcical, just as they were on Saturday, when the pitch was so waterlogged for the visit of Argentina that one pre-match wag suggested if Ireland win the toss, they should defend the deep end.

How can one take too seriously the outcome of a match played in what was no better than a paddy field?

True, both sides were inconvenienced by the state of the pitch and the Argentineans only marginally more so, and the result put an end to the Argentinean recent run of victories against the Irish. But revenge for Lens 1999? Forget it. That can only happen when the sides next meet in Adelaide on October 26th 2003.

We can look forward to a nice "Christmas, it's been a good half year's work, six games, six wins," glowed Eddie O'Sullivan. Hard to argue with that, you can only beat whatever is put up against you. However, it might be prudent to compare Ireland's run of good results with what England have been doing. Beating New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in rapid succession is hugely impressive by any standards.

Consequently, Ireland must keep the lid on things, keep a sense of perspective and not to get too far ahead of themselves before the Six Nations comes round in February with two potential banana skins in Edinburgh and Rome to get the campaign under way. The lap of honour after the Australian game posed the possibility that we were already falling into the complacency trap and the fact that the crowd on Saturday were so muted for much of the proceedings and again at the final whistle conveyed the message quite emphatically.

O'Sullivan, to be fair, is entitled to commend much of what his side managed on Saturday. He referred especially to the set pieces where the accurate throwing of Shane Byrne and the lifting expertise of the admirable John Hayes ensured that Malcolm O'Kelly, substitute Leo Cullen, Victor Costello and Anthony Foley had a field day in the line-outs while the scrum was never under pressure and indeed troubled the Argentineans on a number of their own put-ins.

"It was a day for working hard and getting into the trenches," commented O'Sullivan without any discernible note of sarcasm at his choice of phrase. "It was slippery out there and not a day for rugby. The game was always going to swing on mistakes. We mauled the ball as well as Argentina would have liked to do. We don't normally maul the ball that much but it was the only solution on a day like this."

All very true and it was hardly surprising that Foley should shine in the going and that the set piece supremacy of the pack as a whole should prove decisive. In a funny way, though, I believe O'Sullivan and co have best reason to be pleased with the performance of some of their less heralded backs, like Girvan Dempsey and Shane Horgan, a pair who have improved out of all recognition in recent times. Dempsey's fielding of the wet ball, the manner in which he took his try and general overall assurance was quite remarkable. Horgan has performed outstandingly well for Leinster and he is now doing so for his country to such effect that he is deservedly keeping a player of Geordan Murphy's class on the bench. O'Sullivan, Declan Kidney and Matt Williams can take a bow in this respect. Shane Byrne was voted man of the match probably because of his throwing into the line-out.

How perspectives have changed. For me, Dempsey and the magnificent Peter Stringer vied for the honour. Few scrum-halves enjoy rain and mud but it doesn't seem to matter to the dynamic No 9. Once again, Stringer's passing shone like a beacon through the gloom but on this occasions was surpassed by his tactical acumen and especially his box kicking. How you wish his critics would shut up and look elsewhere to dispense their punditry!