Defeat would be disaster for Ireland

AN Irish team travelling to Twickenham in a fortnight’s time coming off losses against France and Wales would be facing down the barrel of a howitzer, almost without hope of success, and left with a couple of relatively meaningless home games against Italy and Scotland, the Cinderella countries of the Six Nations Championship.

And, make no mistake about it, Ireland are really up against it tomorrow. Brian O’Driscoll may be back, but how effective he can be after a five week lay-off with a torn hamstring remains to be seen. Geordan Murphy, Denis Hickie, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Eric Miller and Marcus Horan are among those who couldn’t be considered due to injury. Do we have the resources to cope with such a situation? This game may well provide the answer.

Winning infuses its own kind of confidence, a point well made by Welsh coach Steve Hansen as he illustrated the sense of well being in the Welsh camp with a cricket analogy. “Ireland are a different side to Scotland but we will go there with confidence because we already have some runs on the scoreboard,” he said. He might have equally been pointing out that Ireland, after their 18-point defeat in Paris, are running just a little scared, fully aware that their Six Nations campaign will be in tatters if they lose again tomorrow, with the world champions looming on home territory a fortnight later.

Hansen could be on his way back to New Zealand to become part of their new coaching set-up, and he intends to do so on a high. He is fully aware of the traditional pride the Welsh place in their rugby prowess, and it’s a word he uses constantly to keep the players and fans on their toes. “We are looking forward to playing a game we can be proud of,” he tells everybody.

They looked the part against New Zealand and England Down Under, but you have to suspect that last week’s Scottish side is so sub-standard that they cannot be used as a reliable indicator of form.

The Welsh have talent behind the scrum, no doubt about that. The back three of Rhys and Shane Williams and full-back Gareth Thomas can be outstandingly good in the open field, Iestyn Thomas has the potential to cause midfield havoc and there are few more reliable number tens than Stephen Jones. The pack, strengthened by the return of the great-hearted Llanelli hooker Robin McBryde, will compete to the last.

The feeling is that Paul O’Connell and Donnacha O’Callaghan will outplay Brent Cockbain and Robert Sidoli in the line-outs, rucks and mauls, that the front-row battle will edge Ireland’s way, if not by such a clear margin, and that the back-row trio will also more than contain their Welsh rivals, especially as the visitors are without their captain and vastly experienced number six, Colin Charvis. It’s a reasonable argument, although it should be noted that Charvis is replaced by Jonathan Thomas, unarguably one of the stars of the Welsh World Cup campaign, during which he had an absolute blinder against the All Blacks.

Eddie O’Sullivan has said and done things of late with which it wasn’t difficult to take issue. He was almost certainly correct, however, when describing this game as 50/50. He will be avidly hoping that his players can tip the balance in Ireland’s favour. Otherwise, the rest of the season hardly bears thinking about.