Pope for President: How we need his positivity!

IT has been a truly memorable two weeks for Irish sport.

It started with Derval O'Rourke's 60m hurdles world gold in Moscow, the main course came during Festival Week in Cheltenham with our world-class equine sport industry, and dessert (and oh, how sweet it tasted) in Twickenham last Saturday with that ecstasy-inducing last-gasp try to beat England and clinch the Triple Crown.

Bear in mind, were it not for the brainless kick into touch by Robert Sidoli to gift France the lineout from which their match-winning try came against Wales, Ireland would also be Six Nations champions. Could it be that, finally, the worm is turning?

A few issues to get out of the way. For the first Horgan try, the ball bounced across the line, I was certain it was just about to touch down, out of play, but the big Meathman got his boot to it, kicked it back infield, followed up, touched down. Only millimetres in it, millisecond of time, but on that initial real-time viewing, that was how I saw it, perfectly good try.

That was also how touch judge Rob Dickson saw it; he was so sure the ball was going to touch down out of play that even as Horgan's boot made contact with the ball, he was raising his flag. But in that split-second, his eye, his mind, recorded that the kick was good, and the flag came down. I waited for the replay, and nothing, from any angle, convinced me that my first impression had been incorrect.

It's the Tommy Bowe situation all over again, his try against Italy, another split-second decision that went Ireland's way, another one I agreed with, though one that was instantly presented, even by the Irish media, as indisputably incorrect. It's as though, even when we win, we can't wait to find reasons we shouldn't have. What about marginal calls that went against us this year, the 'forward' passes that weren't, the 'advantage over' call that cost us against France, the offside not refereed against Scotland, the nonsensical yellow card against Simon Easterby last Saturday that allowed England to come back, take that late lead?

To hell with the begrudgers Ireland won this Triple Crown fair and square, won it also, let it be said, while STILL not playing to their full potential. All the talk afterwards was of the 6ft 4in, 16st frame of Shane Horgan (lauded as world-class here many moons ago), that final try, but what of the 5ft 7in, 11st frame of Stringer, the man who gave the bold, over-the-top, inch-perfect pass, the 5ft 10in, 14st frame of O'Driscoll, the genius who picked up the bobbing ball and surged out of the Irish half, the 5ft 11in, 13st O'Gara, who made the little kick ahead. Heroes, but there's more in this team, there's more in this coach, a lot more (like maximising that backline).

The same commentators who so lazily assume that the French are the flair team in European rugby, simply because the French were traditionally a flair team, who equally lazily presume England are the most powerful rugby team, simply because England, with their massive playing base, have the most physically powerful players, can pick 15 monsters every week, are ignoring reality, or (more likely) are plain ignorant of what's been happening in Irish rugby these past several years.

What of the performance of what isn't even, really, the Ireland A side last Friday (O'Sullivan, rightly, ignored many established internationals, went for youth), trouncing England after giving them an eight-point start (third successive win for the A side against England also, by the way)?

The U-21 team is young, most of them eligible again next year, so their result isn't as bad as the scoreline suggests, but what of a much-depleted U-19 side who kept it tight with England till the last ten minutes (all four provincial senior schools' cup finals were held, depriving Ireland of the likes of Luke Fitzgerald, Keith Earls, and, look out for this name, Jamie Smith of Campbell College in Ulster).

Tight-head prop, has anyone seen young Cian Healy of Belvedere? Let the last two weeks be a defining period in Irish sport. And finally, I'm starting a movement here, right now: Pope for President. This man, a Kiwi, believes in us more than we believe in ourselves. Oh, with the World Cup just around the corner, how we need his positivity!