Brave and plucky is no longer enough

THE 2007 World Cup may still be ten months away but Ireland’s preparations begin in earnest at Lansdowne Road this evening.

No more ifs, buts, or excuses. We are told day in, day out, that rugby in this country is keeping pace with the Celtic Tiger. In other words, we have never been better off and the rest had better look out.

The clash with a half-strength South African side at Lansdowne Road should be a reliable indicator of whether this is pie in the sky or the dawn of a golden era for Eddie O’Sullivan and his squad. Paul O’Connell has been saying that England had consistently fronted up to and frequently defeated the leading southern hemisphere countries in the lead-up to their World Cup triumph in 2003. The great second-row believes you just don’t turn up on the day and beat the Springboks, All Blacks and Wallabies unless you have discovered the winning habit against them in earlier games.