Lam targets good start

PACIFIC ISLANDERS coach Pat Lam hopes a decent start can inspire his side against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

Against Wales and Scotland, the touring side were blown away in the opening halves, but responded with powerful second-half displays.

As Ireland face into the last ever Test game at the old Lansdowne Road, with a very strong, but somewhat experimental team, it will be an emotional occasion.

However, Lam hopes his charges can spoil the party.

Assistant coach Shane Howarth agrees. “If we could start the game at half time, we would be fine.”

Lam expanded: “We really have been playing second-half rugby, but we have come to accept that it’s only the silly mistakes that cost us the games.

‘‘We really feel if we had played consistently we could have won both games.

“It has been difficult as well to get the team to adapt to the same systems. We’ve really only come together, didn’t have a chance of a warm-up game which would have been nice, so if we can tidy up in the first half, I think we can be very competitive,” he said.

However, Lam insisted the rapport between the players had improved as the tour progressed.

“There is huge evidence that the guys have bought into a tour like this, it was bound to take time, bound to have teething problems in terms of adapting to a new style of play.

‘‘But there is huge talent within the squad, we’ve shown glimpses of what we’re capable of, we have scored seven very good tries and some of the scores we leaked has been down to a lack of understanding of the system.”

Lam also pointed out that the selection of the party was confined to players who were eligible to play with their respective countries in the World Cup.

He said: “All in all, I’m very happy with the progress made in the last few weeks, we’ve been put in a unique position and I think it’s character building from our point of view.”

But if Lam is optimistic, he’s not under-estimating the challenge.

“I had a quick look at their team sheet and realised they mean business. Ok, they’ve got a few new caps in there, and that’s important from their perspective. If they can’t use new players at this stage of the season, then it wouldn’t give out good signals.”

Ireland, he said, had been outstanding in the last two games.

He added: “The consistency of the coaching staff, the players who have come through — it has been a long term plan — has really helped bring the Irish game to a new level.

“We’re facing up to guys like Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and Malcolm O’Kelly plus a lot more.

‘‘I didn’t realise until we got to Ireland, to be honest, that O’Kelly wasn’t even in the starting line up against South Africa and Australia. Hell, that’s scary!” he said.

“They have a few young guys coming through, they have a good system for that, and that’s good because otherwise you end up with what happened to England.”

Lam will be best remembered for his starring role when Northampton ended Munster’s Heineken Cup dreams at Twickenham in 2000.

“We’re going out to win; we want to show that we can play both halves, and I promise this much if we do or don’t – we’ll turn up to the party anyway,” he joked.