This team won’t be denied for long

SPEAKING to a very obviously disappointed Marcus Horan on Sunday evening, I asked him which hurt more: the fact that they had lost this historic game at Croke Park, or the fact that they had lost a Six Nations match, and another chance at history, the fabled Grand Slam.

A combination of both, he said, but as he elaborated it was obvious which hurt more. The Grand Slam, a feat achieved only once in Ireland’s long and proud rugby history, achieved before even I was born. The year was 1948 when Jackie Kyle, Karl Mullen, and 13 others wrote their names into Irish sporting folklore; since then, only frustration.

I’m with Marcus on this one. Certainly I’d have liked to see Ireland open their Croke Park rugby chapter with a win, but that was very much secondary to the real event. More than anything, I wanted to see Ireland stay on course for a Grand Slam. I wanted to see this particular team stay on course. Didn’t happen.

The sense of disappointment around Croke Park on Sunday evening was palpable; around 70,000 Irish supporters, but there was more than enough grief to go around. The French, of course, were celebrating, but even in the packed press-box there was an air of real gloom and despondency among the Irish contingent. Imagine how the players must have felt.

We know this is a special Irish team; we know also this was a less-than-special French team, there for the taking. But as Irish coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, keeps pointing out, at this level of competition the little things can be very big, and all the little things worked against us on Sunday.

Let’s take fitness: Shane Horgan’s return was a minor miracle, a tribute to himself and to the fitness staff. A couple of weeks ago he was on crutches, on Sunday he was in the gruelling inside centre position in a major championship international.

But he was lacking in big-match fitness, and that showed in the early minutes, the minutes when Ireland lost this one, fell 13-3 behind.

Gordon D’Arcy was at outside centre. A week ago he suffered injury in Wales, was nursed for the first few days of last week’s training. Then there was Denis Leamy. Denis has had his problems already this season, seemed to have fully recovered for the Welsh game, then suffered a stud-raking on an old injury, was hospitalised in Cardiff, had an abscess in his side lanced, the poison drained. He can’t have had a full week’s training either, but the man is such a force of nature that he still had a major impact.

Still, little injuries to three key men, it adds up.

Positional changes: With injury to two key personnel, Eddie was forced into a juggling act. On paper, he did fine. Shane started at 12, Gordon likewise at 13. Geordan Murphy has played many times on the wing. However, none of the three has done so lately.

In hindsight, too many changes.

Over the years, Ronan O’Gara has built up an understanding with Peter Stringer and Gordon. Instinctive things both in attack and defence, little things. That was missing on Sunday, but with Gordon restored to the inside, one of those missing pieces would have been back in position.

When the talented Andrew Trimble came in, especially, there was an even greater opportunity to put everything back to rights — Gordon to 12, Andrew to 13, Shane to 14.

Over the years, in a variety of sports, there are high-profile instances of overall team failure because of too much tinkering to counter the loss of one player. This is a lesson to be learned from Sunday.

The breaks: Premature whistle for a French knock-on to recall Geordan after his length-of-the-pitch intercept run, no advantage given; slight overthrow to Geordan on the right wing in the second half, with a try on; out-of-character dropped balls by Denis and Gordon at crucial stages; that bloody bounce for their winning try, that mismatch in the centre of the field – ah, to hell with it.

Under Eddie, there is an inexorable swell towards something big, something good. I feel about this Irish team as I felt about Munster in the past several years — they are too good to be denied every year.

The time for this team is coming. Last Sunday, all those little things added up against them — that tide will change, this surge is real.

The Grand Slam is gone, but as Marcus pointed out, the Triple Crown is still up for grabs, as is the championship itself.

This team can do it.