Robinson: Irish have great potential

HIS two years as England head coach were dogged by negativity, controversy and defeat so it gladdened Andy Robinson’s heart to fly into Dublin yesterday and witness first hand the simmering optimism over the Irish team’s prospects in the looming World Cup.

Four seasons spent as England’s forward coach, two as their main man and a stint assisting Clive Woodward’s Lions have left the Taunton native well qualified to run the rule over Ireland’s chances and he likes what he sees.

‘‘Eddie has a great team around him and a great set of players,’’ he said at the launch of Setanta’s tournament coverage yesterday.

‘‘A lot of it is to do with keeping your nerve. There is a belief within the squad and the hard work will have been done by the time they arrive in France and the focus now has to be on themselves.

‘‘They have to concentrate on themselves. All the talk about how other teams are playing isn’t their concern. They need to focus on what they have to do because they are something special.’’

He sees trouble ahead though, even from this remove, four weeks before the kick-off.

Much has been made of Ireland’s painfully difficult grouping alongside hosts France and Argentina, the team that has become the side’s perpetual nemesis. For Robinson though, the problem goes deeper.

With France and Argentina being Ireland’s third and fourth pool games, Eddie O’Sullivan’s side will have to operate at full throttle from September 21 through to October 20 if they are to actually win the Webb Ellis Trophy.

‘‘There is a difficulty for Ireland that no other side faces and that is to do with the scheduling. For Ireland to win the World Cup they will have to do something no other side has ever done and that is win five full-on test matches back to back.

‘‘With the scheduling the way it is, Ireland might find the going tough in that last 15 minutes of the game, particularly in a quarter-final or semi-final, purely because the toughness of each match they have to play.’’

A cursory glance back at the previous five tournaments gives credence to Robinson’s worries. New Zealand and Australia had to play only five games in total to win the 1987 and ‘91 competitions while South Africa, Australia and England all enjoyed easy end games to their group against lesser opposition before raising the intensity again for the more difficult stages.

‘‘Because of that, the squad is going to be important and so will keeping key players fit. With that bit of luck they can achieve something very special. They have great potential.’’

‘‘The key thing to winning every match is leadership. All teams have some outstanding leaders that they need to stay fit. New Zealand’s (Tana) Umaga got injured in the last World Cup and that counted against them in a big way. He was a talisman for them,

‘‘They’ve got Carter and they’ve got McCaw but what would their leadership be like if those key players weren’t playing? It was disappointing for Ireland to lose last year against France when they were without Brian O’Driscoll.’’

The temptation may be to wrap the stars in cotton wool until that crunch encounter with France but players can’t afford to approach the business end of proceedings cold either.

With the provinces exiting the Heineken Cup earlier than usual this year, many of O’Sullivan’s players are, if anything, in need of game time instead of rest and Robinson has no doubt most will play their part against Namibia and Georgia.

‘‘They should play, maybe 20 minutes or 30 minutes. It’s about balancing the team and getting the units playing, getting a feel of how they are playing together as a squad. They have to play but they also have to be prepared going into the France and Argentina games.’’

Top their pool and Ireland’s path to a semi-final will be an enticing one, finish second and they face a trip to Cardiff where likely opponents New Zealand will relish the chance to end talk of the Irish becoming a serious player on the world stage.

Should that clash come to pass, Robinson won’t be writing the Triple Crown champions off.

‘‘Everybody’s (building up) the All-Blacks. They can be beaten. One of the most important things for the public in Ireland is to get behind the squad. Most teams lose to New Zealand because they lack the belief. When you play New Zealand you’ve got to match them toe to toe and to do that you need the support of everyone around you,’’ he said.

‘‘There is no doubt that Ireland have the potential to beat them. One of the key strengths Ireland have is Ronan O’Gara’s kicking game. His tactical kicking game is probably the best in the world. To win World Cup games you have to be tactically smart. Ireland can do that.”