‘It was our worst performance in a very long time’

THERE have been times when Eddie O’Sullivan has been too protective and supportive of his Irish players but not last night. He actually looked diminished in himself; pale and shell shocked as he took on board just how poorly his side had played in beating the unrated Namibians.

“It was our worst performance in a very long time,” he accepted after the 32-17 defeat of Namibia. “There was an enormous amount of unforced errors. Winning the game and getting a bonus point is something I suppose but not an awful lot. I asked the players at half time not to make the mistakes that were creeping into our game but we went on to make even more errors in the second half.

“In terms of the group, I think we’ve just got to focus on winning the next game but the fact is that if we perform like that, we mightn’t come out on the right side of the result against Georgia who are another tough side. We have to come out next week and do the things we’re good at. I never felt we were going to lose the game, it was a case of being more frustrated at the way we were trying to win it.”