Reasons to be fearful

THERE can be no equivocating or refusal to face facts after this near horror for Irish rugby at the Stade Chaban Delmas last night. Ireland were awful, and deeply embarrassed by a Namibian side ranked 24th in the world and who were in no way flattered by running their vaunted opponents to a margin of 15 points when many good judges believed it would be three or four times that amount.

Argentina’s defeat of France has, of course, thrown Pool D of the World Cup into a state of chaos and it will be another couple of weeks or so before we fully realise the implications of this shambolic Ireland performance. They appear to have learned nothing from the warm-up game against Italy and, at this remove, it is impossible to foresee anything but difficult times ahead against France and Argentina. Qualification for the quarter-finals is a fanciful proposition unless something drastic happens — and quickly.

Coach Eddie O’Sullivan will have been alarmed by the considerable number of handling errors that cost points and tries in this most competitive of pools. And he will be even more upset at the way the Namibians were allowed to take control for long stretches of the second half when they might well have been out on their feet with Ireland leading by 27-3.

For lengthy stages, they actually looked the better side.

“We started off tentatively, as we felt our way into the competition but things actually got worse,” said the coach. “The 15 minutes actually turned out to be our best period in terms of keeping the scoreboard ticking over.”

He added: “We got looser and looser as the game went on, we lost our shape and made individual errors. It was a very poor performance and we’ve got to take a long look at ourselves.”

O’Sullivan warned: “If we play like that against Georgia it could be a worse night. Georgia will put up a better challenge than Namibia – if we go and reproduce that performance, we will be in trouble.”

There were positives, even if you had to try hard to find them. It was good to see Brian O’Driscoll very close to his best in spite of all the recent injury concerns. Denis Leamy also had a stormer at number eight, Paul O’Connell was little behind him, while the returning David Wallace came through well before being replaced by Neil Best in the closing ten minutes. Quick thinking has always been one of the captain’s most impressive characteristics and his chip ahead and chase for the first of Ireland’s five tries in the fourth minute was a little gem of opportunism.

The neutrals in the full house of 36,000 understandably supported the underdogs and “Allez Les Bleus” rang out many times throughout the evening. In contrast, the “green army” that had shown up in huge numbers over the weekend was muted.

It is reasonable to assume that Ronan O’Gara’s line kicking will have improved appreciably by the time the bigger games come around and that Denis Hickie’s handling will be a lot more assured. If not, the threat presented by O’Driscoll will not be capitalised upon and the good work up front of Leamy and O’Connell will go to waste. Indeed, Hickie may well lose his place altogether given a decent display by Andrew Trimble and the imminent return of Shane Horgan.

Those who expected that the essential four tries would be safely in the bag by half time were to be disappointed. O’Driscoll’s early try converted by O’Gara might well have led to the opening of the floodgates, but the Namibians were clearly fired up for this one. They defended stoutly and frustrated a succession of Irish attacks to such an extent that O’Gara was left to tap over a close range penalty with all other options apparently sealed off.

Ireland’s second try came about when O’Gara found Andrew Trimble with a precise cross kick from a penalty. But the out-half pulled the conversion attempt and did likewise after Simon Easterby forced his way over in the corner on 29 minutes. Even then, Ireland couldn’t impose their will and, to their great delight, the Namibians rounded off the first half scoring with a penalty from 40 metres by out-half Emile Wessels.

The bonus point was finally clinched in the 48th minute when referee Joel Jutge awarded Ireland a penalty try for deliberate collapsing of the scrum. O’Gara tapped over the conversion and the scene, one felt, was set for a tryfest by the Irish. The opposite was to be the case as Namibian number six Jacques Nieuwenhuis finished off one of the finest movements of the evening for a try which Wessels converted.

As the ball sailed between the sticks, O’Sullivan was lining up Jerry Flannery and Simon Best to take over from Rory Best and Marcus Horan who seemed to be affected by a knock to his left shoulder. Worse, much worse, though, was lying in wait for the Irish as Namibia grabbed their second try through centre Piet van Zyl. The crowd went wild with excitement as Wessels knocked over the conversion and at 27-17 one of the greatest shocks in rugby history was a possibility.

The unmentionable was avoided when Flannery got over, barely if at all, in the corner on 76 minutes, but 32-17 to Ireland was extremely harsh justice on the Africans. The crowd rose to them at the final whistle as they did a lap of honour. It was little wonder, nor was it a surprise, that the Irish slipped quietly away to their dressing room where one would love to have been a proverbial fly on the wall.

Ireland scorers: Tries: O’Driscoll, Trimble, Easterby, Penalty, Flannery. Cons: O’Gara 2. Pens: O’Gara.

IRELAND: G Dempsey, A Trimble, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, D Hickie, R O’Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, R. Best, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, S Easterby, D. Wallace, D Leamy.

Replacements: G Murphy for O’Driscoll (80), P. Wallace for O’Gara (80), S. Best for Horan (62), J Flannery for R. Best (62), N. Best for D. Wallace (69).

Namibia scorers: Tries: Nieuwenhuis, van Zyl. Cons: Wessels 2. Pens: Wessels.

NAMIBIA: T Losper, R Witbooi, B Langenhoven, P van Zyl, H Bock; E Wessels, E Jantjies; K Lensing (capt), H Horn, J du Toit, W Kazombiaze, N Esterhuize, J Nieuwenhuis, H Senekal, J Burger.

Replacements: M Mackenzie for Senekal (22); J Redelinghuys for Lensing (50); J van Tonder for Jantjies (51); T Du Plessis for Burger (66); Burger for Du Plessis (69); J Meyer for Horn (77); Lensing for Redelinghuys (78); M Africa for Witbooi (81).

Referee: J Jutge (France).