Same again and it’s au revoir to the World Cup

DENIS LEAMY, Paul O’Connell, and Ronan O’Gara to a lesser extent, have no reason to reproach themselves after Ireland’s dismal performance against Namibia at the Stade Chaban Delmas on Sunday.

But none of the illustrious trio are hiding from the fact that any repeat of the appalling blunders on Sunday will mean quick elimination from the World Cup.

The entire party gave the impression of shell shock and one can only hope that a certain air of complacency, perhaps understandable when playing against the 24th-ranked team in the world, was reason for the sloppy display.

“I never thought we weren’t going to win but it was a performance we were looking for and we didn’t get that,” said O’Connell.

“I can’t explain it and it’s something we have to figure out over the next few days. We made silly, basic skills mistakes and if that continues we’ll be out of the competition early.

“It was one of our worst performances since I became involved, just a case of mistake after mistake after mistake. It has to stop.

“But we know that’s not us as a team. We know we need to find a way to find our form before the French match. It doesn’t matter how I played individually, it’s how the team goes and as a team, we didn’t perform. And it’s now time for a few of the more experienced guys to start leading the team more and maybe we haven’t done that.

“I’m not sure what it is but it’s something we need to put right.”

The various permutations in Pool D following Argentina’s shock defeat of France and the difficult position

Ireland have put themselves in by their poor result against Namibia are top of the agenda here in Bordeaux.

Many people aren’t giving Ireland a prayer of making the quarter-finals but the team and management remain confident of getting to the last eight.

“I don’t think any other team really concerns us, it’s the way we’re playing that is the concern,” O’Connell maintained.

“It’s not the way other teams are playing that’s a problem for us, it’s the way we’re playing ourselves that worries us. When we find our own form, we can start worrying about other teams and it’s all about us at the moment.”

There have been a few indications that the squad are not overly happy at staying in a hotel a half hour or so away from the lovely city of Bordeaux and in an area where there’s almost nothing to do to relieve the boredom.

O’Gara didn’t go down that road but did note that “it was a long week and it’s not enjoyable at the minute. It’s the dark side of professional sport, away from home and trying your best to perform. I don’t enjoy that and I don’t think the other players do either.”

Leamy was a lot more upbeat, understandable perhaps because he was Ireland’s best player on the night, and he underlined his belief that the side will play a lot better against Georgia now that they’ve had this wake up call.

“We started off a little helter skelter instead of putting the phases together,” he accepted.

“Of course it’s going to be tough against France and Argentina but no tougher than we ever expected. We always knew that. Individual performances don’t come into it even if I was happy with the way I started. Individually, I know we have very good players but collectively now we have to stick together and sort it out.

“We haven’t gone from being a good team to a bad team in a few months. We’ll bounce back because there’s nothing that happened against Namibia that can’t be fixed, that’s for sure. All it takes is one big performance and we’re back in the hunt. A lot can happen in a week and there’s a lot of rugby to be played in this competition yet.”

Meanwhile TV3 recorded one of its highest ever audiences to a sports event with an average viewership of 452,000 for Ireland’s opener against Namibia. The viewing peaked at 728,000 in the final quarter hour.

On Friday, 333,000 watched the opening night’s match between France and Argentina, more than five times the audience for the opening match of the last Rugby World Cup in 2003.

TV3’s executive producer Philippe Brodeur commented: “We are delighted with the figures which exceed all our expectations for these two matches. Matt Cooper and the team of panellists, commentators and reporters have delivered a programme which I believe firmly establishes TV3’s credentials as a national broadcaster.”