Wallace talks up minnow’s potential

THOUGH the Ireland squad had a scheduled weights session on Tuesday evening, David Wallace managed to snatch portions of the Argentina and Georgia match.

The flanker saw enough to know that Georgia will provide a stern contest in their second RWC Pool D encounter on Saturday night.

And he warned that the vista of another minnow making life difficult for the Irish is entirely plausible.

Georgia, as expected, were determined and plucky opponents against the Pumas. Big, raw and using brute physicality to unsettle the Argentineans, Georgia’s scramble defence often bordered on the heroic and frustrated an apparently tired Pumas side still suffering from the France match. In the end, Georgia tired and Felipe Contepomi and company cut loose late on to claim a valuable bonus point try.

It’s hard to envisage the Georgians being as plucky against Ireland given their punishing schedule which entails playing Argentina, Ireland, Namibia and France over a 19 day period.

Wallace, who made his first international bow in six months last Sunday, believes Georgia possess many strong points.

“I thought they were very physical in all facets of play. I didn’t see a whole lot of the game but the parts I saw they were able to do some good things. Their 10 was a good passer and he was able to spin the ball wide. He’d some good skills. They do play a bit of an open game as well.”

Whether Ireland need to be more creative in out-manoeuvring a Georgian side that won’t be found wanting in the physical stakes remains to be seen.

Wallace just wants an all-round improvement from the Irish especially in the game’s fundamentals and to eradicate the school boy errors so pervasive against the Namibians.

“I don’t think it’s a thing about being creative – we need to better our work rate, be clinical in our basics, in the breakdown, running onto the ball and in our lines of running. Maybe we need to be a little bit more direct at times and not run into the heart of their strong pack. We should be playing a simpler game-plan and then being more creative as the game develops.”

Wallace added: “It’s going to be intense, so we’ll have to play differently than how we played the other night. We’ll have to hold onto the ball, try and break them down a lot more rather than trying to score tries from anywhere and everywhere. Or trying to make 30 metre breaks from first phase. We’ll have to work a lot harder in grinding them down.”

While Wallace can look forward to another starting berth this weekend, spare a thought for Geordan Murphy, whose talents and game-breaking ability have been ignored yet again.

Murphy, once described as the George Best of rugby, earned his first World Cup cap against the Namibians but only for a very short 30 seconds.

However, he is towing the party line, supporting O’Sullivan’s idea to stick with the same side apart from the returning Shane Horgan. “I’m sure the guys who aren’t picked are disappointed. Everyone wants to play and I think if we had gone out and done an effective job against Namibia last weekend, Eddie might have been able to give a few of us a run.

“Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I suppose from Eddie’s point of view you have to really say you need a bit of continuity in the team and it’s probably important to him to keep the same team from those who aren’t getting a run. It’s difficult because everyone wants to play. What can we do? We have to remain positive. It’s a team effort and we must try to do our best for the team.”

Murphy is remaining upbeat and appears to be happy in Bordeaux and wasn’t aware of Ronan O’Gara’s remarks of being disheartened by the whole World Cup experience.

“I’m enjoying it. I didn’t read Rog’s piece. I suppose he’s an experienced pro, he’s done it before. It’s my first time. It’s a huge thing for me to be here.

“We’ve only had one or two days off here, and it’s been pretty hard work. I’ve managed to go into town once and it’s a nice city. We’re little bit remote out here alright, but we’re here to do a job; we’re not here on a holiday.”