Ireland’s time may have come and gone

IT CAN’T end like this, blared the headline in a French newspaper yesterday, and they were right. France thumped Ireland and Les Bleus have recovered the ground lost in their opening defeat to Argentina.

Ireland, though, were hugely disappointing.

It can’t be denied that they had a less than ideal build-up to this game, thanks to a couple of devious intrusions from the French media, but the men in green were miles off the pace last night: when a pass skipped past Shane Horgan’s hands in the last minute it summed up an entire evening of knock-ons and indiscipline, not to mention a physical battering dished out by the home side.

Sebastian Chabal – ‘the Shaggy One’, if not ‘the Special One’ — took three minutes to make an impact, stealing an Irish line-out.

That was one of the few glimpses of skill in an edgy opening which saw both sides kick the ball time and again as they tried to settle.

The French capital’s influence on Irish literature is well known, but last night in Paris a terrible booting was born in the first few minutes.

Suggestions earlier in the week that Ireland were holding back some moves that hadn’t been shown off in the Georgia and Namibia game had unlikely proof with an early John Hayes burst, but in truth Ireland were on the back foot for most of the half.

Jean-Baptiste Elissalde’s accurate kicking kept the scoreboard glowing, but it could have been worse for Ireland.

Yet at the break it was only 12-3.

On the half-full half-empty scale you’d have said Ireland were still in with a shout. An attritional opening to the second half didn’t promise much, and for a good 20 minutes it looked recoverable – just – at 15-3, but then you saw the importance of quality.

A sumptuous kick from Michalak on 61 minutes wrong-footed the entire Irish defence, leaving no-one at home on the left wing. As the ball tumbled towards the line France needed only a reasonable bounce for the try, and gravity obliged.

The scorer? The only Frenchman ever to silence Hill 16, Vincent Clerc.

The misery was compounded when Paul O’Connell was yellow carded three minutes later, and the relentless pressure told when that man Clerc again ploughed through Dempsey and Trimble for a second try.

For a while it looked as if France might have a shot at a bonus point, unlikely as that had seemed for the previous hour of play. Ireland managed to shut up shop at that point, and even managed some incursions into the French half when O’Connell returned, but a try never looked likely.

The Namibia game apart, France have still not shown the panache associated with the blue jersey. Jean-Baptiste Ellisalde’s solid, dependable kicking is a truer reflection of the team than Frederic Michalak’s flamboyant flipped passes, as is the edge they’ve added to their tackling since the Argentina game.

“For the first try Frederick played it in for me with a kick,” said man of the match Clerc afterwards. “The win this evening was exceptional. Ireland had little of the ball. By going back to basics we succeeded in winning, but the hardest part is still ahead.”

Well, ‘little’ is one way of putting it. Nice of Vince to be kind.

His manager was more minded to worry about the bonus point that got away.

“I’m very happy with the display of the players,” said Bernard Laporte, “The way they showed patience. I saw them enjoying their game, they put the pressure of the occasion to one side. Certainly, though, we have some regrets about not getting a bonus point.”

Ireland are now in deep trouble, facing ascendant Argentina as France prepare to pad out their stats in the final game against a Georgia side with little to play for. The South Americans, of course, have a quarter-final to aim at because of their opening night victory over the hosts, a victory that in retrospect contained the seed of Ireland’s current problems (looking back at Argentina-France, you’re reminded of Henry Kissinger on the Iran-Iraq war: “Ideally, we’d have liked them both to lose.”)

On known form thus far you would expect Argentina to beat Namibia, and going into the final game they could be as much as five points ahead of Ireland in the standings. Ireland would then have to manage a bonus-point performance of incredible proportions against the Pumas to have some slim hope of a quarter-final, a tall order for a side which managed one score, three points, in last night’s game.

A desperately tense game against Argentina at the Rugby World Cup is business as usual in the historical sense, but on last night’s evidence Ireland may be better occupied preparing for 2011. It looks like 2007 has passed them by like a stranger in the crowd.