Ireland need a miracle to survive

SINCE the Rugby World Cup began a month or so ago, Ireland have been plagued with one piece of misfortune or ill luck after another almost on a daily basis.

So it was with no little relief yesterday that they received at least two pieces of better news. First and foremost came assistant coach Niall O’Donovan’s assertion that “Simon Best was looking great and almost ready to play a game if necessary”, a reference, of course, to the sudden illness that afflicted the replacement prop forward on Wednesday and brought his World Cup to an end.

And then it was revealed from the Argentine camp that their tigerish back-row Juan Manuel Leguizamon has suffered a knock to his head sufficient to keep him on the sideline, at least for this game.