Fighting Irish come up short

Ireland 23 Barbarians 29

While it wasn’t enough to fully compensate for a very poor opening 40 minutes which left them trailing 21-10 at the interval, it gave the lie to the belief that the Irish squad no longer has the appetite for any more rugby after a long, arduous and relatively unsuccessful campaign.

The arrival of a number of well-established players such as Donncha O’Callaghan, Mick O’Driscoll, Jerry Flannery and Tommy Bowe had much to do with the revival and some of the football played in the final half hour was of the highest quality.

The great shame is Flannery finished the game a disconsolate figure sitting on the sideline, his tour almost certainly over before it ever began because of a recurrence of the injury to his calf that has bedevilled his season.

Just as he missed out on the Lions tour 12 months ago, it looks as if he will be spending another summer on the therapy table.

Last night’s game was never going to unduly influence Kidney’s thinking on the side best equipped to take on the All Blacks in New Plymouth next Saturday – except, that is, for the back-row where the number six jersey is up for grabs. Connacht’s John Muldoon certainly put his hand up in a big way and a man-of-the-man performance may well clinch the spot for the big man from Portumna.

His back-row colleagues Niall Ronan and Chris Henry also had plenty to play for and acquitted themselves creditably, while hooker Sean Cronin produced one typical burst that almost earned him a try.

He continues to look the part and given Flannery’s predicament, the chances are that he will be a second Connacht player starting against the All Blacks in a week’s time.

Peter Stringer’s immaculate service from the base of the scrum hasn’t diminished and he could challenge for a place in the 22.

Ronan O’Gara stood up well to serious manhandling by Baa-Baas number eight Xavier Rush to punch in 80 minutes that won’t harm his prospects of edging out Jonny Sexton at 10.

As for the Barbarians, they rubbished the notion that such a talented bunch of players wouldn’t have prepared properly for the game.

They were especially good in the first half where the French scrum-half Pierre Mignoni was a constant threat and Rush and livewire hooker Schalk Brits were also outstanding.

In the final analysis, however, few did better than brothers-in-law Malcolm O’Kelly and Alan Quinlan. They are deemed too old for this level of rugby at the grand old age of 35 and O’Kelly was actually playing his last game of rugby. He was given an appreciative reception by the Thomond crowd and was so good for the 50-odd minutes he spent on the pitch to suggest his retirement may well be somewhat premature.

The opening half was something of an embarrassment for the Irish with the Baa-Baas in no way flattered at going 21-3 ahead after a half hour.

Brock James sent a trio of penalties between the sticks against one by O’Gara. Their supremacy at scrummage time then told when Rush linked with Mignoni and took a return pass for a well-taken but pretty soft try. James converted and things only got worse when centre Casey Laulala burst out of defence.

Even though Kearney brought him down close to the line after a 70-metre solo run, the Baa-Baas still managed to recycle quick ball and Mignoni sent flanker George Smith over for James to again add the points.

Ireland found a response through Ronan, who took O’Gara’s fine reverse pass to score, but at 21-10 down, it hardly looked likely that Ireland could redress the imbalance.

In the end, they did lose but by the final whistle they had redeemed themselves. Cedric Haymans got a vital try for the Baa-Baas and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde landed a penalty but with the arrival of several big guns, Ireland were a different proposition.

Tony Buckley forced his way over for a try, O’Gara converted from the touchline and kicked a few penalties but it wasn’t enough to prevent a second Barbarians win in three meetings.

IRELAND: R Kearney; J Murphy, G Duffy, F McFadden, A Trimble; R O’Gara (c), P Stringer; M Horan, S Cronin, T Buckley, E O’Donoghue, D Tuohy, J Muldoon, N Ronan, C Henry.

Replacements: D O’Callaghan for Ronan (blood), 32-38; P Wallace for McFadden ht; T Bowe for Kearney 53; J Flannery, O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll for Cronin, O’Donoghue and Muldoon 56; T Court, T O’Leary for Horan, Stringer, 63.

BARBARIANS: P Warwick (Munster), C Haymans (Toulouse), C Laulala (Cardiff), S Rabeni (Leeds), D Smith (Hurricanes), B James (Clermont), P Mignoni (Toulouse), D Barnes (Bath), S Brits (Saracens), C Johnston (Toulouse), J Thion (Biarritz), M O’Kelly (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster), G Smith (Brumbies), X Rush (Cardiff, capt).

Replacements: B August (Biarritz) for Britz half time; J White (Leicester) for Johnson 46; B Kelleher (Toulouse) for Mignoni 49; JB Elissalde (Toulouse) for James 46; R So’oialo (Hurricanes) for O’Kelly 52; M Williams (Cardiff) for Rush 64; F Estebanez (Brive) for Rabeni 66.

Referee: R Poite (France)