Ireland’s power failure

A MUTED atmosphere from a predictably disappointing crowd and a sixth defeat in succession for the national side was hardly the homecoming the bigwigs at the IRFU would have imagined for the first rugby international at the Aviva Stadium.

Perhaps it was embarrassment that prompted the powers that be to break with the norm and not announce the matchday attendance over the new stadium’s booming public address system. Even if the 38,000 figure mentioned by Donncha O’Callaghan post-match is not accurate, the swathes of empty seats in the 51,000-plus arena would confirm the strong possibility that there were red faces all round at headquarters following a bruising week of conflict and climb-downs in the ticket pricing and allocation row.

There will be no embarrassment for head coach Declan Kidney following this 23-21 defeat to South Africa, rather some serious thinking after a lacklustre performance that had players and coaches alike scratching their heads.