Ireland must ask more questions in attack

THE DULL pain of rejection experienced by a number of quality Irish players on Monday was replicated throughout the rugby world yesterday when the cut-off point for announcing the respective World Cup squads arrived.

For Tomás O’Leary and Luke Fitzgerald in Ireland read Martyn Williams and Jonathan Thomas in Wales, Jonny Beattie in Scotland, Riki Flutey in England, Thomas Domingo and Sylvain Marconnet in France. In addition read Hosea Gear and Sitiveni Sivivatu in New Zealand and, incredibly, Matt Giteau in Australia. The list goes on.

The difference between the many of those high profile casualties and the Irish duo is that they have already had a World Cup experience on at least one occasion. Both O’Leary and Fitzgerald were within touching distance of Eddie O’Sullivan’s squad four years ago but lost out in the final cull. That is why I feel so much for two players who played such integral parts in Ireland’s first Grand Slam in 61 years only two seasons ago.

I have always believed there is more pain than glory attached to high profile sport and that is why the good days must be savoured and enjoyed.

O’Leary and Fitzgerald have much in common in that they both come from high achieving backgrounds where their fathers also made their mark at the highest level.

Both have suffered a series of debilitating injuries over the last twelve months which have impacted on performance and both are outstanding athletes with the mental capacity to take this hit and come back stronger.

At least they can retreat to the sanctuary of their respective provincial squads and look to get back out on the field as soon as possible.

Unfortunately with one more warm-up game against England and the pool games in the World Cup to come, it is inevitable that injuries will occur, like to one to Felix Jones last Saturday, and replacements will be called out to New Zealand.

Now that Declan Kidney has finalised his squad the thirty players remaining in Carton House can begin to focus on the immediate job at hand, which has to include a win over England on Saturday.

One fervently hopes that Stephen Ferris, who made an immediate impact when introduced off the bench last Saturday, is given a run from the start against the English.

Short of match practice, he may well have to settle for an impact role off the bench in the early games in New Zealand but what a luxury that would be.

A starting back row of Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip and David Wallace, augmented at some stage by Ferris, would be a match for any back row in the tournament.

It would be reassuring, however, if Wallace was declared fit enough to start on Saturday after his late cry off against France.

At 35 years of age, Wallace remains an integral part of this Irish side and was sorely missed against the French. My understanding is that he is in the shape of his life and his hamstring niggle is not serious. Let’s hope that proves to be the case.

When players of the calibre of O’Leary and Fitzgerald fail to make the cut in Ireland’s top fourteen backs then it is clear that Kidney is working with a real depth of talent.

That is undoubtedly the case but with Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy short on game time, the clock is ticking in order to be up to speed to match the quality Australia have behind their scrum.

Our attacking play, apart from a brief period in the second half against France in Bordeaux, has been very disappointing and needs to come up a notch against England.

Ireland can no longer depend on tries solely from good set plays off first phase or from the forwards driving over off lineout mauls.

Of course, they will still be part of the armoury but Ireland must seek to put opposition defences under more pressure from broken play by varying the point of attack and by fixing defences with the wingers and full back running decoy lines.

The Australians are brilliant at that and while Ireland’s defensive structure is very sound, in order to beat the top sides we must start asking more questions in attack.

Saturday will be another test in that respect as England are strong defensively. Then again, Ireland had no problem opening them up in that Six Nations contest in March, scoring two tries. The fact England lost their last outing against Wales in Cardiff last Saturday week also imposes a degree of pressure on Martin Johnson’s men, especially as they open their World Cup against Argentina in just over two weeks. We know how difficult they are to play against.

Overall the squad that Kidney has assembled is a very strong one and I welcome the introduction of Conor Murray who will bring a lot to the party. Much will depend on keeping Cian Healy and Mike Ross fit and well for the key games and Ireland look strong in the crucial middle five sector of back row and half back.

AUSTRALIA take on New Zealand in the final Tri Nations game of the series in Brisbane on Saturday and that should also tell us exactly there they are at present. Graham Henry will not be too disappointed that his side were beaten in South Africa last weekend as it will sharpen the minds in his camp. However, defeat to the Wallabies on Saturday would be a different affair as it is likely to be the only real test — France in the pool game apart — that the All Blacks will experience before the semi final stage of the World Cup. That has cost them dearly in the past.

It will not come as a surprise that Philippe Saint-Andre is being lined up to take over from Marc Lievremont as French coach after RWC but, in typical French fashion, it appears this announcement could well be made even before the French squad leave for New Zealand. How crazy is that? Elsewhere, Ireland’s pool opposition weren’t exactly setting the world alight last weekend with Italy going down 23-12 against Scotland in Murrayfield while Russia were being hammered 46-19 by a very under strength Ospreys outfit in Wales. Given that Eddie O Sullivan’s American side recently lost on successive weekends to arch rivals Canada, it seems — with the exception of Australia — that all teams in Pool C are chasing results at the moment.

With a bit of luck, New Zealand might put a dent in Aussie pride by defeating them on Saturday. That, coupled with a win and a good performance against England, would provide the perfect boost to the Ireland squad before they depart Down Under on Monday morning.