Coaches pick up pieces after World Cup fall-out

IT’S been a tough week for Joe Schmidt and Tony McGahan as they congratulated themselves – and their charges – on World Cup selection, while dealing with the emotionalfallout of those who failed to make the plane.

For every Conor Murray and Fergus McFadden there’s Tomás O’Leary and Luke Fitzgerald. Both coaches gave the World Cup surprise packages their big breaks last season, they now have to nurse the disappointments suffered by their Grand Slam winners.

“I particularly feel disappointed for Luke,” Schmidt said at the launch of the RaboDirect Pro12 yesterday.

“I thought he came on and had a great little cameo at the weekend but at the same time that’s the reality of rugby.

“He’s still only a kid in rugby terms, he’s only 24 — he’s already had some great success, he’s a Grand Slam winner, a Lion, a Heineken Cup winner a couple of times — it’s not a bad list of experiences to build on.

“I think there are dangers of over thinking things, of trying to find solutions that aren’t necessarily there. There are a couple of things we definitely worked on with Luke at the end of last season when things didn’t quite happen naturally.

“When he got knocked off his stride and was out for seven weeks and came back, he wasn’t quite right with his rhythm. Physically he felt fine, but things just weren’t quite happening for him and he almost started trying too hard to make things happen. So when you try to oversell things and give too much detail, I think you can undo yourself. It’s a mark of Fergus’s progress and I think it’s also probably the balance of the squad that Declan was looking for. Maybe Fergus is seen more as a natural midfielder than Luke at the moment because he’s played more there in recent times.”

McGahan is trying to pick up a devastated O’Leary and keep him fit in case injury dictates he is needed in New Zealand.

“We’re disappointed for Tomás,” McGahan said. “We thought he was going for a long period of the campaign. I talked to him on Sunday night, he was at training but he didn’t train on Monday as his back was a bit sore. It’s a difficult one. You have got a lot of support, a lot time invested in both players. We are delighted for Conor but are extremely disappointed for Tomas.”

John Hayes’ glittering career looks set to come to a close over the next few months as Tony McGahanreiterated he won’t be offering thelegendary prop a new deal.

“He’s a contracted Irish rugby union player and certainly there was an opportunity 12 months ago for him to finish his career at the World Cup,” he said.

“That was certainly the goal and I don’t think anyone could have doubted that, with his contribution both to Munster and Ireland. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out that way and we’re left with this situation. But again history will judge John kindly in what he has given to Irish and Munster rugby over a long period. I don’t think the last two or three minutes of his career at this point in time will have any reflection on that.”