Kidney must learn quickly or World will fall apart
The return? Four disconcerting defeats, a mere two tries and a sense of foreboding as they set out today on their World Cup campaign in New Zealand.
Before the start of the warm-up series, phrases like ‘the need for momentum’ and ‘morale-boosting performances’ were tossed around at will in the expectation of, at least, two wins and a satisfactory level of performance.
If anything, the opposite has transpired.
While the blame will be apportioned equally between players and management, finding solutions will be difficult. Declan Kidney admits to ‘bitter disappointment’ at recent results while stressing a belief that “we can come together now”. For the sake of everyone, let us hope that comes to pass.
Kidney has taken a hammering in the last month and while many of the comments bordered on the disrespectful given his remarkable record as a coach, the absence of a cohesive game plan and some strange calls have left him open to criticism. Then there’s the back-up team. Les Kiss has seen his defence strategy torn to shreds not only by the brilliant French but also by the far more pedestrian English. The failure to create line breaks and score more than a couple of tries has led to backs coach Alan Gaffney coming under fire and with the prop options more or less confined to Cian Healy and Mike Ross, forward coach Gert Smal is open to questions too.
Words like “abysmal” typify much of what we have read since the most recent debacle. Over the top? Hopefully, yes, but you can hardly blame people for thinking that way given the displays.
Several selection calls have been difficult to comprehend while the reaction to events on the pitch wasn’t always as quick and decisive as it might have been. It was clear from an early stage on Saturday that Cian Healy, a key member of the side, was struggling with an eye injury. However he wasn’t replaced until the 70th minute by Tom Court, a player in need of game time and who will certainly feature at various stages in New Zealand.
The sad thing is that Ireland looked to be in such a rude state of health after the demolition of England last March. On Saturday last though, the boot was on the other foot, leaving one to ponder whether it was a case of England having improved beyond all recognition in the meantime or Ireland taking a major backward step.
Perhaps it’s a little case of both. England may be no world beaters but that doesn’t mean they will be easy to defeat. Far from it and they have a very favourable World Cup draw. Ireland can hardly have become a bad side in such a short space of time, although the performances in the four warm-up games indicate that the victory over the auld enemy last season may have been of the once-off variety.
The loss of David Wallace is a tragedy both for the player and the squad and just as serious is the apparent loss of form of so many key players. Gordon D’Arcy, Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe and Donncha O’Callaghan are among those short of where they need to be while there is still concern about the fitness of Rob Kearney, Jerry Flannery, Cian Healy, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip and Brian O’Driscoll.
Things badly need to be freshened up with a change of structure and strategy in the search for the all-important line breaks. Serious consideration should be given to switching Bowe to the centre in place of D’Arcy and giving Andrew Trimble his head on the right wing. If you’re bringing a greenhorn like Conor Murray, why not go the whole hog and start him? The forward pack desperately needs an injection of fire and vigour. In the regrettable absence of Wallace, it is not easy to see where it might come from, although there is still a massive amount of back-row power to be generated by Heaslip, O’Brien, Stephen Ferris and Denis Leamy.
“I know we needed those games and I’m glad we had them,” insists Declan Kidney.
Time though, will tell whether the lessons learned can be put to use in New Zealand.
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