Change things or Wallabies could dish out World Cup lesson

DECLAN KIDNEY hasconsistently maintained Ireland haven’t become a bad team since that memorable day last March when they played England off the Aviva Stadium pitch in the last match of the Six Nations.

However, all the evidence of four warm-up games in August and Sunday’s World Cup opener in New Plymouth suggests they have gone backwards and could be facing an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the ever improving Australia in Auckland on Saturday. In such ascenario, the coach is always going to come in for criticism. Kidney is no stranger to that kind of stuff and is well able to take it on the chin, knowing that much of what is being written is over the top. But he is also aware the standards reached by hisextensively and expensively prepared squad are way short of where they need to be. His captain, Brian O’Driscoll, and other senior players keep stressing the need for eliminating unforced errors but they keep happening, leading to deep frustration for all concerned.

“The weather wasn’t great but you have to play the conditions and one time when I looked at the screen, we had eight to two handling errors,” noted Ronan O’Gara on Sunday.