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.

“When you turn over the ball like that, it’s hard to get your game going. We were probably looking for miracle passes. It’s time to get back to basics.”

But that’s the inherent problem, isn’t it? The inability to perform the basics to which O’Gara refers. Is this the fault of Kidney and his fellow coaches? Or are the players , some of them in the twilight of their careers, others carrying niggling injuries and many clearly short in confidence, the culprits? Individually and collectively, they have been a big disappointment. Contrast what they have produced of late with the way Wales took care of England in August before running reigning champions South Africa to a single point in Wellington on Sunday.

There is every possibility we will meet one of those two sides in the quarter-finals. Right now, Warren Gatland’s side is way ahead of ours and with the Springboks sure to improve appreciably on this display, it paints a bleak picture indeed for the Irish.

The big question now is whether all concerned are able to improve matters to such an extent that we can emerge with some respect from the clash with the Wallabies. It will help, I suppose, that we go into the game, in O’Gara’s words, as “savage underdogs”.

What has happened to Jamie Heaslip and Jonny Sexton, to name but two of the outstanding figures in Leinster’s Heineken Cup-winning side? They have also been hugely influential figures for Ireland in the past couple of seasons but that level of performance has diminished to such a degree that Sexton is in grave danger of losing the number 10 shirt to O’Gara and even Heaslip could also come under pressure.

The time for freshening up the team is long overdue and quite a few changes could be in the offing. While Conor Murray got little help from those around him his lack of experience told and he may give way to Eoin Reddan.

THE lack of a cutting edge in midfield is as evident as ever and the “miracle pass” O’Gara referred to and which caused the late American try on Sunday could be the final nail in Gordon Darcy’s coffin. Fergus McFadden’s time may well have arrived.

With Rob Kearney short of game time and Geordan Murphy guilty of one inexcusable handling error on Sunday, Keith Earls may well switch to full-back where he performed extremely well against England in the spring, with Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble on the wings.

Tom Court and Rory Best did most of what was required of them on Sunday but again allowance must be made for the weakness of the opposition and there should be no hesitation in starting the much livelier and more aggressive Cian Healy and Jerry Flannery.

The only other big call will come in the back row where the openside flank, the property for so long of the peerless David Wallace, is a greater problem area now that Shane Jennings has failed to measure up. It looks as if Kidney will be left with little option but to go with two natural number sixes, Stephen Ferris and Sean O’Brien, possibly playing left and right.

My team v Australia: K Earls; T Bowe, F McFadden, B O’Driscoll, A Trimble; R O’Gara, E Reddan; C Healy, J Flannery, M Ross, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, S Ferris, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.