New season, new start for Ireland

Whether it be over the course of a season, a tournament, or a single match, consistency has not been one of Ireland’s strong points since their Grand Slam season of 2009.

You don’t need to look far for examples. The World Cup campaign that featured an historic win over Australia and a miserable quarter-final defeat to Wales. The oh-so-near defeat of the world champions All Blacks was followed by a record 60-0 thumping in the space of a week. The electric first Six Nations half in Paris partnered with a scoreless second and the surrender of a 17-6 lead... Ireland supporters have had to experience the best and worst of times in depressingly short periods.

Indeed the only constant of late has been defeat, four in a row, starting with that capitulation to England at Twickenham at the end of last season’s Six Nations and followed by a three-Test whitewash to New Zealand.

That horrible, mystifying, third Test was surrendered with a terrible start by Declan Kidney’s men in Hamilton and leaves Ireland desperately needing a victory to avoid its worst run of Test results since the national team lost seven in a row in 1997-98.

If the coach is to get this new season off to a winning start and prevent a fifth Test loss in succession, this new-look Ireland team must not only get off to a flyer against South Africa this evening in the Aviva Stadium but keep playing consistently well for 80 minutes.

The All Blacks were out of sight in Hamilton after just 25 minutes and while Heyneke Meyer’s Springboks are some way off the world champions in terms style or success, they are very good at what they do, and one of the most difficult teams in world rugby to stop once they get on a roll.

Handing this big and powerful side the early initiative will be tantamount to running up the white flag rather than the Tricolour.

As has been mentioned throughout this week, Ireland may be further handicapped by the absence of half a dozen key players, starting with captain Brian O’Driscoll, two stand-in captains Paul O’Connell and Rory Best, two European players of the year Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney, and the redoubtable Stephen Ferris out. That will mean plenty of responsibility on the relatively young or inexperienced shoulders, not least an unfamiliar full-back role for Munster wing Simon Zebo in just his second Test appearance or a mighty battle at ruck time for Chris Henry, Peter O’Mahony and Mike McCarthy, with 13 caps between them. There may also be a first-time captain in Jamie Heaslip but the Leinster number 8, winning his 51st cap tonight, is back to the sort of form that earned him a Lions Test place four years ago and will be eager to stake his claim for next summer’s reprise in front of the watching Warren Gatland.

Furthermore, all the noises from those that remain in the Irish squad are of an energised group of players thinking only positive thoughts and fully prepared to step out from beneath that long shadow that blanketed Kidney’s men after the New Zealand debacle.

We have heard this all before of course, but attack coach Les Kiss, thankfully relieved of his cumbersome twin role now that Anthony Foley is in charge of Ireland’s defence, signalled this team’s intent yesterday when he all but guaranteed they would take the field fired up to the max.

“We’ve just got to make sure we set in our hearts and our minds tonight as we go to bed that we’re up for it and we’re going to go out there and take it to them because the alternative is you won’t get the job done tomorrow,” Kiss said.

“You’ve got to turn up with the mindset that you’re going to go at these guys and get in the trenches with them and take it down to the trenches and really work them over.

“If we do that we have some wonderful talent, some absolutely brilliant guys we can release on the edges through Jonny [Sexton] and Gordon [D’Arcy]. If we can front up in that area, it’s quite exciting, when you think about it.”

Excitement is one thing; dealing with the Springboks once they get momentum going is another. Their physicality and aggression may be intimidating but it’s nothing these Irish players have not faced before, either on Test duty or in the high-octane Heineken Cup knockout stages.

They will subject Ireland’s back three, not least Zebo, to an aerial bombardment in the bid to gain the territory their game demands and have made no secret of their intention bully and harass both in the set-piece and in the loose.

It may seem like a tall order and Ireland may be inconsistent but it is generally when Irish backs are against the wall that great things happen in Test rugby. If their execution is equal to their intention, then this could be one such time. If not, it could be another very long season.