England match unlikely to go ahead

The Irish Rugby Football Union hope to receive a directive from the Government today on whether England’s Six Nations Championship visit to Dublin on March 24 should be postponed.

Top level discussions will take place in Dublin between IRFU chiefs and the Department of Agriculture and it looks increasingly certain the Irish English game will be postponed.

In the wake of further domestic postponements — all rugby matches, without exception, planned for this week have been put off — the big international clash between the only two unbeaten teams left in the championship looks like being the highest profile victim yet of the foot and mouth crisis.

In a bid to protect the Irish livestock and agriculture industry, the Government will be in no mood to change direction after the recent cancellation of the Wales Ireland match in Cardiff.

Irish rugby officials have not yet publicly given up hope of the game, which would be a huge money spinner, going ahead but, privately, they are ready to concede to the Government’s desire to keep foot and mouth disease out.

Today’s meeting is being held to seek clarification in relation to the extent to which domestic rugby will continue to be affected and to look for a directive regarding the match with England.

Irish coach Warren Gatland’s only role in all of this is to keep a watching brief. He has no plans to bring the Irish squad together again since they disbanded in Dublin last Tuesday.

“It is very much a case of sitting back and waiting to see what happens. There is nothing I can do about this. If the game is given the go ahead we will make our plans accordingly. If it is called off we will have to think about it again.”

Gatland admitted Ireland would have their work cut out to challenge England should the game go ahead, describing their performance against Scotland at Twickenham at the weekend as awesome.

“They must now be viewed as one of the best sides in the world. They have piled on the points against all the teams they have played and have done the kind of thing you would expect New Zealand and Australia, at their best, to do.

“You cannot really blame any of the Scottish players or the coaches. They ran up against a very good team and did their best to keep the score down but they never really looked capable of winning it. England are now up there at a level they have been working towards over the last few seasons and it will be up to the rest of the northern hemisphere teams to set their sights on getting to that same level.”

Gatland also made it clear he won’t yield to threats from any individual player seeking more recognition in terms of selection on national squads.

Promising Leinster, Ireland under 21 and Ireland A player Gordon D’Arcy has suggested he might move overseas next year rather than take up an offer of a Leinster contract.

The player, who earned one Irish cap against Romania, is unhappy he was confined to playing with the Irish under 21’s rather than the A team this season and is believed to be considering offers from up to four clubs in England.

“If that’s the way he is thinking, then we might have to say good luck to him,” said Gatland.

He is determined to have the vast majority of his squad based in Ireland to prepare for the next World Cup and is hopeful there will be no further movement of top players from this country to British clubs in the intervening period.

*The Leinster Schools senior cup finals fixed for Lansdowne Road yesterday and today have been postponed. Castleknock were due to take on Blackrock College yesterday and Kilkenny College were scheduled to play Terenure this afternoon. No new dates have yet been announced. The Leinster Branch confirmed all rugby activities have been further postponed and this will be reviewed next Monday, March 12.