Flannery impressed by fearless Healy

Jerry Flannery believes Cian Healy's impressive Test debut has offered a vital option at prop as Ireland continue their search for precious front-row resources.

Ireland's lack of depth was exposed during yesterday's 20-20 draw with Australia when John Hayes was forced to play the entire match despite having just served a five-week suspension.

How much longer Hayes, 36 earlier this month and on course to become the first player to accumulate 100 Ireland caps, can go on remains to be seen.

But given the lack of alternatives at tighthead with Tony Buckley injured, the dutiful Munster forward must continue strapping on the armour until the 2011 World Cup.

At least loosehead offers a more encouraging outlook with Healy taking advantage of an injury to Marcus Horan to announce his arrival as a genuine Test prospect.

One barnstorming run initiated the move which led to Ireland's first try against the Wallabies, leaving front row colleague Flannery to predict a bright future for the 22-year-old.

"Cian did pretty well. He made a great run, was very powerful and showed a great attitude. He's great to play with," said the Munster hooker.

"I thought about not having Marcus alongside me during the national anthem. But Marcus and John have been playing so long, there needs to be more depth.

"Cian is young and he's come through quickly when it's fair to say there aren't a load of props coming through. He got stuck in.

"He's not a shy fellow, he didn't seem to be fazed. He was sitting beside me in the dressing room with his music on, bouncing around.

"It's good to see that, there is no fear in him."

Healy's scrummaging has improved but Australia fully exploited his inexperience and Hayes' recent inactivity at the set-piece.

The scrum, once Australia's Achilles heal, has improved beyond all measure under coach Robbie Deans and Flannery refuses to become despondent at Ireland's failings in that department.

"Australia are as good a scrummaging unit as I've seen. Maybe it didn't go perfectly for us but we've enough to work on," he said.

"I wouldn't say it was equal but they've worked very hard. I was impressed with Benn Robinson in the pre-match analysis.

"Stephen Moore is very powerful but we weren't given a torrid time."

Deans was angry that Ireland were allowed to "escape with a draw" but Flannery felt his side should have made a greater impact on the scoreboard.

"To come away without losing the game is one thing, but I think we could have pressed on and been a bit more clinical," he said.

"I don't think we escaped with a draw, I think we could have pushed on with possession and put more points on the board."

The draw heralded the end of the Wallabies' hopes of completing the Grand Slam, but hooker Moore was more gracious than his coach as he reflected on the health of Irish rugby.

"We can still go through Europe undefeated. It was pretty quiet in the sheds after the game," he said.

"We're not going to hide our disappointment with the result but it's done now. We move on.

"I think Ireland are head and shoulders above what I've seen this year of the Six Nations games. The state of their game is pretty good."

Ireland name their team to face Fiji at the RDS on Saturday at lunchtime tomorrow.

Coach Declan Kidney will look to strike a balance between squad development and generating momentum for their concluding autumn Test against South Africa the following Saturday.