Ireland keen to move on after Heaslip banned

Jamie Heaslip’s five-week ban capped off a sorry weekend in New Plymouth for the Ireland rugby team.

While his red card and subsequent suspension have left coach Declan Kidney without one of his star players, it will have no long-term effect on Heaslip’s international career.

The Irish number eight will miss the remainder of his side’s Australasian tour following a moment of madness which saw him sent off by referee Wayne Barnes for striking New Zealand captain Richie McCaw twice with his knee in the one-off Test at Yarrow Stadium.

Heaslip’s premature departure left Ireland facing a mammoth battle to contain a fired-up All Blacks side and, with Ronan O’Gara also sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes for cynical play, the Irish found themselves 38-7 down at half-time and on the wrong side of a 66-28 final scoreline.

Heaslip admitted his guilt when he fronted an International Rugby Board judicial hearing in New Plymouth today, but denied connecting with McCaw’s head in the 15th-minute incident.

IRB judicial officer Michael Cashman determined that his first strike was to the head and ruled his actions were in the mid-range of striking offences.

After the hearing team manager, Paul McNaughton said the Leinster man had received a fair hearing and the matter had now been laid to rest.

“It’s not going to affect his international future. He was sent off and he’s very upset about it. But he’s accepted the consequences and he needs to move on and we need to move on too.”

Ireland departed for Rotorua today minus another loose forward after John Muldoon was ruled out of the remaining matches against New Zealand Maori and Australia.

The blindside flanker suffered a broken arm in the first half of Saturday’s match and will undergo surgery in Auckland in the next 24 hours before heading home with Heaslip.

Ireland Under-20 captain Rhys Ruddock has been called in as a replacement and will leave Argentina, where he has been playing in the Junior World Championship, to link up with the senior squad in Rotorua.

“We are obviously disappointed to be losing John following his injury. I felt any replacement should be one that would benefit from the experience,” Kidney said.

“(Rhys) has performed very well for the U20s and with Leinster when he has had the chance to play this season, so this will be a good chance for him to gain experience and we have every confidence in him.”

Wing Shane Horgan arrived in Rotorua today having recovered from his stomach complaint, while Jerry Flannery linked up with the squad in New Plymouth after recovering from his calf strain.

The hooker would have seen little in Saturday’s performance – particularly in the first half – to have instilled much joy.

The sending-off, sin-binning and a defence that leaked five tries in a high-tempo opening 40 minutes meant there was little to cheer about in the Irish dressing room at half-time.

“It wasn’t pleasant at all,” admitted winger Andrew Trimble. “We knew we were getting an absolute hiding and there was only one thing for it – we had to roll up our sleeves.

“It’s a tough thing to do whenever you’re away from home and getting beat by that much on the other side of the world in New Zealand.

“I’m pretty proud of my team-mates for being able to do that a little bit anyway and we salvaged some sort of pride with four tries.”

Replacement lock Dan Tuohy, who came on for Mick O’Driscoll when he suffered back spasms, sparked the fightback of sorts when he pounced at a ruck to snatch the ball and race away for Ireland’s opening score with his first touch of the ball.

“It was funny because Ronan said ’they are not committing’ and as soon as he said that I just hit to be honest,” the second rower said.

“My club coach hammers me for doing that because I’ve been smashed back a few times so I can imagine he was watching at home and giving some grief to the television until I went through and scored.

“Hopefully he will make an apology when I get back.”

In the second half, Ireland were more potent on attack and started to find gaps in the New Zealand defence as Graham Henry rang the changes, introducing three more debutants – Victor Vito, Sam Whitelock and Aaron Cruden – to the mix after handing first caps to Israel Dagg, Benson Stanley and Ben Franks in his starting side.

Brian O’Driscoll, Tommy Bowe and Gordon D’Arcy showed their class to make the most of their opportunities but it was still a nine-tries-to-four hammering.

Ireland have less than a week to turn things around before they take on NZ Maori, who earned a tough 37-31 win over the New Zealand Barbarians at the weekend.

Trimble expects no let up in intensity and pace in the encounter in Rotorua which is part of NZ Maori’s centenary celebrations.

“I’ve never played against the Maori before but from watching them play their intensity is through the roof as well,” he said.

“We’re in a country where that’s the way rugby is played – with a lot of pace and a lot of power. We just have to learn to deal with that.”