Ireland's Call Becomes a Faint Hiss

The fifth Rugby World Cup brought great hopes to the Irish fans; the men in green entered the tournament as the second-strongest team in Europe, on paper at least. Despite a second XV getting a meaningless run-out in Argentina and a rusty team misfiring against Scotland and Italy in the warm-up internationals, Steady Eddie O’Sullivan promised us a semi-final at least. The Youghal native told us that we should, as a first tier rugby-playing nation, expect such heights.

Was the weight of expectation too much? Did the Irish media spin set our brave boys up for a fall? Or are they another shower of overpaid, overrated wasters? The Spoke will analyse Ireland’s unwelcome collapse in autumnal France.

In every world cup, be it Football, Rugby or even Cricket, there is a “Group of Death”. This is the one fact that Eddie and the team couldn’t help. It was a tough break to be drawn with Argentina and France, but let’s be honest. We struggled so badly against the worst team in the RWC (no disrespect to Namibia, but they are the lowest-ranked by the IRB) that I think facing Italy, Tonga, Fiji, Japan or Samoa could have proven disastrous for us. At least the possibility of defeat to the Pumas and Les Bleus was always there. We can’t blame O’Sullivan and crew for that one, but we can be thankful Georgia and Namibia weren’t cut from a finer cloth.

But what about our coach and players? “If it’s not me they’re after, it’s Eddie O’Sullivan or Bertie Ahern”, said Steve Staunton recently. Surely the Gaffer has some inkling why we’re out to get him…or is he really a card-carrying brain donor? Whether we should be out to get Eddie, however, is another matter entirely. While the statistics state that Eddie’s record has dipped slightly in recent years, we still haven’t had as successful a coach since a try was worth three points! We went in expecting a quarter-final berth, at least; forgetting that the quarter-finals is the furthest we’ve ever gone. Yes, we could have won the shagging thing back in ’87 but for Michael Lynagh…but we still wound up being turfed out at the quarter-final stage.
Eddie didn’t do too badly, statistically. The problems are much more deep-rooted.
Is it loyalty to the incumbents that keeps the talented Geordan Murphy and Eoin Reddan off the pitch and the questionable Paddy Wallace in the squad ahead of Jeremy Staunton or London Irish’s Eoin Hickey?
I doubt it. Eddie O’Sullivan has an intrinsic preference for domestic-based players for one reason, and one reason only: control. Dempsey looking a little tired? One phone call to Leinster coach (and IRFU employee) Michael Cheika and Girve the Swirve won’t play. Imagine Eddie ringing Ian McGeechan at London Wasps to try and secure a break for scrum-half and vice-captain Eoin Reddan…I can’t see it being easy.
Hence we saw Stringer make a tit of himself in successive games before his attempted Hollywood pass to nowhere in particular gifted the Georgians a superb try. Under immense pressure, O’Sullivan dropped Strings and picked Ireland’s in-form, European Cup-winning scrummy. Reddan hadn’t even warmed a bench. We all knew Isaac Boss was never going to challenge for the start at number 9, so why wasn’t Reddan getting the ten-minute walk-ons at the end of each disastrous match? Soon, Reddan was thrust into the white heat of a grudge match against an angry French team, hell-bent on soothing the wounds inflicted by the Pumas in a balm of Irish blood. Ronan O’Gara secured his place as the most overrated half-back in world Rugby (with the possible exception of the mercurial Freddie Michalak) after losing his symbiotic relationship with Peter Stringer, formed in the Pres in Cork and forged in Red in Thomond Park.
Murphy was left out in the cold…Geordan Murphy, Ireland’s most talented outside back by far, was overlooked in favour of Gavin Duffy. That’s Gavin Duffy from Ballina, who plays for Connacht…apparently.
The IRFU spent a fortune on securing Rugby League legend Brian Carney in time for the World Cup – his playing time: none.

While I could go into the overrated, Munster-dominated pack not doing a single thing right; or the glorified Leinster Galacticos fumbling each scant opportunity they had to dazzle; it would serve no purpose. We’re out. As I write these words, Lionel Beauxis has established a tenuous lead for France over England and I am bitter. Whether the French or the English represent the Northern Hemisphere in Paris on Final day, Eddie O’Sullivan needs to take a long, hard look at his approach to the top job in Irish Rugby…four-year contract or not.