PAPERING OVER THE CRACKS

I read an article yesterday morning and the final line read “Well done Ireland, but you well and truly blew that.”

I can’t argue with that in the slightest. You can look at that match and applaud Ireland for their valiant efforts, but the undeniable truth is that they let a seventeen point lead go in a match where their opponents were well below par and were there for the taking. For all the talk about the All Blacks and how good they were, they either underestimated Ireland or simply did not play – either way they were very poor by their standards.

On the flip side, that’s why they are the best side in the world. The All Blacks never got out of second gear and yet they were still able to come away with the win. Ireland certainly contributed to their own downfall yes, but it was down to the All Blacks to capitalise on those errors which they did. The best teams win matches even when they are the second best side on the pitch. New Zealand did.

Of course, the Irish media will now fawn over the international side and declare themselves the best side in the northern hemisphere. But the question remains to be asked: how can a team be torn apart one week, then a more-or-less similar side run the best side in the world right down to the wire? It’s this inconsistency shown by the Ireland team that annoys the fans – why can’t they show the same intensity that they did on Sunday in every match?

It still doesn’t take away from the fact that Ireland lost that match, rather than the All Blacks won it. What Jack McGrath was thinking when he flopped on that final ruck I’m not quite sure, and why Jonny Sexton, one of the world’s greatest goal kickers, took so long over that kick whenever if he landed it the game was over I don’t know either. Little things that add up to the loss.

And that final try was just coming. Even though Ireland had possession late in the 79^th minute you just knew the game wasn’t over – the All Blacks always have the last say. However, even I was surprised when Ryan Crotty crossed the line with the clock in the red, I was sure that Ireland could hold them out.

It made it even worse for Ireland that Aaron Cruden got two attempts at his kick, and only landed the second one. Had the on-rushing Irish defenders held off then it would have been a 22-22 draw. Quite ironically, if anybody watched the Rugby League World Cup semi-final on Saturday then you’ll realise the similarity between the two games – both New Zealand sides won with the last kick of the game.

Joe Schmidt is too good of a coach to realise that his side weren’t great. They caught the All Blacks off-guard with the three tries, but the harsh reality is that the Irish didn’t actually score beyond the thirtieth minute. The argument was there to simply defend and try to keep the All Blacks out, but everybody realised that Ireland would need one more score to keep the visitors at arm’s length – a score that they didn’t get.

It’s now three months until the Six Nations, and Schmidt will sit down and begin to look at what needs to happen for Ireland to be competitive. He will take a lot of positives from Sunday’s match, but he will still realise that his side threw that away. They had a chance to win that game and go one step further than England had achieved last week, but ultimately they came up short as per usual.

Well done Ireland, but you well and truly blew that.

Injury issues

We thought Ulster were hit badly by injuries last season – we’re being decimated this season. With Iain Henderson, Lewis Stevenson, Nick Williams and Rory Best all being struck down by injury this weekend with long-term injuries, adding to injuries to Johann Muller, Chris Henry and Stuart Olding, Ulster are looking a little lightweight heading into the Heineken Cup back-to-backs against Treviso next month.

Next weekend against Zebre will be something similar to the side we will be putting out against Treviso so it will be a good indication of where we are as a squad. I would still expect us to take at least fourteen points from our next three games, however with us missing so many players our task has been made a whole lot harder – Treviso are not an easy side anymore, everybody knows that.

It makes us just a little vulnerable.