8th – Ireland’s current world ranking, our lowest since the rankings began.
15, 14, 12, 11, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 – the numbers where the same player started every single 2012 Six Nations match.
Irelands regression as a top international test playing rugby nation has been startling. From the heights of the Grand Slam in 2009 and the record participation on that summers Lions tour by Irish players to the defeat to Scotland in the final game in Croke Park, to the last minute win over Italy in Rome last year and now the humiliation of being defeated easily by a limited England side. Add to that the three losses in a row to Wales, a team made up of players who regularly taste defeat at the hands of the Irish provinces and the result is that Ireland are now sitting below Argentina in the IRB world ranking. The slide has been steady and would be a whole lot more visible if it were not for the wins against England and Australia in the last year. Those wins were great, strong Irish performances, stunned over 80 minutes which yielded unexpected results. These successes are now tainted; we now see that these momentous occasions were aberrations, exceptions to the norm, mere glimpses of the potential that lies within this group of players. Yet that is what it is, potential, and it will continue to remain just that until there is fundamental change in the way the IRFU and the Irish management do their business.
If you pick up the papers in the past few days and read the sports columns discussing the Irish performance of the weekend and most of the blame seems to lie in Ireland’s lack of strength in depth. Ah that old chestnut, strength in depth, I’m always bewildered at this argument put forward by the rugby journalists, they decry Ireland lack of options in several positions yet never seem to put pressure on the coach to introduce players at a younger age. Irelands Six Nations campaign effectively ended when Wales scored that last minute penalty in Lansdowne Road, from there we couldn’t win the Grand Slam, couldn’t win a Triple Crown and the likelihood was we couldn’t win the championship. In the first year of a world Cup cycle we have effectively waster perfectly good opportunities to see if guys like Ronan Loughney, Jamie Hagan, Paul Marshall and Dan Touhy have what it takes to cut it at Test level. Loughney and Hagan, two tighthead props, offer the best alternatives to Mike Ross who as we saw to our cost on Saturday is now as indispensable to Ireland as his predecessor, John Hayes, became. The fact that neither player has an international cap to their name is a damning inditement of a coach who is so shackled by conservatism that it is now crippling this team. Kidney, aided by Gert Small, wasted two years trying to turn Tony Buckley into a competent Test playing tighthead, two years when Ross and Hagan were playing regularly and well for their clubs yet it was only when it became glaringly apparent that Buckley would never make it was Ross drafted in. It was a shocking neglection of their responsibilities. Take another case, one of the few success stories of the championship, Munsters Donnacha Ryan, the guy would never have started a game if it wasn’t for the injury to captain Paul O’Connell despite that fact that he’s been selected all season ahead on Donncha O’Callaghan at Munster and when he replaced the former against Italy and Wales he made a huge impact and showed O’Callaghan up big time. Seeing Tómas O’Leary coming on against England was the tipping point for me. Here’s a guy who is at best second choice at Munster, has been injured most of the season and is clearly out of form, yet another in form Irish qualified scrum half, Paul Marshall, has been playing exceptionally well for Ulster all season where he has pushed Ruan Pienaar all the way for the number 9 shirt. O’Leary’s selection was a slap in the face to Marshall and make a mockery of the coaches pledge to pick the form players. There is simple too much loyalty, too much blinkered thinking being displayed by this management team.
Another issue which I believe has impacted hugely on the sides performance is the fact that for a sizable number of the current squad they have been listening to the same voice for too long. Since 2001 Declan Kidney has been assistant coach with Ireland, head coach with Munster for two separate period with a year in charge of Leinster sandwiched in between and has been head coach with Ireland for nearly four years.
A change may be exactly what this squad needs. There has been no indication from the IRFU that Kidney will be asked to step down and there appears to be no pressure coming from the media for him to do so either. I wonder are Ireland missing a beat on that account. Wayne Smith, John Kirwan and Nick Mallett – all top class coaches and all available right now. The next Ireland coach in my opinion needs to be from outside the country, free from any provincial baggage, a person who can take an objective view on the state of the nation. This Ireland team needs a clean break, a fresh start and then maybe we will finally see this talented group of player fulfil their potential.
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