This was another lack lustre performance by Ireland. It was compounded by poor passing. The line out was beset by problems. In the scrums Ireland performed reasonably well. Nevertheless the Italians were superb at the break down. Geordan Murphy made several errors whilst Simon Easterby was sin binned for a professional foul.
It took vintage performances from scrum-half Eoin Reddan and out-half Ronan O'Gara to avert disaster. Reddan oozed class. O'Gara is now back to his brilliant best as evidenced by a superb chip over the Italian defence for Girvan Dempsey's try. He contributed 11 points of Irelands total. (3 pens and 1 conversion)
O'Sullivan is quite simply too conservative as a coach. He is risk averse. His selection today should have included Bernard Jackman, Tony Buckley, Jamie Heaslip,Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe from the start. He is obviously under pressure as the IRFU guillotine hangs over his head. Nevertheless he should have gone for broke. In fairness he did introduce Kearney and Jackman in the course of the game. It is time to reconstruct the Irish team and prepare for the 2011 World Cup. It is also time for the IRFU to take International Sevens Rugby seriously.
France and England have now gone down this route. England may have surprisingly lost today against Wales but nevertheless this short term pain is necessary for long term success.
Most of the current Irish team will have retired by 2011.
Fortune favours the brave. Ask Warren Gatland. Today he chose a Welsh team largely composed of Ospreys players and confounded the pundits. Undoubtedly Shaun Edwards played a major role in the Welsh success also.
Next weekend Ireland faces a newly reconstructed French team. The omens are not good.
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