A sobering thought

Very cobbering, but mostly true...

From Scrum.com

The last minute horrors of their defeat against France may have blotted their Six Nations copy book but the Irish were, six months ago, on the crest of a wave - Triple Crown winners and set fare to surpass their usual quarter final appearance when September came around.
However the last few months, and especially the last few weeks, will have put doubts in the mind of even the most fervent Irish supporter.

Certainly it was a second string, or in places a third string, side who suffered a series defeat, and a second test shut out against Pool D opponents and World Cup nemesis’ Argentina in the summer – but those defeats only served to highlight Eddie O’Sullivan’s lack of available strength in depth behind the established stars.

The warm up games in August did little to clam Irish nerves with a patchy performance in defeat to Scotland made worse by a warm up injury to Shane Horgan, while the late scheduled game with Bayonne produced THE nightmare scenario as Brian O’Driscoll was led from the field, blood streaming from the gash where he was caught by a haymaker.

Thankfully for both the tournament as a whole and the Irish in particular their skipper should miss only the opening skirmish with Namibia before returning to full fitness but the prognosis is less clear for Horgan and the Irish’s only genuine openside flanker David Wallace whose ankle injury has kept him out of all the warm up action.

Without these three crucial figures the Irish ended their preparation phase by scraping a fortuitous and undeserved win over Italy – a result that will hardly leave New Zealand, South Africa, France – or even Argentina quaking in their boots.

That defeat saw not so much rust as deep corrosion from the Irish side with childhood buddies Ronan O’Gara (who will be vital to Irish hopes in the tournament – perhaps even more so that O’Driscoll) and Peter Stringer seeming at times like strangers who had met an hour before in the Ravenhill car park, while the front five were made to look distinctly average by their Italian counterparts, a sight the Pumas pack will have lapped up with joy.

O’Sullivan’s selections for the tournament, particularly up front, have also raised a few eyebrows.

While he can call on the likes of Geordan Murphy, Andrew Trimble and Gavin Duffy to cover the back three his options should O’Gara pick up a knock are startlingly few – with back up fly half Paddy Wallace not even getting regular game time for Ulster at No.10 last season.

The selection of the aging Malcolm O’Kelly and backrower Alan Quinlan as cover for O’Callaghan and O’Connell in the engine room is also not entirely inspiring.

The injury to David Wallace also highlights the lack of another genuine No.7 in the party with Keith Gleason left kicking his heels in Dublin.

So realistically how far can this Irish side progress?

The conundrum is that they could be finalists – however they could also be back with their clubs before the quarter finals. If the front five can front up in the tight, if the back row can impose themselves in the loose and O’Driscoll O’Gara and D’Arcy can fire the backs they may just face up to the All Blacks in the Stade de France final.

However if a few injuries hit and they struggle at the scrum then Irish fans could spend some uncomfortable time hiding behind the sofa.

Methinks EOS has some thinking to do.... win or no win, final or home before Sept ends...