A very bad blow for Irish rugby

Outside the players' exit from the Murrayfield stands on Saturday, the Easterby brothers emerged first a few seconds apart and climbed aboard the Irish team bus. Sitting silently four rows apart and looking utterly dismayed, they weren't even capable of conversation. Then again, this one beggared belief.

No matter how one looks at it, this is a bad blow for the team especially and for Irish rugby generally, which cannot be dismissed as a one-off unless it is proven to be a one-off against Wales next time. Anything like a repeat, with England to come a week afterwards, then all the rejuvenation, development and injection of new blood over the preceding 18 months and dozen games or so runs the risk of being completely wiped out.

Invariably, there will be a desire within Irish rugby for blood, i.e. for changes. Much of it will emanate from Munster, whose influence on the team had been diluted heavily last week to no apparent gain. Coincidence or not? Be that as it may, and no disrespect to the old warhorse, it's a pretty sad state of affairs if another rallying call for Mick Galwey can provide a panacea for all ills.

Isn't it time Team Ireland did away with the comfy blanket? A conflicting piece of advice came from Stuart Barnes via the Daily Telegraph yesterday when he suggested that more Irish players should be based in England's Premiership. Hmm, methinks not. Saturday's team had five exiles in the starting line-up, the most in a championship game since that Twickenham debacle 19 months ago. Coincidence or not?

More than all of that, though, the Irish team will benefit from a dollop of humble pie, and come kick-off will need to display a good deal more urgency as well as a reversion to the tactics and style of play which served them so much better over the last 18 months.

Ireland seemed to forget what got them to where they were before Saturday, namely a much higher tempo game, played much closer to the gain line and setting much wider targets. At Murrayfield, they resorted to the old habit of lining up deep behind the gain line and recycling dead ball, without ever establishing any real width to their game until David Humphreys came on.

Comparisons with that Twickenham day looked particularly valid when Ireland were awarded an indirect penalty on halfway in the 22nd minute. Guy Easterby tapped to Anthony Foley who took it up into contact but was held up in the tackle. The supporting Malcolm O'Kelly and John Hayes missed the ruck and had to regroup, as the secondary wave of ruckers arrived. Guy Easterby got down on one knee for some excavation, eventually spinning the ball out to Ronan O'Gara fully 10 seconds after Foley had taken it into contact. The ripple effect saw Shane Horgan take the ball up from deep, but his attempted offload to Brian O'Driscoll went to ground and Budge Pountney beat Kieron Dawson to the loose ball.

From the resultant Scottish scrum John Leslie broke between the porous Shane Horgan-Brian O'Driscoll midfield axis in the build-up to Chris Paterson putting Pountney over for the opening try. Seven-nil and thereafter on the back foot.

After 34 minutes, Ireland moved the ball through 10 phases from a scrum on the Scottish 10-metre line, using up over a minute for a net gain of, ooh, about four or maybe five yards. The thing about this passage was that they hardly ever moved it wider than one pass from the breakdown, Guy Easterby taking it on three times himself and O'Gara twice before Foley was penalised for not releasing. Foley's influence has never been so negligible in the last dozen internationals and in the first half he would also turn over the ball in contact twice, which is twice more than he normally would in a month of Saturdays.

This Irish pack also looked like it needs a few revision sessions in rucking, for they never blew opponents off the ball like they can and, while one doesn't want to countenance foul play, it's possibly revealing to note that not one Irish player used their studs against one of the world's most renowned collection of spoilers.

Wholesale changes could be risky, for most of this team are capable of playing the higher tempo, broader game that had sparked the upturn in fortunes, but the events of the weekend ensure next weekend's opening round of European games constitute a hell of a carrot for some wannabes.

Beginning with the decision-makers, the lack of all-round leadership on Saturday suggests the team would indeed still benefit from Galwey's presence in the second-row. It would also, in fact, be a form selection. I'd be reluctant to jettison Kieron Dawson, who actually did some good work at the breakdown (whereas his fellow back rowers rarely made an impression there) and whose continuity skills will be even more valuable if the team rediscovers itself.

There might be room for David Wallace's dynamic ball-carrying abilities as well in the back row. Alan Quinlan or Eric Miller might come into the squad at any rate at the expense of Simon Easterby, who looks like he needs more than just a few Celtic League games after a year out.

Peter Stringer must surely return for Guy Easterby in the starting line-up, with Brian O'Meara knocking on the door of the squad, though the management don't seem to fancy him. But what of outhalf? Viewed strictly on Saturday's evidence there's a compelling argument for recalling Humphreys. Even O'Gara's distribution lacked its customary zip. But, then again, Humphreys had the benefit of watching the game for an hour and was bound to be an improvement, as was the case when he replaced O'Gara against Scotland last year, and when O'Gara replaced Humphreys in the draw with Canada, and when Paul Burke replaced Humphreys in Romania last June.

Irish subs have a habit of doing this.

Anthony Horgan and Gordon D'Arcy, as well as Tyrone Howe, are entitled to be contenders for the vacancy on the wing given Geordan Murphy's torn hamstring, while Kevin Maggs' more accurate defence will probably earn him a recall over Shane Horgan.

But, as much as changes in personnel, this Irish team needs to rediscover its pace and pzazz, to rediscover itself.