Ireland in desperate need of new direction

THE BOTTOM line on Saturday is that fortune favoured the brave, and by rights it should have done so even more handsomely. The ultimate reward should come for Wales next Saturday with a possible second Grand Slam in four years or, at the very least barring a 20-point French win, another title. Meantime, Ireland are left celebrating their one Slam of 60 years ago and without a title for 25 years.

It must have been particularly galling for the hamstrung Brian O'Driscoll and the rest of the so-called golden generation to see Wales celebrate for the second time in front of their eyes in an era when otherwise the Welsh have rarely looked so bad.

In the six other championships since the turn of the Millennium, the Red Dragonhood have finished in the bottom half. They look set fair now though, even if the French selection suggests Marc Lievremont's laboratory experiment has been completed and he will select their strongest available team.

England and Scotland have rarely been worse either. The former are failing to stay in contention until the last weekend for the fifth season running, while the Scots have struggled painfully to cope with the changing environment of professionalism.

To a degree O'Sullivan and his coaching ticket are victims of their own relative success and the sheer length of his eight-year, 77-match reign - the longest of any regime in the world game at the moment by some distance. At the moment, a coach with energy and a fresh approach for a squad that, out of sheer necessity, is being infused with young players would go down better with Irish rugby and its public than a coach who sent out his team last Saturday to play a driving, kicking, low-risk game.

One ventures the rugby public would be more patient with a new coach who took risks and had a vision for the future. It's just the nature of these things. The desultory atmosphere for the three home games this season compared to last is in part a reflection of this disaffection.

No amount of reviewing the tape of last Saturday's game in Croke Park (or listening to coaches and players, former and present) can dispel the feeling that Ireland's performance was born out of a fear of losing. The most disquieting aspect of all was that seasoned internationals had not the belief or freedom to exercise their initiative.

By half-time it appeared obvious to all that the limited game plan was not working. Instead, it was 14-man Wales who picked up the tempo, if also in a more constrained way themselves as three times they ran down the clock - twice for sinbinnings and the last to see out the game. In fact, the only thing close about the game was the scoreboard, and the two Welsh yellow cards did more than anything to keep Ireland in touch.

Yet in the second half Wales still had 22 minutes and 30 seconds of possession to Ireland's 12:43. As for time in opposition territory in that second period, Wales had 32:54 in the Irish half to Ireland's 13:43.

Rewind to the French game when Ireland played against the most lethal back three in the championship and played a running, wide game despite themselves going onto the pitch with three fullbacks.

Yet, with a more balanced back three against Wales, in which Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan, curiously, looked like Ireland's best players, that duo's opportunities were almost exclusively off Welsh kicks. Ireland never moved the ball to them once, save for Eoin Reddan linking with Horgan on the blindside. Even Reddan was reduced to apparent hesitancy at the base, but on many of the occasions when the ball remained stationary at the base of rucks there was no first receiver ready.

It's clear that O'Sullivan's position has now become the kernel of the problem and is contributing to Ireland being in one-game-at-a-time mode more than anyone else in a championship that was arguably there for the taking. After all, Wales, Italy and France are all rebuilding, England remain caught between two stools and still in inner turmoil, while Scotland are simply limited.

If he were more secure in his own future, or if a new coach were in place, the scope to look beyond next Saturday's dead rubber and pick the likes of Tony Buckley, perhaps even Paddy Wallace, and Luke Fitzgerald, would be greater. Despite the clamour for Fitzgerald to be included at outside centre, alongside Andrew Trimble, he has little experience of the role. If, as one suspects, O'Sullivan will pair Shane Horgan with Trimble, then the argument for employing and actually using Geordan Murphy as a strike runner behind two big centres - as is the case with Leicester - would be strong.

O'Sullivan is right when he says it's easy to sit on one side of a laptop and call for someone's head on a plate, but it is not in the least bit pleasurable to do, for it also concerns other coaches - good men all who undoubtedly have tried their best. But he is wrong when he says that it all hinges on one loss. This deep-rooted malaise dates back almost a year in which Ireland's only wins out of their last 12 games were against Italy twice at home (once very luckily), Namibia, Georgia (ouch) and Scotland.

Sadly, it is abundantly obvious that regardless of next Saturday's outcome the Irish team is in desperate need of change and a new direction; as was the case after the World Cup.

Not that O'Sullivan should be condemned for not resigning, any more than he should for seeking and receiving another four-year extension almost a full season in advance. As with allowing the team to seemingly become the personal fiefdom of one individual, while prevaricating, orchestrating whitewashes and suggesting yet more coaching appointments, the fault lines start at the very top.

O'Sullivan has a wife and children, and financial imperatives decree that he obtain the best deal for himself. We would all do the same.

But he is a clever man, and in these difficult times must privately wonder if he would be better off moving on and letting someone else have a go. By rights it would be far nicer to see him ride off into the sunset with a win over England, although his chances of the Lions' job must have receded sharply in the last 12 months - that looks to be a glorified Wasps ticket whatever the line-up.