Kidney remains upbeat despite disjointed performance

RUGBY: Ireland 28 Barbarians 29: THE DEFEAT won't be the only thing that'll smart this morning from an Irish perspective. A number of players picked up bumps and bruises on a night when the Barbarians opted to kick a late penalty, through Felipe Contepomi, to secure victory.

Ireland coach Declan Kidney was reasonably upbeat in the aftermath, pointing out the recent injury problems that have bedevilled the squad were not exacerbated last night. Chris Henry, Brett Wilkinson and Peter O’Mahony were taken off with bangs but Kidney doesn’t expect unpleasant news from the medical assessment this morning.

He will fill three of the four vacancies in the squad to tour New Zealand today with a decision on Paul O’Connell’s fitness deferred until Friday. Henry and Wilkinson are slated to go even though Ronan Loughney’s cameo will have have given the coach something to ponder. Scrumhalf Paul Marshall’s three-minute cameo was all too brief.

This was a scratch Ireland side with limited preparatory time but there were fundamental performance issues. The unit skills and collective cohesion were periodically lacking and at best fractured but the scrum travails were worrying in the light of the hamstring injury Mike Ross is currently nursing.

Declan Fitzpatrick appeared in less discomfort in this area but in mitigation Irish loosehead Brett Wilkinson was up against the formidable John Afoa; Wilkinson was in trouble. In the first scrum, Ireland were shunted backwards, in the second penalised, the third conceded a free kick.

Fitzpatrick was replaced by Connacht’s Ronan Loughney on 56 minutes but what was arguably more instructive was the Ulster player’s return on 67 minutes. Loughney moved to loosehead and Ireland forced a penalty. Wilkinson did contribute admirably around the pitch, demonstrating his fitness but scrum time would be a concern.

Kidney explained: “I am not inclined to preordain substitutions before a game. In this frontrow one I did think I would like to see how Ronan would go. Brett, with a calf injury, there was always a danger of him cramping up: with 65 minutes gone that happened. It was better to get him off before he pulled it and ruled him out of the tour . . . It allowed Ronan (Loughney) to go over and play both sides for us. Given we are still on a 22-man squad for the internationals it’s a help to have two guys Declan Fitzpatrick and Ronan Loughney who can front up on both sides.”

It wasn’t the only area in which Ireland’s playing framework creaked as Ireland haemorrhaged penalties at the breakdown. The main cause was the lack of speed to the tackled player and a deficiency in numbers. Henry limped off forcing Andrew Trimble to come on and play in the backrow, while number eight O’Mahony was also replaced, having soldiered for most of the game with a shoulder/neck problem.

Kidney admitted: “I just felt it was prudent not to overplay Chris (Henry) and then Peter (O’Mahony) had picked up a bang on the neck. So we had subbed Chris we got the word Peter started to tighten up and might have made the substitutions a different way. James (Coughlan) was someone I wanted to see as to how he would go. But I expect both (O’Mahony and Henry) to be okay over the next 48 or 72 hours.

Ulster scrumhalf Paul Marshall never really got a chance to stake a claim to replace the injured Isaac Boss for the tour – it’s a situation that will be resolved this morning – as he came on with just three minutes remaining.

On a night when Irish players struggled to rise above the mediocre, Craig Gilroy’s produced a stunning performance not just in scoring a brace of tries but in his role as creator. Hooker Mike Sherry worked hard, Ronan O’Gara kicked beautifully from the tee and in general, there was plenty of perspiration from the Irish team but the continuity and understanding that comes with playing together just wasn’t there.

Scoring sequence – 9 mins: Balshaw try, Contepomi conversion, 7-0; 13: Gilroy try, O’Gara conversion, 7-7; 17: van Zyl try, 12-7; 23: Earls try, O’Gara conversion, 12-14; 28: Sackey try, Contepomi conversion, 19-14. Half-time: 19-14. 44: Zebo try, O’Gara conversion, 19-21; 56: Tindall try, Contepomi conversion, 26-21; 62: Gilroy try, O’Gara conversion, 26-28; 77: Contepomi penalty, 29-28.

BARBARIANS: C Heymans; P Sackey, M Tindall, D Traille, I Balshaw; F Contepomi, R Lawson; D Jones, B August, J Afoa; M O'Driscoll, C van Zyl; M Gorgodze, F Louw, R Lakafia. Replacements: P Taele for van Zyl (24 mins), A de Malmanche for August (41 mins), I Nacewa for Balshaw, N Tialata for Jones (both 55 mins), A Qera for Gorgodze (65 mins), S Donald for Heymans (66 mins),R Rees for Lawson (70 mins).

IRELAND: K Earls (Munster); C Gilroy (Ulster), D Cave (Ulster), P Wallace (Ulster), S Zebo (Munster); R O'Gara (Munster), C Murray (Munster); B Wilkinson (Wilkinson), M Sherry (Munster), D Fitzpatrick (Ulster); D Tuohy (Ulster), D Ryan (Munster); J Muldoon (Connacht), C Henry (Ulster), P O'Mahony (Munster). Replacements: R Loughney (Connacht) for Fitzpatrick (57 mins), D O'Callaghan (Munster) for Tuohy, J Coughlan (Munster) for Henry (both 60 mins), A Trimble (Ulster) for O'Mahony (70), P Marshall (Ulster) for Murray (77 mins), N Spence (Ulster) for Gilroy (78 mins).

Referee:Jerome Garces (France).