Players' body won't respond till they get written

Genesis report:The Irish rugby players' representative body, IRUPA, will not comment on the Genesis Report into Ireland's poor showing at the World Cup in France until they receive a written version of the report. The report, widely publicised yesterday and the day before, was delivered orally to an IRFU committee. The IRFU subsequently made comments about the content of the report and some possible changes to the national team set-up.

In return for the IRFU funding the player survey, the union were to receive a copy of the final report of the players survey so it could be fed into their overall review.

Although the IRFU have already reacted on the basis of the verbal report, IRUPA are not prepared to do so. The IRUPA chief executive Niall Woods met his IRFU counterpart Philip Browne and the Genesis team this week and hopes to have the finalised report by the end of the week. He has said a large mass of information was contained in the report and that his organisation would need to view it closely before making any comment.

In a statement released last night, IRUPA stated their position: "Following Ireland's disappointing performance at the Rugby World Cup, IRUPA decided to commission a survey of the squad members in order to identify, from the players' perspective, why the squad did not perform to its optimum during the tournament.

"When the opportunity arose for it to use the internationally renowned consultancy firm Genesis Consulting in conjunction with the IRFU and thereby employ Genesis' expertise in the conduct of such review, IRUPA agreed to co-instruct Genesis to carry out a survey of the players. All members of the RWC squad were circulated with a questionnaire devised by IRUPA in conjunction with Genesis, with 90 per cent of the squad members subsequently interviewed by Genesis."

That percentage represents 27 of the 30-man World Cup squad. Three players who travelled to France did not take part in the interview process by Genesis.

The statement continues: "The CEOs of IRUPA and the IRFU received a verbal report on Genesis' summary of findings in relation to elements of the players' survey at a meeting on Monday, December 17th. As part of its review process, Genesis amassed a large volume of information and opinions and the findings presented to the CEOs incorporated, in summary form, a wide range of views, opinions and possible causes for the squad performance at the Rugby World Cup."

That there is a large volume of information in the review may indicate the explanation of having too few games prior to the World Cup is too simple and that more complex issues may be involved.

"IRUPA will not be making any recommendations in advance of the report being received," continued the statement. "IRUPA will undertake a detailed assessment of Genesis' findings on receipt of the final written report on the players' survey.

"Following that and having consulted with the players concerned, IRUPA will then make such recommendations as it considers appropriate."