Ireland fall well short of the mark

Ireland 32 Namibia 17:  Having watched Pool D opponents Argentina beat the hosts France on the opening night of the World Cup, Ireland began their campaign with renewed optimism ahead of what was supposed to be a straight forward battering of Namibia, the team ranked 25th in the world.

The reality, however, was that the side hailed as the golden generation of Irish rugby produced the worst performance of Eddie O'Sullivan's tenure as coach and handed the initiative straight back to the hosts and the Pumas by scrambling to a mere 15 point win over an amateur side.

Friday's result threw the group wide open and O'Sullivan and his men were keenly aware that it could now be decided on points. If that is the case, Ireland are now playing catch up despite topping the pool this evening.

That said, the primary objective was to secure the win with a bonus point and that was achieved courtesy of five tries.

Three of them came in the first 30 minutes, when Ireland played their best rugby, but the fourth and fifth came thanks to a prematurely awarded penalty try by referee Joel Jutge and a questionable touch down from substitute hooker Jerry Flannery after which Jutge inexplicably refused to consult the television match official.

The night began on a positive note when captain Brian O'Driscoll and openside flanker David Wallace, both returning from injury, played their part in an early score. Wallace's beautifully timed pass set Girvan Dempsey scampering down the line from halfway, and when the ball was recycled to O'Driscoll after the tackle the captain spotted a hole in behind the Namibians. He chased his own chip before gathering under pressure and stretching over the line.

The writing appeared to be on the wall in big bold letters, but the Irish did not heed their coach's pre-match warning to be patient in the pursuit of points.

Namibia hinted at the passion and grit that was to come with an audacious drop-goal attempt from Emile Wessels drifting wide. The outhalf should have closed the gap minutes later when flanker Simon Easterby conceded a penalty for not rolling away, but Ireland were given a reprieve.

Ireland were already struggling to keep the ball in hand and Denis Hickie, having been on the receiving end of a hard hit moments before, dropped a routine ball from Dempsey metres short of the line.

Having failed to reap anything from a kick to the corner moments earlier, Ronan O'Gara tagged on another three points in the 16th minute, and the outhalf was then responsible for one of the more memorable moments of the game when he tapped a penalty and found Andrew Trimble on the far side of the pitch with a searching kick.

The Ulster wing kept his eye on the ball and when he secured it under pressure he was left with the simple task of dropping to the ground and registering Ireland's second try.  O'Gara, however, missed the conversion, as he did with three of the five.

Ireland began to force it from there and handling errors were all too prevalent, with Hickie and Gordon D'Arcy particularly guilty, though mis-timed and loose passes played their part too.

A third try was secured when Simon Easterby scurried over the line with the help of his pack on the half hour mark but cracks were beginning to appear.

Namibia hold the unenviable record of being the side to concede the most tries in a World Cup game (22 against Australia in 2003), and were beaten by Tunisia and Kenya in qualification for the tournament. Nevertheless, they regrouped and put it up to the Irish pack who turned in a half hearted display and refused to commit men to rucks and mauls.  This, on more than one occasion, led to the Africans steam-rolling Ireland down the pitch as beleaguered green shirts scrambled in every direction to stem the tide.

In the backs, Namibia appeared one dimensional going forward, but in rookie centre Piet van Zyl they had a willing tackler and much of Ireland's wide play broke down because of his efforts and those of the very impressive number eight Jacques Burger.

Much of the set plays were going wrong for Ireland too.  Rory Best was twice penalised for crooked throw ins late in the first half, once just five metres from his line. Nearing the break Namibia spent a lot of the time in Ireland's half and the apparent gulf in class was nowhere to be seen.

They got something on the board on the stroke of halftime when Wessels kicked three points after Marcus Horan was penalised for not releasing in the tackle.

Though there was persistent fouling by Namibia in the scrum, the only facet of Ireland's game they struggled to cope with, Jutge's decision to award a penalty try minutes into the second half seemed a touch hasty and the Namibian support, largely French, let him know what they thought of the decision.

It failed to detract from their team's efforts, however, and things went from bad to worse for Ireland when the captain allowed the Africans back in with an ill-advised and mis-hit 22 drop out that found its way straight back into grateful Namibian arms.  It was sent back out wide and found winger Ryan Witbooi, who burst through a hole to set up flanker Jacques Nieuwenhuis to crash over.

Shock turned to horror moments later when van Ziel, playing only his second international, won the race to a grubber kick from Heini Bock.

Flannery opened the gap again when he squeezed over in the corner, but again Jutge incensed the opposition and some support by refusing to consult the TMO after doing so for van Zyl's earlier try.

Speaking afterwards, O'Sullivan gave an honest appraisal afterwards, describing the performance as "shocking".

"I thought the first quarter we were shaky because it was the start of the tournament," said the coach.  "I thought we would improve as the game went on but we actually got worse as the game went on.

"Our first quarter was our best, in terms of keeping the scoreboard ticking over but we lost our shape, we lost our composure and didn't play any rugby out there. It was unforced error after unforced error."

Ireland play Georgia in their second game on Saturday.  Vast improvements are needed by then.

Ireland:Dempsey; Trimble, O'Driscoll (Murphy 80), D'Arcy, Hickie; O'Gara (P Wallace 80), Stringer; Horan (S Best 60), R. Best (Flannery 60), Hayes, O'Callaghan, O'Connell, Easterby, D. Wallace (N. Best 69), Leamy.  Replacements: Flannery, S. Best, O'Kelly, N. Best, Boss, P. Wallace, Murphy.

Namibia:Losper; Witbooi (Africa 80), Langenhoven, van Zyl, Bock, Wessels, Jantjies; Lensing (Redelinghuys 50), Horn, du Toit, Kazombiaze, Esterhuize, Nieuwenhuis, Senekal (MacKenzie 21), Burger.  Replacements: Meyer, Redelinghuys, MacKenzie, du Plessis, van Tonder, Botes, Africa.

Referee: J Jutge (France)