Bruised heroes look ahead

Rugby World Cup Quarter-finals Line-up: Already shorn of Geordan Murphy and Rob Henderson, not to mention RWC 2003 joint leading try scorer Alan Quinlan, Ireland yesterday lost one of their most prized attacking weapons when it was confirmed that Denis Hickie's tournament was over

Tyrone Howe, ironically a late replacement on the Lions tour two years ago ahead of Hickie, began his long-haul flight to Melbourne yesterday and will link up with the Irish squad tomorrow at around 6 a.m. local time.

In fact it wouldn't be stretching things to say that Hickie had become Ireland's sharpest cutting edge this season, during which his haul of eight tries (in just six games) is a seasonal record for any Irish player. Like Quinlan he had scored three tries in the World Cup.

Ruled out of another summer tour through injury in June, Hickie had used his extended lay-off to work harder than ever on both the physical and mental sides of his game, and had returned better than ever. In the process the 27-year-old flyer had become Ireland's most capped winger - with 44 - as well as his country's record all-time try scorer, with 23.

Alas, hardly a game seems to go by this season without another Irish casualty, and yesterday Eddie O'Sullivan confirmed the worst: "It's bad news for Denis. He's got a ruptured Achilles tendon. It's a severe injury which will require immediate attention and surgery. He will fly home tomorrow with Alan Quinlan."

Hickie's estimated recuperation and return to rugby was put at six months by the Irish coach. "It's worse than a broken leg."

The loss of their paciest finisher seriously clips Ireland's wings, and leaves O'Sullivan with a selection dilemma for next Sunday's quarter-final against France in Melbourne's Telstra Dome (kick-off 6.30 p.m. - 7.30 a.m. Irish time). The likelihood is that O'Sullivan will opt for John Kelly as a direct replacement.

Kelly is a clever footballer, with a high work-rate in defence and a decent strike rate of eight tries in 16 Tests (four as a replacement).

Another option might be to promote Anthony Horgan, arguably a more dynamic finisher, but as he is one of five players who has seen no time on the pitch in this World Cup, this makes his promotion less likely.

Nevertheless, unless he goes with a 5-2 (replacement forwards and backs) split, O'Sullivan is still left with the option of promoting Horgan, Paddy Wallace or Howe to the bench on Sunday.

The Irish squad yesterday awoke to the reality of having produced easily their best performance of the season but also having missed out by the narrowest of margins on a quarter-final against the pedestrian and misfiring Scots in Brisbane next Saturday. Nevertheless, Ireland have much going for them, not least that they have adopted Melbourne as something of a home from home. The Berkeley Court can get a bit hot and heavy come match day, and their hotel in Adelaide was something special, but the scenes before and after Saturday's match outstripped even those. The players had to negotiate a narrow snakeline through the thousands who had hemmed inside and outside their Holiday Inn base, barely making it to their team coach about 90 minutes before kick-off. Keith Wood later remarked it wasn't Lansdowne Road. In truth, in the enclosed, state-of-the-art spaciousness of the Telstra Dome, it was in some respects infinitely better.

The Fields Of Athenry, never more appropriate as a lament for the Emerald Isle than here in Australia ("her love in Botany Bay", the port in which the convicts were initially detained), must have given the players a huge adrenalin surge as it echoed around the stadium just past the 70-minute mark.

O'Sullivan reckoned that having lost to Ireland three times in the last five years, the French will be "nervous" about next Sunday. All the more so as they will be moving from their base in the warmer climes of Bondi Beach to Melbourne's less hospitable chills and rain, and O'Sullivan yesterday echoed Keith Wood's plea for the locals "to put on a green shirt and give us their backing against France".

Bernard Laporte watched the Australia-Ireland game on television in the company of a L'Equipe journalist and, and under the heading "Une Irlande de Combat", the French coach said the Irish performance deserved praise.

"The Irish forwards completely destabilised the Australian forwards with the quality of their set piece and their general kicking game. The Wallabies have to be relieved to get a victory.

"Now Ireland have eight days to recover so we can see them in two ways," added Laporte. "Firstly, that this game will give them a lot of confidence. Secondly, they still have a lot left physically. But nobody could have bet on such a result (on Saturday)."

As for the French, no less than their Six Nations campaign, O'Sullivan conceded that their unexceptional summer (when Laporte left some of his frontliners at home) was misleading. "They've shown a vein of form and are timing their run just nicely. They have a lot of gamebreakers, a lot of strong men, a superb back row, a powerful scrum and some class acts out in the backs. They're a pretty complete side.

"They don't seem to get rattled anymore. Everybody used to try to upset the French and found it wasn't the hardest thing in the world to do. Their discipline went and they lost their shape. Even when things have gone against them in the World Cup they've kept their shape and been very clinical. You put together a team like France who are clinical and have flair, and you have a problem on your hands. I think we have a problem on our hands next week," said O'Sullivan.

In time-honoured fashion, the team hotel ran out of beer by 2 a.m. on Sunday. Did no one tell them the Irish were coming? Australians have generally reacted with indignation to the performance of the Wallabies on Saturday, but one group undoubtedly happy with the outcome at the Telstra Dome were the local publicans. For them, Saturday was a result in every sense.

Next Saturday

New Zealand v South Africa, Melbourne, 7.30 a.m. Irish time

Australia v Scotland, Brisbane, 10.0 a.m.

Sunday

France v Ireland, Melbourne, 7.30 a.m.

England v Wales, Brisbane, 10.0 a.m.

Semi-finals

Saturday Nov 15th: France or Ireland v England or Wales; Sydney, 9.0 a.m.; Sunday Nov 16th: New Zealand or South Africa v Australia or Scotland, Sydney, 9.0 a.m.