Deflated Hook points to 'terrible blunder'

Keith Duggan/TV View: Into the cauldron and for the boys of the commentary box, it was a day for clearing things up. Ireland versus Australia turned into the ferocious epic RTÉ had spent the previous month hyping it as and, in the heat of the moment, our announcers were anxious to get things right.

From the outset, Ireland asked serious questions of the opposition while Jim Sherwin, just eight minutes in, asked equally demanding questions of us.

"Is he offloading? Is that obstruction? Was that crossing?" he demanded in a quick-fire round reminiscent of the heyday of Magnus Magnusson. Hey, you tell us.

As it turned out, the answer to all of these questions was "no". It was merely a George Gregan drop-goal. Leaving Jim to the bread-and-butter details of the game, Tony Ward busied himself by setting the mood, oozing appreciation for the passing, moaning at the intensity of the tackling and holding a licked finger in the air before declaring the conditions perfect for a feast of place-kicking.

"In fact," he chuckled, as he glanced towards the retractable roof that had been closed to fend off the Melbourne torrents, "there are no conditions."

Back in studio, of course, there were conditions enough to merit a full weather report. Don't know if they keep a thermometer in the rugby hut at Montrose but if so, it must give the most eclectic reading in the world. The general message from George Hook and Ciarán Fitzgerald at half-time was that Ireland should be very happy. But at the same time, not at all happy. Fitzy was adamant we could win the thing.

"I wouldn't be quite so optimistic," growled George Hook.

Into the second half and sights that have lit this World Cup from an Irish perspective. Steam rising from John Hayes. Poor Denis Hickie hobbling off. Keith Wood, back to his untameable best, going for the jugular instead of opting for the safe three points. David Humphreys's expression after his so-near-yet-so-far drop for glory.

For a long period you had to wonder which team were the champions of the world. It was the kind of 40 minutes that reduces analysts to blubbering messes ready for the couch.

"You should get down on your knees and apologise," chastised Tom McGurk in his best Thor voice afterwards. "You said Ireland couldn't win."

"They didn't win," pointed out Hook, a response to which there was no answer. Ireland hadn't won; a point and a whole different destiny separating the teams.

Fitzy, red-cheeked and cheerful to the last, was happy to draw on the magnitude of the performance. Fitzy's innate good humour is the perfect antidote to George's tendency to wallow in the Slough of Despond.

"I feel deflated," he revealed. "I didn't think we would win but we could have and the decision not to take the three points was a terrible blunder."

After England's crushing of mighty Uruguay by 17 tries to one, Clive Woodward almost made a terrible blunder of his own. The game was, as the English coach pointed out, a no-win situation for England. Afterwards Clive was unmistakably pleased by the free-running display of his team and tried his best to be gallant and charitable towards Uruguay, allowing, "I wasn't pleased they scored a try but in a way I was."

But humility is not a mask Woodward wears well. Asked to look ahead to the quarter-final, where England would meet the losers of New Zealand v Wales, Woodward smiled broadly and reckoned, "Yeah, against the All-Blacks, probably."

All in all, it was a performance that provoked righteous indignation in the RTÉ panel, with Conor O'Shea labelling the comments as "patronising" and Fitzy reckoning that the English coach was deluding himself.

All of that followed Joe Worsley's obnoxious behaviour in the wake of his sin-binning against Uruguay.

"It says a lot about him and the team," said Fitzgerald.

As O'Shea - who along with Geordan Murphy has made a really enjoyable contribution to RTÉ's coverage - pointed out, all those little misdemeanours just set England up for another fall that would delight the rest of the rugby world.

The problem for Woodward was that so heavily favoured were New Zealand to beat Wales his joking as he predicted meeting the All Blacks was more or less akin to laughing at the state of Welsh rugby. He didn't mean to do that but that is how it came across.

If only they had a camera fixed on Woodward for the first 60 minutes of what was a truly great game, with a novice Welsh side somehow discovering the spirit of the 1970s. He must have gulped when the Welsh came from 28-10 down to take a second-half lead against the rattled All-Blacks.

"Is this really happening?" gasped Tony Ward as the Welsh threw the ball around in a way not seen since Richard Burton was a young man. "This is dream rugby."

It was and all the scolding about the fact the Welsh had made it to the quarter-finals while exciting outsiders like Samoa and Argentina were going home seemed a bit redundant. Rugby and singing are, after all, still the key expressions of Welsh soul. Yesterday both were in perfect harmony as the Welsh defied general predictions that they would be pasted by the All Blacks.

Most unusual observation came courtesy of Jim Sherwin. Anatomically dissecting Brent Cockbain and his brother Matt, Jim was first to note a physiological quirk.

"Most extraordinary pair of shoulders on these boys - in fact, if you look closely, they don't have shoulders at all."

That is extraordinary and gives you some idea of how dangerous the Welsh could be when they opt for a full-shoulders selection. They will need them all next weekend when they face England, a case of wheel, shoulders and brass neck.

Ireland, of course, face France but without Geordan Murphy, without Alan Quinlan and now without Denis Hickie, whose sad departure tempered Sunday morning's review of Saturday's heroics.

On Saturday, RTÉ closed their show with an Après Match sketch parodying the ITV house of rugby's obsession with getting Ulster-based players in the first 15. The demotion of Humphreys meant there was no representative from the "Wee North" on the team for the Australia game. Can't say Eddie O'Sullivan ain't brave.

Next week brings a whole new ball game.