Disgusted Deans rues lack of progress

THE LOOK on the face of New Zealander Robbie Deans was Hamilton on a bleak winter’s night

THE LOOK on the face of New Zealander Robbie Deans was Hamilton on a bleak winter’s night. It told a story of Irish triumph, Australian loss and he wasn’t taking it that well. The Australian coach spoke about a draw that cut like a defeat and the upstarts of Ireland grabbing a slice of the match, when they almost had it bagged. An Australian defence that had held so firm as Ireland found continuity and territory in the dying minutes suddenly leaked and Brian O’Driscoll exploited it as he does best. In his 100th Test match it was fitting the outside centre should have the final say.

“Look at O’Driscoll’s career, that’s what he’s known for, those big moments. He’s able to produce it when it’s needed, which is a bit disappointing for us,” said Australian hooker Stephen Moore. “He’s obviously Ireland’s key player along with Paul O’Connell, who carries the ball, and then their backrow too, so they were the things we talked about before the game.”

The rankings held that Australia was the better team and the tradition of Southern Hemisphere sides coming north and winning was long. In Deans, Moore and captain Rocky Elsom, there was obviously bruised pride that needed some tender loving care.

Australia’s swagger was halted, their hopes of putting Ireland to the sword and maintaining their own sense of place in the global hierarchy was seriously questioned.

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“Yeah, clearly it’s a game we probably could have, should have won here,” said Deans. “Essentially the fact that Ireland were still within seven points was critical. How we ended up in the position and failed to get beyond that with the maturity and belief that this side has . . . We had enough opportunities to get beyond that. But we didn’t achieve it. You leave the door ajar and they have the persistence to come back.”

There was no cheery note for Irish rugby fans, no homilies to Ireland tactics or Ireland’s ability to squeeze out that final score. There was little coming from Deans other than disappointment that on occasion appeared to border on disgust that Australia had allowed Ireland snatch the moral victory. He wasn’t hiding that he was none too happy with Australia.

“Ireland escaped with a draw,” he added dourly. “There are number of things you can look at, but the game is done. It was only in the last seconds that they level pegged us.”

The suggestion to Deans and captain Elsom was that if Australia looked to any player on the Irish team to score a late try it might have been O’Driscoll. The inference was that of all the players to close down, O’Driscoll was the man you would have expected Australia to negate first. With Elsom’s experience of playing along side the Ireland captain, the point was the Aussie captain above all others should have been wary. “I suppose if it was going to be anyone, it was going to be him,” said Elsom of his former team mate. “I think we needed to have more patience in attack, be able to do what we wanted to do. We were a bit rushed. It’s very hard to score a try off first phase attacking out of your own 22.”

Deans’ analysis of O’Driscoll’s break was more Spartan and the sizable hole in the Australian defence he sprung through caused the coach to visibly wince when he was reminded.

“Your major blokes step up on occasions like these,” he said flatly. And the huge gap that opened? “That’s what pressure does. It creates doubt.”

The only concession was that at least Ireland in Croke Park was a step up from England last week in Twickenham. “Yeah, no doubt,” said Deans. “Ireland was a step up from England. But we went conservative today. We went very narrow.”

Moore, who has Irish parentage, was more gracious to Ireland’s endeavour and character for hanging in the game and ultimately claiming part of it. Australia’s tour was also still on the tracks.

“It’s disappointing. There’s no doubt. I’m not going to hide that. It was huge challenge for us and we came within a hair’s breadth of winning the game,” said the hooker. “But in saying that we can still go through Europe undefeated. It was pretty quiet in the sheds after the game. We’re not going to hide disappointment with the result but it’s done now. Move on with it.

“I think Ireland is head and shoulders (above) from what I’ve seen this year of the Six Nations games. You take it that the state of the game is pretty good.

“It was a good effort in the scrum for us, I thought,” added Moore, moving to one of the Australian strengths. “It’s positive. It’s something we’ve worked very hard on and so its pleasing that it went well for us today and we are able to get some consistency. We really want to finish it off now over the next two games and make sure our scrum is rock solid.”