RUGBY/Pool D/Ireland v Georgia:And so it has taken just one poor game to dash any hopes Eddie O'Sullivan might give "fringe" players their heads during this World Cup. The sour taste from the game with Namibia has made it increasingly obvious that, bar injury, the frontline players will have to face the demands of at least four matches in four weeks. That is their battle.

Behind them is another consideration and the different pressures that beset those on the bench and on the periphery of the squad, who can only watch and wait as their colleagues hog the game time.

The head coach was asked during the week about the possibility of certain players not ever stepping onto the pitch, and after much toing and froing about talking to them individually and keeping them active and healthy, he gave the bottom line: they are professional athletes, they know the score and they "have to take it on the chin".

Having picked his strongest side once again to face Georgia on Saturday, O'Sullivan is unlikely to dilute his strength by bringing players in against France and again against Argentina in the final pool match.

He seems now irrevocably tied, barring injury, to starting the same 15 players for the rest of the tournament.

That leaves only slivers of hope that other will see action.

Four days ago when Brian O'Driscoll hurt an arm, Geordan Murphy made it on to the pitch for less than a minute. Murphy, like the rest, has come to know that life on the bench can be tiresome and unfulfilling. You train hard to stay fit and wait for a call that may or may not come. You then try to impress. Less than a minute was, to say the least, unsympathetic for Murphy.

"It was fantastic to get a cap," he says. "The odd 30 seconds . . . but what can you do? Everyone is keen to get a run but it is not the way it goes. Yes, it was frustrating to get that much time.

"It's great to get a cap. There are a lot of people who would kill for those 30 seconds. I just went on to the wing and it was a case of standing around for a while."

Life on the sideline is not just about waiting around for your chance to arrive. Somewhat perversely, the replacements' job is also to keep the starting players in peak condition. If the substitutes slack because they are down about not playing, that can reflect on how the team performs. There is also a selflessness about being out of the first 15.

"Sure you never know what is going to happen and, yes, it does look likely that some of us are not going to see a lot of pitch time," says Murphy realistically. "We just keep training hard with a view that we also have to prepare the guys who are going out.

"We have to work hard at training, playing against the guys, and remain in good shape in case we do get a shot.

"Everyone wants to play. I'm sure that if we'd done an effective job against Namibia last weekend, Eddie might have been able to give a few of us a run. Unfortunately that was not the case.

"From his point of view, he wants to keep the continuity and that means staying with the same team. Not getting a run is difficult because everyone wants to play but what can you do?"

It's another tough week for Stephen Ferris, Alan Quinlan, Frankie Sheahan, Bryan Young, Bryan Carney, Gavin Duffy and Eoin Reddan, who are not on the bench. For Carney and Quinlan, particularly, the years are against them. At least Jerry Flannery, Simon Best, Malcolm O'Kelly, Neil Best, Isaac Boss, Paddy Wallace and Murphy have a chance of crossing the whitewash through tactical changes or injury.

It is all frustration management but Murphy says he is enjoying being here, says he is staying alive to the chance he will again get his chance, this time for longer than half a minute.

"I am enjoying it. It's my first time," he says. "It's a huge thing for me to be out here. You just have to remain optimistic that the chance will come again."