ON RUGBY:Ireland appear to be in a good place right now. For this, Declan Kidney and the management deserve great credit, writes GERRY THORNLEY

WITH ONE bound Ireland are free again. The revived, liberated Ireland certainly gave themselves and everyone else a lift in Croker on Saturday, but let’s hope the senior players have learned the lessons from previous, premature expectations, not least the World Cup, and have either avoided their press or have taken it lightly. One game at a time. No mention of the unmentionable.

They need only to remind themselves of the last time the Ireland team had us all this giddy: two years ago against England. The Red Rose was somewhat wilted that day, and a ramshackle team held together by sticking tape was duly and brilliantly put to the sword.

But what happened next? Ireland went to Murrayfield and were indebted to Ronan O’Gara’s late penalty for a scabby, 19-18 win.

Sport is littered with examples of teams who cannot replicate huge performances the next time out, and Ireland teams are no exception. When Leinster memorably beat Toulouse away in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals three years ago, a week later they lost on a cold, desultory night in Scotland to the Borders. Even mighty Munster struggled for discipline and accuracy a week after beating Gloucester away when losing to Leinster. Suffice to say it is difficult to find the same emotional intensity and precision in successive games. They’re not robots.

Nor, alas, will Nick Mallett repeat the mistake of Twickenham in handing a 29-year-old flanker the number nine jersey for the first time in his life – a chalice filled with strychnine if ever there was one. Scrumhalf is the most specialised position on the pitch, requiring endless hours of monotonous practice to fine tune passing off both hands, not to mention the unique demands of box-kicking and reading of the game.

Poor old Mauro Bergamasco. His first-half cameo could be distilled into a couple of minutes of pure farce. Compulsive viewing too. Not only was he absent without leave from the base in the build-up to England’s first two tries, and fired out a wild pass for the third, he didn’t have the defensive inclination to run a sweeping trailer for Andy Goode’s chip and touchdown for the opener.

As one wit in the press room noted, you half expected Jeremy Beadle to come on the pitch after half an hour to end Bergamasco’s misery. No, Ireland won’t be granted a 19-point start by fired-up Italians on Roman soil.

Admittedly, Ireland appear to be in a good place right now, and perhaps less prone to an anti-climactic performance next week. The body language, togetherness, constant cajoling, encouragement and sheer happiness shown for each try were signs of a team enjoying themselves in green again.

For this Declan Kidney and the management deserve great credit. The squad were granted 24 hours respite in their homes last Wednesday and again on Sunday, only returning to camp yesterday. This is classic Kidney, ensuring against staleness, and will help as a drawn-out campaign continues over seven weeks. There is also, apparently, a good deal more glasnost and perestroika in the camp.

Interestingly, Brian O’Driscoll revealed after Saturday’s win over France that the Ireland squad had undergone a full and frank round of discussions in light of what had been a disappointing November. Granted, a gun had been placed to the collective heads of the management and squad by the pressing demands of an eighth-place World Cup ranking, and as Ireland teams and supporters know only too well, even when disrupted and depleted, those dastardly Pumas can drag you into an arm wrestle better than most.

Nevertheless, the All Blacks’ somewhat bloodless coup the week before had been the bigger shock to their collective system, and the effects of that lingered into the Argentina match and beyond.

Of course, experienced Kidney watchers from his days with Dolphin and Munster had warned us it takes time for his methods to leave an indelible imprint. Even so, it was clear some issues needed addressing, not least the side’s lack of confidence and ambition – the two being inextricably linked.

Catching the mood of the Northern Hemisphere season, they had kicked the ball too much in a desire to play territory, but sides such as Wales, Munster, Bath, Toulouse, Clermont and a few select others had shown the advent of the ELVs and the crackdown on the breakdown need not rule out running the ball from deep or counter-attacking entirely.

Credit to referee Nigel Owens, too, for while Ireland escaped harsher treatment at times, as with the Munster-Sale game he has presided over a couple of cracking contests with players compelled to stay on their feet – unlike the frequent pile-ups presided over by Mark Lawrence at Twickenham.

Saturday’s performance was closer in kind to Munster than Leinster, taking on France up front with a maul and pick-and-go rumbles, while selectively going wide with the compulsory depth off set-pieces.

But there’s plenty of room for improvement, not least in their kicking and chasing, their offloading and a hitherto untapped counter-attacking. The way the wingers didn’t work back and Tommy Bowe declined an obvious quick throw prior to the lineout move which engineered Jamie Heaslip’s try was telling. To be evolved, maybe?

Wales, who were in cruise control at Murrayfield before easing off with the English in mind, Ireland and France look to be the contenders. But the Scots, badly hit by the withdrawal of Euan Murray and Nathan Hines, will improve with the infusion of the Evans brothers. There are plenty of potential banana skins ahead and form invariably fluctuates over five games in seven weeks.

But the first two games come so close together before a week’s break it would make sense to leave the 22 unchanged. Paddy Wallace has more to offer than he was able to show on Saturday, when he got 16 stitches. Gordon D’Arcy has had just one 80 minutes at centre in the AIB League second division, and his wondrous footwork can be employed for a Roman cameo if needs be, before perhaps asking Leinster to employ him in midfield away to the Scarlets on Saturday week.

If it ain’t broke . . . .