Harder gain lines to cross

It was more of a courtesy call, the Irish team management and captain Keith Wood filtering into the media centre in the West Stand car park to offer a few sound-bites on a satisfactory display. No one was interested in any lingering analysis of Ireland's victory over Japan, the plans for the arrival of the South Africans and next Sunday's test match at Lansdowne Road, dominating the conversation.

First though a synopsis of last Saturday's fare which coach Warren Gatland described as "satisfactory" before conceding that the first 20 minutes had been substandard. Wood echoed the view of the coach: "The first 20 minutes of any international is very difficult but that doesn't take away from the mistakes that were made.

"The first half went pretty much as expected but we hadn't factored in the 10 or so silly bits of play. You don't expect anyone to lie down at international level but we did make too many mistakes in the first 20 minutes and that was annoying." That minor irritant aside, it was a decent afternoon for the Ireland team against an embryonic Japanese side.

Gatland was aware of the damned if you do and damned of you don't attitude to the match, whereby registering 100 points would be considered excellent and less than 60 disappointing: the team fell somewhere in between. A 10 try contribution from the backs was one of several positives aspects of the performance and one upon which assistant coach Eddie O'Sullivan dwelled.

"There is a lot of competition and a lot of options open to us in that respect. It's very healthy and is a problem for us to solve. We got 10 tries through the backs and gave one to Peter Clohessy because it was his 40th cap. There will be harder gain lines to cross next weekend."

Japan's coach Seiji Hirao did not mince his words, that was done in translation. He pronounced himself disappointed, the first 20 minutes aside, and felt that his team made a lot of errors in the tackle situation and that exacerbated other deficiencies. He changed his half backs because the "rhythm of the attacks was very bad."

A conscious decision to move away from the Southern Hemisphere mercenary influence to nurturing local talent means that Japan face a long, arduous and on Saturday's evidence, painful tussle to try and establish credibility on the world stage. They were offered a few crumbs from the victors table, albeit genuine morsels.

Ireland's openside flanker Kieron Dawson, nursing a dislocated finger and two stitches, offered this view of the Japanese. "I think they have done the right thing in weeding out the former imports but it will obviously take time. Technically, up front, they scrumagged well enough and had some inventive lineout options but the physique aspect of things will always hurt them.

"They have taken a step back from the World Cup and it will probably take three or four years before they can get back to that level. The present team lacks good decision makers and that's another big handicap."

Conversation strayed to South Africa, a challenge Dawson relishes. A knee cartilage injury kept him out of competitive action for five weeks and he conceded that he felt fresh and sharp on Saturday, an assertion backed up by his performance. "It's a totally different challenge where we will be asked to out-think rather than out-muscle the opposition.

"I think we have the best back line in the Northern Hemisphere and if we can secure good, quick ball then we can win. It's time we shed the tag of gracious losers and the nearly men. Five years ago if you asked an Irish player about facing South Africa he probably would have said that he'd give it a lash and see what happened.

"That mindset has changed. We are good enough to beat them and that's not simply media chat. It's another signpost on the progress route."

The Irish team management were somewhat less bullish, as is their wont, but the arrival of South Africa is not going to start any panic attacks. The phoney war has started. Voices are low, conversation peppered with general thoughts: nothing too specific, nothing incendiary. It will be a long week for the Irish squad but, reading between the lines of Saturday's press conference, at least the management is preaching to the converted. The players believe they can win.