Ireland showing their hand more visibly

On Rugby: Third in the world and rising? Giddy times all right. From the nadir of a year ago, a huge dollop of credit must go to Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan and his entire management ticket for blending the best of the three big provinces, while on the pitch arguably no one has done more to blend their disparate strengths than Ronan O'Gara.

In marrying this team's strengths, in the variety of his game, in his decision-making, his execution, his direction, his distribution and his kicking, both out of hand and off the ground, he has been well-nigh flawless.

He definitely appears to be taking the ball flatter and, as much as Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell, he has now become one of the chief decision-makers on the pitch.

One of the side effects of this is that he appears to be taking the ball on himself much more which, of course, also increases the risk of him becoming injured. As much as either of the aforementioned duo, John Hayes or Gordon D'Arcy, the consequences would be almost unthinkable.

Then again, one could possibly add Denis Leamy, Shane Horgan and even one or two more to that list. O'Sullivan has gone a long way toward creating a fantastic side, perhaps indeed the second best in the world at this moment. His challenge now is to generate a squad of 30 from which he would have the confidence to delve into much more deeply than he did at Rugby World Cup 2003. He doesn't have much time, especially if he holds true to his word to take a largely full-strength squad to Argentina for two Tests in June - even though there must surely be a temptation to grant them additional holiday/training time before the World Cup.

As things stand he has real choice at numbers 15, 11, six, and seven, and perhaps hooker and scrumhalf too, but the prop cupboard is thin, while the temptation must be to wrap the big guns in cotton wool.

Hence, the best of the newcomers on the block and the stand-out performers in the Irish A team's slightly unlucky defeat to their Australian counterparts, Stephen Ferris and Luke Fitzgerald, may well be fast-tracked into Test rugby this week against the Pacific Islanders.

If they are to go to the World Cup, then O'Sullivan will reason they need to be blooded forthwith.

Some will argue Fitzgerald, who was playing schools rugby last March, has much to learn and is being pushed too soon, but he really is the most natural talent to emerge on the scene since Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy at the same age. It's a good time to blood him, for in a backline of so many gamebreakers, he will not be under the same pressure they were to make such an impact. The signals are that Jamie Heaslip will also be given a more belated first cap.

The nagging suspicion remains that Ireland weren't far away from giving either or both of the Boks and the Wallabies a seriously good hiding, but perhaps it's best they didn't. And extra dimension though Isaac Boss' over-played sniping brought to Ireland's game, one wonders how good the first-half performance might have been had Peter Stringer's quicker service been there.

One would love to see the Wasps duo of Eoin Reddan - whose speed to the breakdown and quick service is much more of a like-for-like understudy to Stringer than Boss - and Jeremy Staunton given one chance in their lives to wear the number nine and 10 Irish jerseys, but one suspects it won't happen.

Furthermore, if Paddy Wallace - confined to two minutes last Saturday week and none on Sunday - is kept on the bench again this weekend it would confirm the clear impression that David Humphreys has already been pencilled in for the World Cup as back-up to O'Gara.

Then again, it mightn't be a bad idea to have a Plan B.

The one caveat to Ireland's excellent all-round performance on Sunday was undoubtedly the scrum. Of their eight second-half put-ins, Ireland were penalised at one, turned over the ball on three more, and had no option but to kick on two more.

Perhaps we should also stem our giddiness about rising to third in the world, or for that matter second in some people's mind, after a rain-sodden weekend in November which won't amount to a hill of beans come the final table of the 2007 Six Nations.

Allowing for last year's dip, November has become an increasingly productive month for Irish teams in recent times, earning them three-from-three clean sweeps in 2002 and 2004, as well as the August 2003 World Cup warm-up programme.

Ireland are showing their hand more visibly than most. Others, like Australia and South Africa, are in end-of-season, experimental mode. Others, like France and England, are on downers.

O'Sullivan made the good point that while it's one thing maintaining one's form over a 10-month period, it's another maintaining your team or for that matter building one. England and France haven't even managed the latter, and you get the distinct impression they won't until such time as they change their head coach.

Bernard Laporte, in particular, seems caught in a time warp, and has resorted to the old guard in too many positions rather than continue the infusion of newer, younger blood that briefly spared him the guillotine two seasons ago. Physically, they've been no match for the All Blacks. They look old and weary, and given their top-heavy domestic schedule, one wonders how they can pull their act together in time to even emerge from their World Cup pool.

Their stultifying exercise in damage limitation in Paris in losing to the All Blacks again on Saturday was devoid of the kind of vision, pace and verve that is French rugby's heritage.

Instead, that mantle will be eagerly taken up by the Welsh.

Indeed, Wales in Cardiff and Argentina in Paris would currently stand out as Ireland's biggest hurdles. A shame that neither the Six Nations nor the World Cup aren't starting next weekend.