Learning from the best in the world

Some people believe Ireland shouldn't be on the same pitch as the All Blacks. They think the contest is all over. Well, it could be now.

The notion that we shouldn't run on to the same pitch as New Zealand is patent nonsense. When some Kiwi fans ran on to the Lansdowne Road turf after the game and unveiled a banner proclaiming "Here Come the Men In Black" it probably hastened the Irish team's departure to the dressing-room. In fact, our players can learn more from playing them than anyone else. That has to be the level we aspire to. If we don't, then we might as well chuck it in. As in any game, at any level, you can only learn from playing someone better.

Although four successive Tests against the southern hemisphere trio is overdoing it, and two clashes with these men in black is liable to leave England a little punch drunk, they should actually benefit more than we will. And therein lies the rub. For this tour, with its balance loaded toward the English, is probably a foretaste of things to come.

The pity is that we saw so little of the Blacks. No Tuesday games against Munster and co (and never again, probably), not even a public training session for the Test team. They were barely here and they were gone. But it was great having them.

Saturday's game was a joy to behold in many ways. And as for the Blacks, they were awesome - a treat to watch. This was the finest exhibition of total 15-man rugby ever seen at the old ground and probably will be for some time to come. Most rugby people I've spoken to would gladly have taken another half-hour of it.

The flip side of this coin is that it apparently took some people 30 minutes just to negotiate the length of Lansdowne Road. Changed security arrangements meant a crash barrier at the junction where Lansdowne Road and Shelbourne Road meet. Callers to this office reported a chaotic crush which was positively scary, saying "there was a serious problem and if the security arrangements aren't revised, there'll be people hurt."

As for the people who flowed out from 15 minutes before the end, methinks they missed the plot. This after paying £30 to see the best team in the world (and, as one press box wit observed, they could see the All Blacks too) beggared belief. It perhaps tells us something about the people now attending rugby internationals.

Yet for all that, there was still a brilliant atmosphere. There were more people sporting black jerseys than ever before. So enjoyable is Irish hospitality for our New Zealand friends that many said this was their favourite leg of the tour. New Zealanders have a true appreciation of the game's traditions. It's part of the secret of their success. The pre-match mantras about respect for Irish passion betrayed their absolute lack of arrogance and feet-on-the-ground approach.

However, what odds New Zealand coming again? Even John Hart conceded that their fourTest tour itinerary is too much and he would be much more in favour of limiting it to two Tests. With money now talking like never before, England will generally have first call. The Scots missed out this time and what price Ireland next time?

At least a Lansdowne Road full-house and television rights make it a commercial viability. But it would help if we could give them a decent game once in a while and here, as a third-division world force, we are playing serious catch-up.

But, whereas the All Blacks prepared with a two-and-a-half month, eight-Test summer programme, followed by their provincial championship, our domestic players head back to the AIL. Could the two be, in any way, related?

What good is the sub-standard AIL in preparing the likes of John McWeeney, Denis Hickie, Kevin Nowlan and Conor McGuinness for the games against Canada and Italy, and the Five Nations campaign? Very little, and this is no disrespect to St Mary's, but the players are heading back into the comfort zone.

We have to bite the bullet and make the choice, and the leadership has to come from the union. Either we go with the provinces, or we go with an elite, club structure - a personal preference being the existing clubs as a feeder to elite club franchises with the necessary autonomy.

If the IRFU and the clubs, in their myopic 12-team top flight, want an Irish team to be selected solely from English-based players - like a la the Irish football team - they are going the right way about it. There were six home-based players in Saturday's starting line-up, and that was thanks to the provinces in Europe, not the AIL. Here's a bet: that figure will not be equalled again this season, and perhaps not for a long time after.

Paying the likes of Hickie £50,000 a year to keep him here is all well and good, but what are we keeping him here for? Just for the sake of it? Given the current structures, the sad truth is that he would be a better player by the time of the Five Nations if he was based in England. Ditto Trevor Brennan, a late developing 24-year-old who could well become an international number six by next season at the latest, but all the more so if he was now at London Irish. The IRFU believes it is doing its damnedest to keep apace with professionalism. In appointing Brian Ashton, Mike Ruddock and Warren Gatland they are doing some things right. But in leaving themselves with a choice between Andy Leslie and Declan Kidney for the Munster job, they show signs of not learning from the inspired appointment of Gatland in Connacht. Young, recently-retired New Zealand players are in tune with the modern game, former All Blacks' captains from the 1970s aren't, necessarily.

The union certainly has been throwing cheques at the game, but the current provincial/club compromise is a classic Irish solution to an Irish problem. A fudge. It betrays the lack of an overall tiered structure, a master plan for Irish rugby. From the bottom, Irish rugby has to be restructured. Looking out the window, it's probably time for a winter hibernation soon, but instead the AIL rumbles into action and the schools continue winding up for pressurised, win-at-all costs, provincial knock-out cups. Meantime, there is no under-age rugby (mini-rugby, yes) at club level.

Like it or lump it, Saturday reaffirmed that New Zealand particularly and the southern hemisphere generally have reinvented the game to something more approaching rugby league. So we have to reinvent our game.

Instead, the schools should be playing in exam-free summertime and in better conditions. This is where the dieting and weight programming and strength training should start. Our under-age coaches (and perhaps our referees) should be going on development tours as much as our players. And, for starters, perhaps kicking the ball between the 22s should be outlawed.