THE DREADFUL performance of the Irish rugby team at Lansdowne Road last Saturday has underlined what most have suspected for some time - Irish rugby is in crisis. Forget about Murray Kidd for the moment. He wasn't playing last Saturday and did not take on the spot decisions. He can't be expected to take the entire blame - though he must take his fair share of it.

The mistakes were not confined to the field or the sideline either. The rugby administrators must also share the burden and must take a close look at the entire structure of the game in Ireland.

What should really worry the IRFU hierarchy first and foremost was the poor attendance and the crowd's reaction to what they were watching. The lack of spirit and fire on the field was matched by a similar absence on the terraces and in the stands. Seldom has a rugby crowd been so peripheral to the action.

We all know that a big proportion of rugby international crowds are not really rugby folk at all, or if they are they go to no more than two or three matches a year. This, of course, is true also of crowds at the big GAA and soccer matches.

This is not the fault of the IRFU. It is bound up with the structure of the game which has its main base in the secondary school and university system. We will come to Limerick later.

Perhaps the coming of professional rugby may help to change that. Perhaps many young men may see professional rugby as a way out of the unemployment trap. Somehow I doubt it. Gaelic games and soccer will continue to be more attractive to youngsters.

These games are more accessible to youngsters who may find it difficult to understand or appreciate the rather arcane laws of rugby. The very fact that the rules are called laws and that many do not understand them or have studied them speaks for itself. Even in the press box, where one might reasonably expect some little knowledge to have filtered down through the years, there are frequent debates about refereeing decisions.

A microcosm of what is fundamentally wrong with Irish rugby is contained in the programme for matches. The players lining out for Ireland were all given two or more initials before their surnames. No first names were given. All the Italians were given the first names by which their family and friends know them.

That may appear to be a nit picking comment, but it isn't. Irish rugby is littered with these little snobberies. For instance, some years ago while waiting for an Irish team to be announced in the Shelbourne Hotel a colleague and I paid a visit to the Horseshoe Bar. Nothing unusual about that.

Half way through our pints reporters were told that the team was about to be announced and my colleague and I went into the press conference with our pints in hand. Later were learned that someone in the higher echelons of the IRFU had suggested that this was infra dig and should not happen again. Serve us right for not having gin and tonics.

Don't forget that this is the organisation which a few years ago would not allow players who had represented their country to swap jerseys after matches and charged them for telephone calls to home when on away trips.

Many of us who love the game and what it stands for in the context of a bitterly divided island hoped that the All Ireland League might represent a brave, expansive dawn in Irish rugby. Sadly that is not the case.

The crowds have not turned up to the extent that had been hoped, with the exception to a number of high profile matches featuring Limerick teams.

There has been some tinkering with the league and this has led to some confusion. Gains have been made and then lost again through lack of proper planning.

In heaven's name, who is responsible for a fixture list which has Garryowen and Young Munster both playing at home within a few miles of each other on a Saturday afternoon, as has happened? Why could one match not have been fixed for Sunday or the clash avoided altogether?

Apart from trying to attract bigger crowds, better scheduling making would allow for better coverage on TV, radio and newspapers. It would also allow the Irish selectors to see more matches and more players.

Saturday's debacle has set Irish rugby back considerably in the minds of the public. It wasn't so much the defeat itself but the manner of it. The Italians showed far more skill and drive, and even if their last try was a give away, the Irish try was a bit of a fluke as well.

The IRFU, albeit reluctantly because it had no choice, has embraced the professional game and it must now act professionally. More and more players will have to be recruited in non traditional rugby areas.

The professional era must be approached professionally and it would be far better for the IRFU to keep top class players at home working in a coaching capacity on a full time basis than allowing them to be lost to the Irish game by joining English or Australian or New Zealand clubs.