RUGBY: CHANGE IS the world's new buzz word and, it seems, everyone is looking for some of it. Early days yet, of course, and there assuredly won't be a more meaningless footnote in the new era than Saturday's 55-0 rout of the hopeless and hapless Canucks.
Declan Kidney has scarcely assembled his new Cabinet, and the first Test of what is liable to be short honeymoon period next Saturday against some blokes in black will be the polar opposite of Saturday's somewhat desultory occasion in Thomond Park.
Yet it was, as the coach said, assuredly more useful than a training session, all the more so given it was a new regime. Best of all, perhaps, was that after giving all 22 players a minimum of 25 minutes - clearly pre-planned - all emerged unscathed.
"Nothing that 24 or 48 hours won't fix up," he ventured.
The combination of near-frostbite in the fingers, the ball being the proverbial bar of soap, and the capricious wind and rain, ensured there were plenty of errors, but there was an easily achieved big fat 0 in defence and some stand-out performances from Stephen Ferris, Jamie Heaslip and the young tyros in the backline. And Ronan O'Gara, operating in cruise control, showed that no angle was too acute for him in a remarkable six-from-six kicking display.
Quite what this means when it comes to tomorrow's selection for next week's little rendezvous with New Zealand is anybody's guess. Second-guessing Kidney and co already looks fraught with danger, and it would seem this applies to the players as well.
In acknowledging the All Blacks represented the ultimate challenge, Jamie Heaslip was not alone in reluctantly daring to look that far ahead.
"Well, they're top of the world, so they're the best team right now. They're the best so you want to be able to play them first of all and see how you measure up, to see if we're up to that standard and that kind of quality.
"But first of all you've got to get on the pitch, which ain't easy right now, especially in the backrow. So we'll all hold our breath until Tuesday till we find out."
John Hayes will surely return to the starting line-up and David Wallace's classy cameo brooked no arguments about his inclusion next Saturday.
And after Stephen Ferris' tour de force on Saturday the odds may now be that Heaslip will have those two for company against Richie McCaw and company.
Other conundrums are at hooker and, perhaps most of all, fullback. Jerry Flannery's more dynamic Munster dog or Rory Best's less celebrated but effective set-piece and close-in work? Dare they pitch Keith Earls into the fray?
It would be quite a roll of the dice, but the candidatures of Girvan Dempsey and Geordan Murphy are sure to be weighed up, and especially reverting Rob Kearney to his favoured role, as they did for segments here and in the last 25 minutes, all the more so after Shane Horgan's hungry and strong-running arrival.
Needless to say, Kidney was giving nothing away. "I wouldn't be great at the old individual stuff," he said. At least Italy's 30-20 defeat to Australia and Scotland's 32-6 loss to a largely second-string All Blacks ensured Ireland held on to their eight place ranking, even if the latter also underlined the scale of the task looming in Croke Park.
In any event, the welcome change to more of a squad ethic clearly has everybody on their toes and believing they have a chance of being selected (or omitted) like rarely before. The word from the Ireland camp these past two weeks is there is a discernibly more energised mood. That, of course, invariably comes with change, but it's also down to the infusion of youth and greater competition for places.
Nothing symbolised the changed environment more than Earls scoring two minutes and 25 seconds into his Test career with his first touch in an Ireland jersey. Who is writing this boy's scripts? The evident delight amongst his team-mates was striking.
Given Thomond Park's expansive new stands dominate the skyline and are now even more visible to the Earls home in Moyross, it must have been a proud and emotional moment for his father, Ger, and the rest of his family.
As Brian O'Driscoll noted afterwards, not only will the memory live with Earls forever but it assuredly drew the biggest cheer of the day, and indeed thereafter the conditions and the game kept a distinct lid on emotions.
Come half-time, many of those consigned to the terraces in what looked like a sub-20,000 crowd clearly decided their efforts were above and beyond the call of national duty and they could hardly be blamed for watching the second period from the sanctuary of a nearby hostelry. Come the hour mark and cue the day's token rendition of The Fields; more hummed than sung.
Saturday tea-time is normally about perfect for rugby kick-offs, and the visit of the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup winners to a packed Croke Park ought to prove the point.
"They are the standard-bearers for everybody," said Kidney. "They are the Tiger Woods of rugby, and that's the brilliant thing for the challenge for us next week. The more often we get to play them, we're the better for it. But like I say, if you go on the rankings system, we're in for a hiding. Let's just see what happens."
For Ireland it is a 21st tilt at the almighty All Blacks. They need only look at the Munster heroes of '78 to appreciate the warm glow arising from beating them. The recent 30-year anniversary and the upcoming next instalment of Munster v New Zealand on Tuesday week will provide yet more opportunities for them to renew acquaintances. Not even the English heroes of 1966 have dined out as often on their World Cup.
Kidney last night added forwards Cian Healy, Malcolm O'Kelly, Ryan Caldwell, Denis Leamy, Bob Casey and Bernard Jackman, and backs Dempsey, Murphy, Andrew Trimble, Ian Dowling, and Tomás O'Leary to his squad for the Croke Park Test.
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