O'Sullivan rules out error of timing

Rugby: Gordon D'Arcy's worst fears have been confirmed, with scans confirming that the Ireland centre sustained a torn groin in Saturday's 31-17 defeat to the Springboks in Bloemfontein. The player has been ruled out of the the second test next Saturday and will return home today. He is likely to be out of the game for at least a month.

The loss of Ireland's player of the season undoubtedly blunts their cutting edge as they seek to level the series in Cape Town. A decision on whether to call in a replacement will be made today. Ireland still have 25 players in camp and could merely promote Tyrone Howe to the bench while retaining the back line that finished Saturday's first test.

This would leave Brian O'Driscoll and Kevin Maggs in tandem once again, with Shane Horgan covering the midfield. Moving Geordan Murphy into midfield, or full back, is another, less likely, option, and they could also call in Munster's uncapped South African-born utility back, Shaun Payne, who happens to be holidaying in his native land at the moment anyway.

In the fall-out from Saturday's anti-climactic performance, much of the post-match debate focused on Ireland's preparations for playing at altitude. Jake White, John Robbie and Corne Krige were among those who questioned the decision to arrive in Bloemfontein two days before kick-off.

White said: "One of the things they find in Bloemfontein is that either you come four days before or you come on the day. I would always tend to get in here as early as you can, but there are teams in South Africa who fly in on Saturday morning and it doesn't hit them straight away."

This 31-17 defeat bore similarities to Ireland's 37-13 loss at the same venue six years ago, and indeed Wales's 34-19 defeat here last year. All of them saw the visitors fade away in the second half.

"It's also a mental thing," added White, "but in this country, this ground is one of those grounds where even these Free State players can struggle, and it's usually in the second half as well. It really burns your lungs about 25 minutes into the game, and then you get a relaxed feeling, like you're almost falling asleep."

Eddie O'Sullivan was quick to defend the Irish planning and, as he'd stated before, it was based on medical evidence - most probably procured by fitness director Dr Liam Hennessy. Furthermore, the thin air wasn't cited as an excuse by the players themselves.

"It wasn't too bad to be honest," said Paul O'Connell. "Looking back I maybe felt a small bit tired out there but by and large I didn't really notice it too much."

Perhaps it's a red herring, and it was simply end-of-season fatigue, with England's thrashing in Dunedin possibly putting this defeat in some kind of context.

The mental edge or hunger to Ireland's game wasn't at its optimum level, and à la Perth last year, they were caught cold without a warm-up game, literally from the third minute.

As far as O'Connell was concerned, "silly mistakes" blighted their effort more than anything else. "That lineout, that scrum, that was ten or 12 points. Just silly mistakes. Their lineout was very good, ours wasn't great. We didn't perform and they did."

Other examples were O'Gara's early overcooked touchfinder, and failure to secure two Boks restarts.

"It's been a very long season and the break should have done us good," O'Connell maintained. "You can't play matches week after week. But we've no excuses. We just didn't perform. The dressing-room was very down."

"They were very physical," O'Connell added. "We were a bit lackadaisical at the breakdown and it cost us possession.

"Days like that are always around the corner - you've just got to stay on top of it. A good team won't put two days like that together. England have days like that every year, but they never put two of them together in a row. That's going to be our big test next week."

Jake White may have seen six players fall by the wayside as he whipped them into shape over the previous weeks, but come kick-off there was always the likelihood his methods would be a breath of fresh air.

"I think the biggest thing about today's performance was that the team went in under a lot of pressure over the last three weeks," said their impressive captain, John Smit. "Make no mistake, we didn't go in as favourites on our own ground, which was unacceptable for any South African side.

"We really wanted to prove a point, but more than that we wanted to play the way we had been preparing and I think that was the biggest victory for us."

Ireland's mistimed moves might be ironed out with this game under their belts but, just possibly, the rejuvenated Boks mightn't have that fear factor to their game next week either.