Pain Down Under can trigger long-term gain

Ireland's Tests in New Zealand and Australia: Despite ending on a low, the tour offered several reasons for optimism, writes Gerry Thornley

You can only get better by playing your betters and so, as Girvan Dempsey said in the aftermath of Ireland's third Test of the summer in Perth on Saturday, the team can only benefit from this summer's most demanding of odysseys down south.

Another constant theme to emerge from the camp was how enjoyable this tour had become, Donncha O'Callaghan assuming Guy Easterby's role at the front of the bus, taking over as master of entertainment and handing out fines with his usual levity.

"I'm not a despot," implored O'Sullivan during the early stages of the Six Nations, in response to criticism that the Irish base had become joyless as a prison camp during the November internationals, one journalist memorably likening the CityWest set-up to Guantanamo Bay.

The coach also rejected criticism that the team had become too predictable toward the end of last season's Six Nations, that the players were programmed by the coach into applying patterns and shorn of the confidence to play what they saw in front of them, and that the defence was too passive, in November especially.

Yet, helped by a switch to Killiney for the Six Nations and the return of Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell, it has palpably become a much happier camp, with the head coach himself a much more relaxed and approachable figure than previously.

Undoubtedly, Ireland have broadened their game and players have assumed more responsibility on the pitch. Furthermore, the defence became much more aggressive during the Six Nations and worked hard to take the space away from the All Blacks in Hamilton and Auckland, if lapsing more into passive, drifting habits against the Wallabies. So, while O'Sullivan invariably bridles at his methods even being questioned, he clearly took much of it on board.

In the aftermath of Saturday's 37-15 defeat, O'Sullivan said: "Our continuity game has improved, our defence has improved, our lineout has been good except for a patch today, our scrum isn't as bad as people think . . . we have more confidence on the football and we are a little less predictable as a team."

The only caveat was that Ireland "could be a little bit more accurate with the football".

Players asked about this went a good deal further, admitting the skills and precision were some way short of the Wallabies.

Asked to play a ball-in-hand, 15-man game, the Munster forwards are less proficient and less effective than when playing with their province. Even Paul O'Connell's handling skills need to improve, as he would readily admit. And the same applies to the back play, which lacked the Australians' depth, variety of alignment, and choice and execution of the pass most likely to locate opponents' weaknesses.

Much of the progress report is true, to which could be added an impressive mental strength and calm among the team after conceding the lead in all three Tests.

Indeed, there was a decidedly recurring theme. In the first Test they went 5-0 down, led 23-15 nearing the hour, but conceded 19 unanswered points in the last 23 minutes. In the second Test, they responded to falling 17-0 down inside 27 minutes to be within three points for almost 20 minutes in the second half prior to Luke McAlister's decisive, 71st-minute try. Against the Wallabies, they went 8-0 down inside 20 minutes, led 15-11 after 52 minutes, but conceded 26 unanswered points in the last 28 minutes.

Another recurring theme of the tour was how Graham Henry and John Connolly, not to mention their assistants, stressed the fact modern rugby - played at a higher tempo than ever and often over 90 minutes - is a 22-man game. And where O'Sullivan talks of "dropping" players, his counterparts talk of the need to rotate squads and rest players.

Recall how O'Sullivan - when faced by the might of Namibia in the pool stages of the 2003 World Cup, and reluctant to trust many of the back-up players who had scored 60 points in a warm-up against Italy - ultimately started nine players in all five ties over a four-week period in Australia, culminating in a weary non-show against France in a quarter-final overshadowed by Keith Wood's emotional farewell. Shades of the tour just gone.

None of the other 2003 quarter-finalists relied so heavily on their frontliners, not even Wales or Scotland. Indeed, Argentina, Australia and France rested almost all their frontliners before meeting Ireland.

Fearful of any embarrassment against Namibia in 2003, shaken by the scale of the defeat to the All Blacks last November when making minimal changes at home to Romania a week later, and lured by a chance to make history against the All Blacks, O'Sullivan has consistently relied too heavily on the same players.

Of course Ireland don't have the same resources as the All Blacks, or England or France for that matter. Yet you wonder when Ireland will scratch beneath the surface, when O'Sullivan will make the "leaps of faith" Connolly and his think tank have immediately sought to do with their frontrowers.

The All Blacks have 28 or so players they could happily pencil in right now for the World Cup and, more to the point, would be happy to use any of them. Even their daily media schedule is geared specifically toward the World Cup, because that is what will be required of all squads in France. Talk about planning.

O'Sullivan has good instincts. Look at the perming of Gordon D'Arcy with O'Driscoll two years ago, and Denis Leamy's reinvention as a number eight. You just wish he'd trust them more, for only Neil Best has really "developed" on this tour. Were Henry and co in charge of Ireland, you suspect Jamie Heaslip, Robert Kearney and Shane Jennings would have been on this trip, and Jeremy Staunton would have been more involved.

Contrast Heaslip's case with that of Jerome Kaino, who pipped him to "player of the tournament" at the 2004 Under-21 World Cup. While Kaino has been mostly sidelined since through injury, he played from the bench and then from the start in the Tests against Ireland. Meantime, Heaslip was with Ireland A, despite having had far more frontline experience this season with Leinster.

In so many positions, Ireland are an injury away from disaster. It is surely part of O'Sullivan's remit to develop an alternative outhalf to Ronan O'Gara. But the employment of Staunton over the last month, culminating in 18 seconds on the wing, looks a waste of his time and, in terms of building his confidence, possibly even detrimental.

Despite bridling at questioning about his use of the bench, failure to develop the squad and overuse of the same players on three successive Saturdays, perhaps O'Sullivan will also take on board the latest positive feedback if the mistakes of 2003 are not to be repeated. You just wonder when squad development will begin.

One final thought: this tour also highlighted how much the increased diet of Test rugby, coupled with the need to manage resources, is devaluing international rugby.

In an interesting article in last Saturday's match programme, Norman Tasker revealed it took Australia 85 years to rack up their first 250 Tests, while the second 250 Tests will take little more than 20 years. It is a similar story the world over.

These were the first three of 15 or 16 Tests Ireland will play between now and the 2007 World Cup, only 18 months away, before then playing at least another four in France. Everyone else has similar schedules and it's not as if, like its soccer equivalent now capturing the world's imagination, the Rugby World Cup will have particular novelty value. Most of the schedule sees the same nine or 10 teams playing each other all the time. Even the goose that lays the golden egg might become a bit weary of such overkill.

Tour: Highs and lows

THE BEST: There might be more obvious examples: for example, the beautifully executed set-piece try for Brian O'Driscoll off Gordon D'Arcy's exquisite pass, or the variety of running angles and offloading that culminated in Denis Leamy putting Neil Best over the line in Perth. But the Irish pack mauling over the All Blacks in the 40th minute in Hamilton was a sight to behold. The biter being bit, the All Blacks didn't like it, and coming after a try off a tap penalty, it confirmed that Ireland, daringly, were taking the fight back to the home side.

THE WORST: The unfortunate and avoidable stand-off between players and the travelling media; the players should always be the story, never the media. And the last 28 minutes in Perth, when a tired team conceded 26 unanswered points to the Wallabies.