RUGBY ANALYST:The Irish off-field leadership is patently unable to articulate and provide the necessary leadership to empower the players, writes MATT WILLIAMS

THE MOST powerful product created by great leadership is confidence. Belief in the actions, judgment and plans of the leader are essential but most importantly of all in a team sport is the belief players have in the management. The leadership of Martin Johnson and Declan Kidney has produced vastly contrasting results in recent weeks.

Johnson appears to have transferred his natural authoritarian ways as a player to the stand, while remaining Captain Grumpy (and the treatment of President McAleese in 2003 still infuriates most Irish supporters). The movement of England from where they were mired in Perth last summer to the cusp of a Grand Slam has been immense.

On June 12th they were beaten 27-17 by a badly-functioning Wallaby side whose scrum coughed up 14-points. England were a rabble. I believe at this juncture Johnson empowered backs coach Brian Smith to transform their attacking systems. The performance in Sydney just seven days later was unrecognisable.

I tried to convince my son to let me take him to a local league game but he wanted to see the Wallabies. England won 21-20 with Ben Youngs and Chris Ashton scoring tries. Before my eyes the rabble became a formidable attacking outfit who probed with intent and organisation.

Since then Johnson’s young group have grown into a team that commands respect from all-comers. They have continued to develop an understanding of their attacking systems as well. The triumvirate of Youngs, Toby Flood (everyone in the England camp knows their starting number 10) and both blind wingers attack the fringes of the ruck with precision and regularity not seen since George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Owen Finnegan were at their peak for Australia.

England are on the cusp of something very special. To win a Grand Slam requires leadership of an exceptional standard. They are brash, young and exciting but they lack experience. Winning a slam on the road may have come a year too early for them. With both their first choice captain Louis Moody and his replacement Mikle Tindall out, England may be ahead on the off field leadership but they are greatly lacking in on field inspiration. This may be the crucial element that gives them a Chamionship but not a Grand Slam.

If they were nervous last weekend against Scotland at Twickenham, there will be pterodactyls and not butterflies flying around their stomach this morning. Trust me, the Irish crowd need to get on their case at the slightest sign of hesitation.

At the moment, Ireland seem to be without coherent direction from the top. The term annus horribilis was made famous by Mike Tindall’s future grandmother-in-law but it accurately describes the last 12 months for the Irish coach. Decisions like confining Brian O’Driscoll to fitness training in early season, only to see him pull a hamstring on his return, to keeping the Millennium Stadium roof open to a series of media gaffs makes the last year of off-field decisions simply shocking.

O’Driscoll’s on-field leadership remains the best in the Six Nations, only equalled in the world game by Richie McCaw, yet Ireland’s attacking system has spluttered like an old banger. The Irish off-field leadership are patently unable to articulate and provide the necessary leadership to empower the players to perform the total attacking system that includes set-plays, counter attack and phase attack. We have seen part of overall system, part of the time without the full package being produced. This is the responsibility of the head coach. Where Kidney has failed, Johnson has succeeded.

Last week against Wales we witnessed an excellence start with the driving maul dragging in bodies to create the space for Tommy Bowe and O’Driscoll to weave their magic. In the next 77 minutes Ireland only registered six points with no counter-attack and precious little variation.

Considering this, huge credit must go to the players for bludgeoning their way into the opposing red zone against Wales, and equally so against Italy and France, in the dying minutes. As I have often said it is not courage or commitment that is lacking in Ireland’s play, it is a coherent attacking plan.

The reality is this campaign is over and will be marked down as a failure. The World Cup preparation must commence a week early. Entering the last few days in camp should be like a release of pressure for the players. Hopefully their frustrations have now been replaced by anger. They should be angry at some poor refereeing, angry at their own indiscipline and they must be particularly enraged by the sight of a English side that are just slightly above average arriving in Dublin on the cusp of immortality.

The anger should come from deep in the gut as they know it could have and should have been them.

What Ireland do possess in bucket loads is experience. They buried the hopes of a Grand Slam or championship after the loss to France. Last week they buried the Triple Crown as well. The Aviva this evening is a chance to come home and finally get it right.

The pressure may be off the players but it is heaped heavy on the coach’s shoulders this week. It is unthinkable that this wonderful generation of players, who have won European Cups and a Grand Slam, face into their third and last World Cup with the attacking systems in such a mess.

Despite the terrible refereeing decision in Cardiff, Ireland’s performance levels dipped; that is the sad reality. Wales were not the better team yet despite having the ball kicked to them 40 times, Ireland could not engineer a victory. Their response was a depressing 51 kicks back at their opponents.

If they did that to Australia or New Zealand they would lose by 51 points because that game plan has been dead for three years. The real shame is the Irish management are yet to grasp this. Considering the expectation levels in England, the scene is set for their inexperienced team to blow it. This is one strand of hope today. I hope that just once in this championship Ireland play as we know they can.

I must admit I have little evidence to suggest they will actually do this; just faith that individual excellence can gel into a collective performance.