Lights Out for Irish at Twickenham

Irish Voice Sport

Lights Out for Irish at Twickenham

March 19, 2008

By Cathal Dervan

England 33 - Ireland 10

A BRIGHT start led only to the beginning of the end for Ireland at Twickenham and the imminent end of Eddie O’Sullivan’s reign as Irish coach after defeat ensured his team’s lowest Six Nations finish ever and their worst championship since 1999.

England’s very own Danny Boy, otherwise known as the 20-year-old out-half Danny Cipriani, dominated the St. Patrick’s weekend show as his team ran a spirited but uninspired Ireland ragged on the day former Ireland boss Warren Gatland secured the Grand Slam with Wales.

Ireland had taken an early lead with a well executed Rob Kearney try and were 10-0 up after just seven minutes thanks to a conversion and a penalty from Ronan O’Gara but that was as good as it got.

The home team recovered from that early setback to lead 13-10 at the break as their pack turned on the power.

In the second half England easily outscored their disorganized visitors 20-0 in the second half when the absence of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy and subsequent injuries to Geordan Murphy and Denis Leamy proved insurmountable.

Cipriani, controversially selected ahead of World Cup wonder, Jonny Wilkinson, did his under pressure coach Brian Ashton, another former Irish guru, proud as he top scored for the game with 18 points courtesy of four penalties and three conversions to tries from Sackey, Tait and Jamie Noon.

The Wasps schemer will go on to bigger and better things after this as will England, but for Ireland it is very much a case of back to the drawing board with O’Sullivan’s long term status as coach now doomed despite is long term contract.

He will sit down with his Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) bosses in the coming days and tell them that he is still the man for the job but Saturday’s third defeat of the Six Nations season was just a bridge too far for a nation still smarting from that World Cup collapse last autumn.

Minutes after Saturday’s game O’Sullivan mounted his own defense deep in the bowels of the impressive Twickenham stadium, but he is very much flying solo these days.

Asked if he is still the man for the job O’Sullivan claimed, “Absolutely, I believe I’m the right man to lead Irish rugby. The big question for me is, ‘Have I still got the hunger for the job?’ The answer to that is absolutely.

“I love this job and have always given it 110%. If I felt I couldn’t give that then I’d be the first to admit it. I love this job and intend to give everything I have as long as I’m doing it. My position is that at this moment in time I’m not making any decisions about anything.

For all their honest endeavor, Ireland were poor in the forward exchanges and clearly lacking initiative behind the pack where stand-in centers Andrew Trimble and Shane Horgan struggled in the absence of O’Driscoll and D’Arcy.

Ulster’s Trimble, however, was quick to defend the under fire O’Sullivan after the game. “The players are behind Eddie 100%. Everyone’s criticizing Eddie, but it’s not his fault we dropped balls against England,” said Trimble.

“We had the correct game plan for England — but whenever it looked like we were going to score a try or come close, we knocked the ball on. That’s the players’ fault, and we should be taking the responsibility for what has been happening.”

For stand-in captain Ronan O’Gara it was a game and a season to forget. “There was a long break after the World Cup, and we came into the Six Nations full of optimism,” the Corkman told reporters.

“We saw the win over Scotland as a new start for us, but the defeat by Wales was disappointing. Maybe we need to believe in ourselves more as players.”

Even England coach Ashton felt for his opposite number after the game. “Of course I have sympathy for Eddie O’Sullivan. I have massive respect for every international coach and don’t like it when they are getting stick,” said Ashton

Ireland are now down to eighth in the world rankings, and even O’Sullivan had to admit it’s been a year to forget for Irish rugby.

“It’s been a disappointing championship for us. We wanted to hit the ground running and have a big tournament but unfortunately we spluttered instead of playing,” confessed O’Sullivan.

“We didn’t have a good start against Italy, our performance against France was excellent and we were unlucky to lose our game.

“We had a good performance against Scotland and then suffered a setback against Wales. On Saturday we tried to pick it up again but it didn’t happen and to be fair to England they played well and took their opportunities.

“I wouldn’t do anything differently; we took each game on its merit and tried to win them all. If I could change results I would but I don’t think you could say that we went out and did anything foolish.

“We gave it our best shot in every game, in some games it happened for us, some games it didn’t.”

England: Balshaw, Sackey, Noon, Flood, Vainikolo, Cipriani, Wigglesworth, Sheridan, Mears, Vickery, Shaw, Borthwick, Croft, Lipman, Easter. Replacements: Tait for Sackey (48), Wilkinson for Flood (53), Hodgson for Wigglesworth (75), Chuter for Mears (76), Stevens for Vickery (60), Kay for Shaw (61), Haskell for Lipman (64).

Ireland: Murphy, Bowe, Trimble, Horgan, Kearney, O’Gara, Reddan, Horan, Best, Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Leamy, D. Wallace, Heaslip. Replacements: Fitzgerald for Murphy (35), P. Wallace for Horgan (77), Stringer for Reddan (71), Buckley for Horan (67), Jackman for Best (71), Easterby for Leamy (12), O’Driscoll for D. Wallace (67).

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