"Oh s#@t!", say's Chris Henry as Burgess romps home to score!
Ireland suffered their forth defeat of their summer schedule with a 22 – 15 loss to Australia. Neither side played particularly well, let’s face it, BOD had more fumbles than he’ll get on his honeymoon next week, but the Aussies held on to the ball long enough to scoop two tries and bag the match.
Despite the four losses I reckon that this has been one of Ireland’s most successful tours. It was a success as we actually saw some genuine development of the squad players for a change.
We’ve had a good look at Buckley, Court, Cronin, Henry, Muldoon, O’Donoghue, Ronan, Ruddock, Tuohy, and Varley and while everyone wasn’t a runaway success most showed enough to ease a few of the worries about our ageing squad which was in danger of being sponsored by SAGA.
The tour also had the added bonus of highlighting the ridiculous dalliance with some of the elderly stars who should now be allowed to end their illustrious careers with a degree of dignity. The amount Ireland will save on transporting Zimmer frames to New Zealand next September alone will probably pay for this latest jaunt!
Now, there’s no need to kick the likes of Shaggy, The Bull or Horan completely into touch, they can still fight for their places like everyone else, but no more preferential treatment (stinking of desperation) and absolutely no need to keep patching them up and pushing them out there time after time.
The tour had the added bonus of nailing down Paddy Wallace and Jonny Sexton as the genuine play makers of Irish Rugby. Not everything went smoothly but they both showed enough to suggest that there is a real foundation here for Ireland to build their World Cup aspirations on. Wallace in particular had an outstanding tour and if he can stay injury free it may be that at long last the one time splinter gatherer and fish supper collector will live up to his much trumpeted ability. Brilliant for Ulster and Ireland if he does!
All may come to nothing however if Ireland don’t sort out their front row problems and unfortunately the tour did little to ease concerns.
Worries about Hayes and Horan’s long term viability were intensified, to such a level that they must be discounted as contenders, unfortunately none of the alternatives stood out as locked in replacements.
Buckley flattered to deceive yet again and his poor technique, leaving him prostrate in the turf, should discount him as a serious contender. Unfortunately Court didn’t take advantage of his opportunity and while he has the undoubted scrummaging ability he needs to find some aggression from somewhere.
After two or three excellent scrums he had the opportunity to completely bury the Aussie front row but he failed to push on and eventually let the Aussies get on top. Disappointing, for at the time the Aussies were there for the taking, and if Tom had pushed on Ireland would have won this one. However he and Healy should be the frontrunners this season, even if it is a tenuous lead!
The rest of the Ulster players had good enough tours.
Trimble locked down his participation in the World Cup with a degree of comfort. His defensive positioning and kicking have improved no end and he was easily the back three’s most potent attacking threat by a stretch though it has to be said that Bowe and Kearney were well off their game.
Tuohy was the find of the tour with his blistering pace (well for a second row anyway) being a real asset that Ireland can look to exploit. If he and O’Donoghue could add some of the dogged fighting spirit displayed by Mick O’Driscoll they’d both be ahead of him in the pecking order.
Chris Henry had an impressive enough series of games showing a lot of that dogged fighting spirit in overwhelmed back rows but his tour will probably be remembered for the Aussies opening try. However these tours are exactly for situations like that and Chris is smart enough to benefit in the long run.
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3 Responses to “Australia 22 Ireland 15”
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I hope you are right but time will tell when the poisoned gnome names his squad for the autumn internationals. I have a feeling it will be ground hog day when wee Decky looks back to his favourites and picks them to be involved in the opening of the “new” Lansdowne Road. The Bull, Horan, Horgan, MO’D and Stringer should be allowed to retire gracefully.
I have never seen BOD have a worse game and hope it was just pre wedding nerves. Kearney needs a reality check he has not had a decent game since the Lions tour to South Africa and has been lucky to have kept his place despite making quite a few howlers. The player I feel most for is Trimble, my player of the tour, I hope he gets what he deserves come Autumn but I can see the poisoned gnome reverting to type and he may not even make the 22.
Next season should be interesting as I believe Robbie Diack is the best number 8 in Ulster and will be Irish qualified. Younger, taller, heavier, faster and with better hands than Henry, he deserves a shot at the big time. Sadly for Henry he will now be dispatched to the select group of “one cap wonders” as we all know you don’t get a second chance if you are from Ulster and you make a mistake.
Roll on next season …………… has the Quins game on the 21 Aug been confirmed yet?
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RR tend to agree with you on the Henry ‘Mistake’ this is what he will be remembered for on his debut. Apart from this i thought he had a reasonable enough game in taking a few high balls and solid defence.
I think that even if BOD had of had a bucket to catch the ball he still would have dropped it probably bucket and all. Although the one real chance that he did have he should have passed inside to Tommy Bowe instead of the loop pass to Andy Trimble.
I thought that bothe Andy T and Paddy W had good games and were the pick of the bunch by far with Paddy definately showing how good a play maker he can be.
The disappointing part for me was that I don’t remember us challenging once for an Aussie lineout ball – we just might as well have handed them the ball and told them to get on with it, whereas the Aussies put us under big pressure on almost all of ours,or may have been every lineout !!!
Would liked to have seen Big Dan get more game time alongside O’callaghan but maybe in the autumn …
Indeed – roll on next season …. i take it that quins is one of the preseason friendlies?
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Can’t argue with anything you said.
Yes it has been muted Quins at the Stoop on 21 August. A good chance to meet up with Joe and Joe jnr. The lovely Kate is in SA.
It should also be noted that the 2010 Women’s World Cup starts on the 20 August with Ireland playing England at the nearby Surrey Sports Park ko 18.30 and with the tournament based between the Surrey Sports Park and the Stoop a lot of the 12 international teams are staying in hotels in the Twickenham area. Not that any of our readers would be interested in young fit female rugby players.
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