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That Ireland could lose a World Cup quarter-final to the All Blacks is not a major shock in itself. New Zealand just have better cattle, as I said in last week’s column. However, the manner of the loss, even at a remove now of five days, was utterly shocking.
We are further away from a World Cup semi-final now than we were in 2011.
The importance of perspective is paramount, but this was the sort of World Cup for Ireland that demands a complete rethink of how we prioritise, periodise and prepare. It isn’t just one thing here — it’s a complete re-evaluation in my book.
For starters: do we want to be judged on World Cups or championships? We admired the Ireland team greatly over a recent period, but all the while other nations — primarily Wales and England — were preparing for a World Cup.
Surely for Ireland to be a credible top tier nation, we have to be judged on the World Cup? Look at the semi-finalists.
The next World Cup in France may be four years away but there’s no point winning Grand Slams and Six Nations in the interim unless they are achieved in tandem with the three P’s I’ve mentioned.
Of course, we all live in the now and we are firmer in our convictions with the benefit of hindsight. And judging Ireland on the basis of beating New Zealand almost a year ago was fine last November.
Similarly, we have to judge Ireland in the here and now — when it matters most.
And in that regard we are further away by every metric from the last four of the World Cup.
I got great advice when I retired. Thinking I might have accumulated a decent body of work over a decade and more, someone offered me a sage counterpoint: Rog, you’ll be remembered for your last three games.
Joe Schmidt has been up around a 75% win rate but the taste of disappointment overpowers everything at the moment.
Ireland have had winning Six Nations campaigns, but it’s clear to me that Wales and England look to Six Nations as a means to an end — the end being the World Cup.
If we started well in Japan against Scotland, the wheels came off on the second weekend against the hosts.
My contention is that the issues were worryingly evident long before that and if I was guilty of anything as a supporter, it was wishing away the problems of the warm-ups on the basis of ‘No, it couldn’t happen again in a World Cup’.
The England game, in particular, at Twickenham, gave me that sick sensation in the pit of my stomach. It was the reason I indicated that for the Wales warm-up, a win was more important than a performance.
If that seems odd to say about a warm-up, it betrayed my own subconscious concerns. Twickenham was a grim portent. You knew there was a problem, irrespective of what was in the players’ legs or not.
That day showed to me that there was a rugby issue.
That Ireland could lose a World Cup quarter-final to the All Blacks is not a major shock in itself. New Zealand just have better cattle, as I said in last week’s column. However, the manner of the loss, even at a remove now of five days, was utterly shocking.
We are further away from a World Cup semi-final now than we were in 2011.
The importance of perspective is paramount, but this was the sort of World Cup for Ireland that demands a complete rethink of how we prioritise, periodise and prepare. It isn’t just one thing here — it’s a complete re-evaluation in my book.
For starters: do we want to be judged on World Cups or championships? We admired the Ireland team greatly over a recent period, but all the while other nations — primarily Wales and England — were preparing for a World Cup.
Surely for Ireland to be a credible top tier nation, we have to be judged on the World Cup? Look at the semi-finalists.
The next World Cup in France may be four years away but there’s no point winning Grand Slams and Six Nations in the interim unless they are achieved in tandem with the three P’s I’ve mentioned.
Of course, we all live in the now and we are firmer in our convictions with the benefit of hindsight. And judging Ireland on the basis of beating New Zealand almost a year ago was fine last November.
Similarly, we have to judge Ireland in the here and now — when it matters most.
And in that regard we are further away by every metric from the last four of the World Cup.
I got great advice when I retired. Thinking I might have accumulated a decent body of work over a decade and more, someone offered me a sage counterpoint: Rog, you’ll be remembered for your last three games.
Joe Schmidt has been up around a 75% win rate but the taste of disappointment overpowers everything at the moment.
Ireland have had winning Six Nations campaigns, but it’s clear to me that Wales and England look to Six Nations as a means to an end — the end being the World Cup.
If we started well in Japan against Scotland, the wheels came off on the second weekend against the hosts.
My contention is that the issues were worryingly evident long before that and if I was guilty of anything as a supporter, it was wishing away the problems of the warm-ups on the basis of ‘No, it couldn’t happen again in a World Cup’.
The England game, in particular, at Twickenham, gave me that sick sensation in the pit of my stomach. It was the reason I indicated that for the Wales warm-up, a win was more important than a performance.
If that seems odd to say about a warm-up, it betrayed my own subconscious concerns. Twickenham was a grim portent. You knew there was a problem, irrespective of what was in the players’ legs or not.
That day showed to me that there was a rugby issue.
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