Autumn Joy For Eddie’s Boys

By Aidan Begley

As tradition goes, the Autumnal international rugby games can prove to be a good yardstick to see how the home nations will fare in the Six Nations the following year.
On Ireland’s showing in this year’s games, they should be looking forward to the annual contest against England, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy with confident anticipation after their sterling performances in the autumn games.

Defeats over South Africa (32-15), Australia (21-6) and rugby minnows the Pacific Islands (61-17) have given Eddie O’Sullivan’s team a huge boost and have gone to prove that the standard of rugby in Ireland has been on the increase for many years.
With Munster claiming the Heineken Cup in 2006 and these results, Ireland’s position of third in the IRB’s rankings is probably well deserved and O’Sullivan has heaped praise on his side, in particular after back-to-back victories over South Africa and Australia for the first time.
“Against Australia, during the first half we played some fantastic rugby straight into the wind and the driving rain, which was far from ideal, but it’s just typical Irish weather for this time of year. The conditions were just horrible so the result was the main thing to get.
“Coming in 15-3 up, we said to each other that we were not going to let them get back into the game, which we knew they would be chomping at the bit to do. By and large during the second half, we made sure that we pinned them back and that they went nowhere.
“Added to the fact we managed to get some more points on the board, it ended up becoming a great victory for us. Tactically, we got it right, as we did throughout all of the games and it has turned out to be a good few weeks work for us,” said O’Sullivan.
“The performance was different than when we defeated South Africa. I thought we were outstanding. We held onto the ball and did not give them possession to play with. We were rewarded with two excellent tries,” added O’Sullivan.
Australian coach John Connolly was in equal praise for Ireland as they suffered only their second loss to the Irish in the last 26 years and said that it wasn’t for a lack of preparation that the two-time world champions had been found wanting.
“They showed they were a world class team in particular in these sorts of weather conditions. We talked about it and knew what to expect but we just didn’t handle them at all,” admitted Connolly.
Following the victory over the Wallabies, Ireland took on and easily defeated the Pacific Islands 61-17 in the last international game to take place at Lansdowne Road before it gets re-developed and Irish rugby moves to Croke Park.
O’Sullivan said: “Eight tries is not a bad way to say goodbye to Lansdowne Road. We’ve had some great times there and it is a fantastic place to play. The atmosphere is second to none. But it’s time for a change and it has been looking like it needed re-developing for a long while.
“It’s going to be a great experience for our players to run out at Croke Park. They’ll have experienced a stage like that if they played at the Millennium Stadium or the Stade de France, but to have your own fans supporting you, will be a great moment for everyone.”
A solid display in the Six Nations will put Ireland in great shape for the World Cup. At the moment they are the form team and have proven that on their day, they are a match for some of the best teams in the World.
New Zealand will be installed as the favourites for the World Cup and rightly so as they are playing some scintillating rugby at the moment, which might be too much for Ireland at the moment, but the Six Nations could be the ideal stepping stone for the Irish and this generation of players to make their mark in history.