RUGBY/Ireland 23 Barbarians 29:THE DEFEAT was the least of Ireland coach Declan Kidney's concerns on a night when he lost yet more players from the tour to New Zealand and Australia. Shane Horgan, Fergus McFadden and Jerry Flannery are virtually certain to be ruled out this morning, while there is also a doubt about Jonathan Sexton.
Horgan went to the hospital yesterday afternoon with a stomach complaint, and following an examination is extremely doubtful. McFadden suffered a suspected broken jaw during the game, while Flannery, a second-half replacement for Sean Cronin, went down minutes from the end clutching his calf.
Sexton complained of a sore mouth and was withdrawn from the bench after advice from the surgeon who repaired his broken jaw.
Johne Murphy started on the right wing and is likely to replace Horgan in the travelling party. Damien Varley, who trained with the squad during the week, would be promoted if Flannery failed to recover, while there is no confirmation about who, if anyone, would cover for McFadden and/or Sexton.
Kidney elaborated on the injuries and illness before admitting: “We’ll have to wait and see what the medical team advises. At this point it’s not looking good for Fergus, certainly by the way he looked in the dressingroom, and as you saw Jerry went down with the calf problem. Shane could follow the team out if he improves over the next few days.”
It has proved a catastrophic few weeks for the Irish squad in terms of injuries and illness. Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, Kevin McLaughlin, Luke Fitzgerald, Sean O’Brien, Denis Leamy, Donnacha Ryan, Rory Best and Keith Earls could now be joined by McFadden, Horgan and Flannery, while Sexton is expected to make the trip.
An extremely tough tour just got appreciably harder and completely overshadowed an evening in which Ireland struggled for 50 minutes, in most facets of the game, before rallying to push the visitors close at the end.
Captain for the night Ronan O’Gara admitted: “We gave them too much of a lead. They were hurting after the England game and in talking to them afterwards they told me they were treating it like a Test match.”
Ireland were awarded a penalty on 19 minutes, but as Peter Stringer raced to the mark not one Irish player looked to support the quick tap: as a statement of intent it was lacklustre, much like the performance in the opening 20 minutes.
Referee Romain Poite adjudicated that Ireland were transgressing frequently at scrum time, penalising them for a variety of offences. It’s has to be an area of concern for Kidney and it directly led to the first try.
Ireland were penalised on their put-in five metres from their line, conceding a free-kick. The Barbarians elected to scrum, and after shunting Ireland backwards, number eight Xavier Rush took a return pass from scrumhalf Pierre Mignoni to dive over unopposed.
At that point on 36 minutes the home side trailed 11-3, and it was to get worse four minutes later. Another handling error allowed Casey Laulala to scamper clear and, despite a brilliant tackle from Rob Kearney, George Smith forced his way over from the re-cycle.
Ireland were relying on individual cameos – Andrew Trimble, Dan Tuohy, Sean Cronin, Chris Henry and John Muldoon – but there was precious little cohesion, precision or penetration.
There was one bright note to the half when Trimble made a typically muscular run, Henry, Gavin Duffy and O’Gara carried the ball into the 22 and Niall Ronan cut a great inside line to receive his outhalf’s pass and score under the posts.
Kidney’s decision to introduce several frontline players in the second half provided the home side with a little more bite and direction. Having conceded yet another try, this time to Cedric Heymans after a fine run by Jean Baptiste-Elissalde, Ireland finally managed sustained pressure and were rewarded with a try from Tony Buckley.
Trailing 29-23, Ireland mustered for one final assault and it was full-frontal, taking the visitors on around the fringes. But the cavalry charge had come too late. Losing Flannery to a worrying looking calf problem in the dying throes of the game simply reinforced what a painful evening it had been in every respect.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 11 mins: James penalty, 0-3; 17: James penalty, 0-6; 20: O’Gara penalty, 3-6; 32: James penalty, 3-9; 36: Rush try, 3-14; 40: G Smith try, James conversion, 3-21; 40 (+4): Ronan try, O’Gara conversion, 10-21. Half-time: 10-21. 46: O’Gara penalty, 13-21; 47: Heymans try, 13-26; 58: Elissalde penalty, 13-29; 61: Buckley try, O’Gara conversion, 20-29; 66: O’Gara penalty, 23-29.
IRELAND: Kearney; J Murphy, Duffy, McFadden, Trimble; O’Gara, Stringer; Horan, Cronin, Buckley, O’Donoghue, Tuohy, Muldoon, Ronan, Henry. Replacements: Bowe for Kearney (54), D Wallace for McFadden (40), O’Leary for Stringer (62), Court for Horan (65), Flannery for Cronin, M O’Driscoll for O’Donoghue, O’Callaghan for Tuohy (all 55). Sinbin: O’Donoghue (35).
BARBARIANS: Warwick; Heymans, Laulala, Rabeni, D Smith; B James, Mignoni; Barnes, Brits, Johnston, Thion, O’Kelly, Quinlan, G Smith, Rush. Replacements: Estebanez for Rabeni (64), Elissalde for B James (50), Kelleher for Mignoni (50), White for Barnes (46), August for Brits, So’oialo for O’Kelly (both 52), Williams for Rush (62). Sinbin: Barnes (36).
Referee: Romain Poite (France).
