Nature of challenge to stoke Irish fires

Ireland v Australia Ronan O'Gara: The Ireland team was roundly castigated for a failure to employ a kicking game to vary the point of attack against New Zealand at Lansdowne Road in last Saturday's 45-7 defeat.

In the past previous Irish teams have been chastised for an over-reliance on the boot, once again in defeat, to the detriment of the game as a spectacle. They have been accused of lacking ambition.

On a superficial level it appears a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. Ireland's outhalf Ronan O'Gara considered the conundrum.

"I would be the first person taking the pitch at Lansdowne Road who would consider drilling the corners.

"I know what's required but when you have Leon McDonald guarding the middle of the pitch and the two wings dropping into the corner then you have a problem in kicking terms. No matter how many phases we played, they (New Zealand) did not change that shape: five, six (phases) it didn't matter.

"What do I do? Kick it out on the full, put up a Garryowen? I'd like to think that we're a little beyond that. I think that people who understand the game and whom I trust were saying that I didn't have a kicking option. I wouldn't change the way I played from a tactical viewpoint. Looking back we defended poorly but our attack play was quite good. We had 10 line breaks. Against Italy in the past we mightn't have had 10 line breaks."

So was it down to their scramble defence or Irish errors? "Both. You can be sure against weaker opposition we would have scored five or six times but they are unbelievable around the contact area with or without the ball. There is no one to compare to them.

"After being down there (New Zealand) during the summer I was trying to spread that message but fellas need to experience it for themselves to truly understand. When you consider the 15 Irish players on the pitch, everyone was guilty of making an error or two. I had a forward pass and there were about three or four others who were guilty of the same. That's four or five mistakes. We'd one or two knocks-on, one or two poor passes: now you are looking at nearly 10 (errors).

"I was happy with our gameplan. We found weaknesses, bust them on 10 occasions and I don't think too many international teams have managed that.

"I fully accept that we got walloped and I am not avoiding reality but I think there are positives from our attacking game that we got right."

Is there mitigation in the teething problems experienced by units within the team? O'Gara pointed out: "The squad for this series of international matches has seen the largest turnover in personnel for some time, a real shake-up. Brian (O'Driscoll) in midfield, he'd organise all the outer backs, while at the minute, there's new personnel.

"Against a top team your unit skills are very important. I am not downhearted about it all but you have to be realistic about what is going on in the bigger picture. It's the lowest point of any sportman's career when they receive a hiding like that. It was difficult. These early few days of this week haven't been fun. We are up against another team of great quality." In essence the very nature of Saturday's challenge will stoke Irish fires.

The team's belief that they weren't that bad the previous weekend means confidence levels won't be too eroded and there is the obvious motivation to atone for the disappointment. They are also aware that Australia's recent run of defeats accentuates the visitors' desperation to grab that victory that could prove a catalyst for better fortune.

It's difficult to believe that Ireland will abandon the patterns of last week, they may fine-tune them certainly with possibly a little more boot if the opportunities present themselves