While it is devoutly to be wished that Declan Kidney's prediction that "the days of Ireland as an inferior rugby nation are over" will prove to be correct, it is difficult indeed to agree with the Munster coach's assertion that "this country produces more great sportspeople per head of population than any other nation". Let's look at one example - the 1992 Olympic Games (well, who wants to dwell on those in Atlanta four years later?).

At Barcelona, the successes of Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough brought Ireland's aggregate medals haul since the start of the modern Olympics in 1896 to 15. By contrast, New Zealand - a nation with much the same population as this island - took 15 medals home from Barcelona alone; so please, let's not allow ourselves to bask in a self-congratulatory "great little (sporting) nation" mode in the wake of Munster's epic victory at Bordeaux last Saturday.

Of course, there are good reasons why we don't produce more great sportspeople than many other comparable countries. Among such factors is government indifference (except when some rare Irish winner provides a photo-opportunity) and the near-obsessional interest in and influence of two national games which cannot be played at international level, even if it seems unlikely that compromise rules football will ever become a truly global sport.

Ireland as a force among the cricketing nations of the earth looks an equally unlikely scenario. Yet, when he was here a few years ago, Dr Ali Bacher of the International Cricket Council (ICC) was extremely positive about the future and maintained that elevation to international one-day status was an achievable goal for Irish cricket, while that particular aim was endorsed by the Irish Cricket Union (ICU) in its National Development Strategy document which was published in 1997 and which is now being updated.

Ireland's subsequent failure to qualify in Kuala Lumpur for last year's World Cup may not have been quite a disaster, but there is no doubt that it was a major blow to the ICU's international aspirations. Next year's ICC World Cup qualifying tournament in Toronto - of all places - may not quite be 2001 A Space Odyssey, but it will certainly have a huge bearing on the future of Irish representative cricket.

Ken Rutherford, Ireland's new national coach, is the man charged with guiding Ireland to qualification in Canada; no easy task, given his inexperience of the local scene and the limited playing talent at his disposal. But Rutherford, who played 56 Tests and 121 one-day internationals for New Zealand, is open-minded and approachable, and the fact that he is only 34 must also be to his advantage in dealing with the players.

But it must be said that Ireland's appalling NatWest performance - if that's the word for it - against Shropshire last week was hardly the sort of start the coach would have wished for on the domestic front.

"We left Zimbabwe on a high at the end of the Emerging Nations Tournament," he says. "I told the guys when we broke up to maintain that state of mind and to prepare for the NatWest campaign in the intervening three weeks, but unfortunately the team failed to produce in the match against Shropshire."

The coach doesn't say so, but word has it that the squad members' personal preparations in the interim were not exactly what you might call intensive. Ireland's under-achievers against Shropshire might usefully recall Ciaran Fitzgerald's legendary question to his men during Ireland's Triple Crown-winning match against England in 1985: "Where's your f-----g pride?"

And, of course, last week's defeat at Castle Avenue cost Rutherford the benefit of at least one, and possibly two, more NatWest matches, which is no help at all in the build-up to first the Triple Crown and European Cup campaigns and, eventually, Toronto.

Next up is Ireland's annual three-day match against MCC at Eglinton on May 23rd to 25th. It may well be argued that three one-day games would be infinitely more useful to both the coach and the players but in the event, Rutherford is hoping to use the occasion to maybe try out a few new international aspirants on a broader stage.

"That's why we decided to hold back on selection after the Shropshire match," he said. "Of course the number of really potential representative players is limited, but that's the case in virtually every sport.

"Hopefully, the MCC game should give us the chance to experiment a bit by trying out maybe some of the younger guys. In any event, a couple of players who would be more or less automatic choices will not be available for Eglinton, for a variety of reasons," says Rutherford.

Harry Williams with Ulster and now Declan Kidney with Munster have shown what can be achieved with players who are totally committed to the cause. Here's hoping that Ken Rutherford can guide Ireland to a place in the 2003 World Cup, with a squad of equally determined and dedicated cricketers.