September a wicked month for Test rugby

ON RUGBY/Gerry Thornley: Now, at last, back to some real rugby. Let's be honest, and though it's no fault of the current Irish set-up or the IRFU that it happened, but Test rugby simply doesn't belong in September, and it's been a bit boring and intrusive.

Somehow it goes against the essence of sporting contests when the results are also pretty much known before kick-off, and the only question is what manner one team wins rather than which team wins.

Of the 10 matches this reporter has witnessed this season, there's no doubt that the two best games by far were the two all-Irish Celtic League matches - Leinster v Connacht and Ulster v Munster. The rugby public were also on to this in advance. Near full houses and full-on matches.

By comparison there was even a sense that support for the two homes games in Ireland's Eastern European trilogy was obligatory. The IRFU, in fairness, tried their damndest to push the Georgian match with coach and ticket deals for last Saturday's World Cup qualifier, but hadn't exactly pushed the boat out for the friendly against Romania in Thomond Park, when prices were simply pitched too high.

Coupled with the treatment of Munster supporters by their Branch and travel agents for European Cup games, the suspicion lurks that rugby supporters in Limerick are not alone being taken for granted, but they've also been milked a little dry.

That the games themselves didn't particularly set the pulses racing was no great surprise. As Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan admitted after Saturday's game: "We haven't had three sparkling performances but we've had periods where we've sparkled and I think that's a good indicator for the autumn. We're trying to change our game a bit, so we're in a bit of a transition, but you put it all into the mix, then I think you get something like we got."

Third time out, against the Georgians, was the pick of them, and you could see Ireland having more success in keeping the ball alive in the tackle rather than take the hit, go to ground and set up another ruck. It is, as the Irish coach concedes, a higher risk strategy but it's also more likely to break down defences such as Australia's, or Argentina's for that matter.

Ireland's first try showed their ability to score out wide off first phase, while their fourth try, and Brian O'Driscoll's second, also showed the merits of Ireland's structured multi-phase attacking game when they eventually pulled the Georgians out of position after some high tempo recycling.

All the while there remains the licence to do something different in terms of Ronan O'Gara's crosskick for a player loitering with intent on the opposite touchline. So Ireland are adding more arrows to their quiver. Yet the feeling persists that the players have become less empowered in the midst of a more patterned game, certainly when compared to, say, Munster in the last few seasons.

LOOKING long-term, the three games have to be beneficial in terms of providing a base to work off when they reassemble in five weeks' time for the Australian game. Even so, one can't help but feel that we'll be reflecting on this additional early-season international load as a decidedly double-edged sword.

All the more so because the load is carried to such an extent by a nucleus of Leinster and Munster players, and we only have to reflect on last season for proof of that. Thanks to three rearranged Six Nations games before the autumn internationals, as a result of the foot-and-mouth outbreak early last year, the knock-on effect left the frontline Munster and Leinster players looking drained long before the end of the season.

That they each reached the Celtic League final compounded the load, and it was a minor miracle that Munster - despite playing without the creative spark of their march to Twickenham two seasons before somehow made it to the European final.

It said as much for their reserves of sheer will and desire as anything else.

Hence, in the circumstances, privately the Irish management mightn't be gnashing too many teeth over the probability of Leinster missing the Celtic League play-offs altogether. Not alone did they suffer a fourth successive defeat to Borders on Friday night, but elsewhere in Pool B results could hardly have worked out worse for them.

Pontypridd's win over Glasgow, with a bonus point, and Cardiff's 27-25 win away to Newport after the latter's Shane Howarth missed a 31-metres penalty with the last kick, leaves Leinster nine points behind third-placed Ponty and six adrift of Cardiff, currently occupying the fourth and last qualifying place.

So even a 10-point haul in their concluding games at home to Newport and away to Bridgend mightn't be enough, as they would still need Cardiff to lose at home to Bridgend and away to Ponty. Indeed, even if they score four tries and beat Newport this Friday, they might still be eliminated from the equation in this weekend's penultimate round of matches.

Looking further down the track though, it's hard to see the benefits of a tour to Australia, Tonga and Samoa next summer exceeding the plusses of a longer vacation for Ireland's frontline players in advance of the October World Cup.

The IRFU and O'Sullivan bridle a little bit at the notion, suggested here and elsewhere, that the summer be downgraded. The union are fearful of incurring the IRB's wrath and, accordingly, O'Sullivan has stated publicly at any rate that the show must go on.

Three games are being set up for next August against Wales, Scotland and Canada anyway. There remains a compelling argument to at least send their frontline players home after the Brisbane match, and treat the ensuing Polynesian islands' leg as a development tour in test clothing.

In defence, Ireland would need only point to the IRB's recent recommendation that players be granted 10 to 12 weeks' off-season.