Jeepers creepers but the Halloween hangover dragged on a little bit, didn’t it? The four suited and booted lads in the Virgin Media Studio ahead of the Ireland-New Zealand match were dressed for a wedding but in attire that proved adequate for a funeral, for such was the mood that prevailed following a match where the world’s number one ranked team were firmly put in their place by the All Blacks.
The “E” word cropped up quite a bit when the dust had settled. Nothing to do with environmental issues it must be said. Rather, Matt Williams – the only one who had uttered any word of caution in the prematch discussions – talked of a sense of “entitlement” which ruffled the feathers of his co-analysts Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan and had Joe Molloy providing some diplomatic intervention so nobody would lose the run of themselves.
If Virgin Media’s scoop in landing all of Ireland’s Autumn Internationals – aren’t they really Winter? – gave them first dibs on Andy Farrell’s team before he moves on to his Lions duties, the sense of occasion didn’t actually play out so well in a match where New Zealand again proved the superior force and resulted in a downbeat atmosphere in the VM studios, not dissimilar to the one which had been evident at the Aviva.
Perhaps the television cameras panning in on actor Paul Mescal in the stands after a gladiatorial tackle from Joe McCarthy at one point of the first half hinted that some outer intervention would be required if Ireland were to actually vindicate their world number one ranking.
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Not that Williams, it would seem, has any belief in those world rankings at all, at all. “The only rankings that matter are the World Cup,” observed the Aussie pundit ahead of the game, providing his tuppence worth in not so subtly giving the top placing to South Africa.
In fairness to Williams, he had sounded a note of caution before the match ever got going – listening to Shane Horgan and Rob Kearney sounding off about Ireland’s expectations to win – by voicing his concern: “When I arrived in the country, everyone’s just telling me how much we’re going to win by and I’m saying, ‘whoooaaaah, hang on a minute, hang on a minute!’ You never do that against New Zealand!”
Not that those on the nice couch beside him were listening. Molloy talked of how New Zealand’s “aura” was not what it used to be, while Horgan talked of how the All Blacks’ “cloak of invincibility and mystique” had diminished.
Williams, though, stuck to his guns. “When everyone is so confident and dismissive of that black jersey, it doesn’t sit well with me,” he said. And he was proved to be right.
The match – the first of four that Virgin Media got the rights to for the Autumn (not Winter) series – brought to an end, as commentator Dave McIntyre informed us, Ireland’s 19-match winning run at the Aviva.
“Ireland are meant to be number one in the world, they looked a long way from that,” observed analyst Horgan in a post-match postmortem that struggled to find words for Ireland’s performance.
Williams, in fairness, found some words. “Tactically bereft,” he said of the Irish effort, then adding the “sense of entitlement” analysis that, whether right or wrong, would likely sting players and management.
“Entitlement is a strong word,” said the peacemaker Molloy.
“Over-confidence, maybe?” wondered Kearney.
Williams didn’t demure. Entitlement, it was.
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