2011 RUGBY WORLD CUP:THE IRISH squad's World Cup odyssey has already seen them leave from, and land on, plenty of runways but, 10 days after touching down in New Zealand, they finally seek to hit the ground running, as it were, in New Plymouth tomorrow (7am Irish time).
Virtually devoid of any momentum from the August series, the need for a convincing opening win over Eddie Sullivan and the USA to ensure some form of take-off is all the more pressing.
Regardless of the last four defeats, as Brian O’Driscoll conceded yesterday, this Ireland team is not as well primed as the management or the players would have liked, “but you have to play with the cards you are dealt.”
Tommy Bowe, O’Driscoll himself and Gordon D’Arcy are all rustier than they would have liked, while there is an untried halfback partnership.
It will be fascinating to see how Conor Murray goes, though it’s one of the curiosities of the five Tests prior to the pivotal meeting with Australia that Jonathan Sexton will not have partnered his Leinster halfback team-mate Eoin Reddan once.
Sexton has perhaps at times not looked the dominant, uber confident playmaker he appears with Leinster, which may be attributable to him not feeling the same sense of security about his place or role in the Irish environment.
D’Arcy (two games) and O’Driscoll (one) were easing themselves back into the groove in their limited appearances to date, and with the advent of the serious stuff one imagines they won’t be nearly so lateral as they were at home to France.
However, it would help considerably if there were a few more decoy runners or secondary support runners as well, and if the target runners were helping to generate quicker, front-foot ball.
Trace back to the stand-out moments in the August series, most notably in the second half in Bordeaux and the first and last quarters at home to France a week later, and more often than not they emanated from Seán O’Brien’s clean line breaks.
By some distance, O’Brien runs the best support lines and takes the ball at more depth than any Irish forward here, never mind his pace and explosiveness in contact. Hence his absence compounds the loss of David Wallace and leaves the team short of ball-carriers; all the more so with Rory Best starting ahead of Jerry Flannery.
Admittedly, Stephen Ferris carried manfully and consistently hard in his first full game back since January, against England, when often employed as a target runner in midfield, and presumably his load will be huge again.
Furthermore, with Shane Jennings there to apply some continuity and focus his energies on the breakdown, that could free up Jamie Heaslip a tad more to get his mitts on the ball.
Ferris, left in his suit come match day four years ago, and Heaslip, like Tommy Bowe overlooked for the last World Cup, may feel additional motivation to make a point or two at Eddie O’Sullivan’s expense. Ditto Geordan Murphy, despite all his conciliatory noises earlier in the week, given his treatment in France four years ago.
Murphy has also scored a brace of tries on his two previous appearances against the Eagles, including his debut over 11 years ago in Manchester, New Hampshire.
As for the Eagles, the Saracens fullback Chris Wyles hasn’t recovered from injury, while there was mild surprise that O’Sullivan opted for Roland Suniula ahead of normal outhalf Nese Malifa, perhaps to give them a better kicking game.
But, to all intents and purposes, O’Sullivan – who looked a little nervous when announcing his side – appears to have gone for his first-choice team despite the game with Russia next Thursday.
It was, he reiterated, important to “put your best foot forward in the first game”, and denying Ireland a bonus point would be a significant achievement for his side.
The forecast coastal winds and rain should also be something of a leveller, and will militate against Ireland applying consistent width on their game and taking the Eagles through phases as much as they would like, instead calling for what Kidney said would have to be a more “pragmatic” approach.
The Eagles have pace to burn in their back three but have a limited kicking game at halfback, and thus there should be plenty of reward for Sexton and co to find the corners and pin the Eagles in their own territory.
Furthermore, even without Cian Healy, all the available evidence suggests the scrum – of which there ought to be more than on a dry night – can be rewarding for Ireland.
Given the conditions, it may not be quite the fluid performance Ireland would have hoped for, but they have a good referee in Craig Joubert in charge and it shouldn’t revive too many memories of the struggle to obtain a bonus point in the comparative game four years ago against Namibia, much less the taut arm wrestle with Georgia.
Ideally, Ireland would like to have the outcome pretty much done and dusted by around the hour mark, so as to fully utilise their bench and set off on Monday for Auckland with a restorative five-pointer in their luggage.
Head-to-Head: 1994: Ireland 26 USA 15. 1996: USA 18 Ireland 25 (Atlanta). 1999 RWC: Ireland 53 USA 8 (Dublin). 2000: USA 3 Ireland 83 (Manchester, New Hampshire). 2004: Ireland 55 USA 6 (Dublin). 2009: USA 10 Ireland 27 (Santa Clara).
Betting(Paddy Power): 1/200 Ireland, 80/1 Draw, 20/1 USA. Handicap odds (USA + 35pts) Evens Ireland, 30/1 Draw, Evens USA.
Forecast: Ireland to beat the handicap.
IRELAND v USA
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth, On TV: RTE 2, ITV, Setanta tomorrow, 7am
IRELAND
15 (Leicester) Geordan Murphy
14 (Ospreys) Tommy Bowe
13 (Leinster, capt) Brian O'Driscoll
12 (Leinster) Gordon D'Arcy
11 (Munster) Keith Earls
10 (Leinster) Jonny Sexton
9 (Munster) Conor Murray
1 (Ulster) Tom Court
2 (Ulster) Rory Best
3 (Leinster) Mike Ross
4 (Munster) Donncha O'Callaghan
5 (Munster) Paul O'Connell
6 (Ulster) Stephen Ferris
7 (Leinster) Shane Jennings
8 (Leinster) Jamie Heaslip
Replacements: J Flannery (Munster), T Buckley (Sale), D Ryan (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), A Trimble (Ulster)
USA
15 Blaine Scully (Unatt)
14 Takudzwa Ngwenwa (Biarritz)
13 Paul Emerick (Life University)
12 Andrew Suniula (Chicago Griffins)
11 James Paterson (Highlanders)
10 Roland Suniula (Boston)
9 Mike Petri (New York AC)
1 Mike MacDonald (Leeds Carnegie)
2 Phil Thiel (Life University)
3 Shawn Pittman (London Welsh)
4 John van der Giessen (Unatt)
5 Hayden Smith (Saracens)
6 Louis Stanfill (Unatt)
7 Todd Clever (Suntory, capt)
8 Nic Johnson (Unatt)
Replacements: C Biller (Golden Gate), M Moeakiola (Bobigny 93), S LaValla (Stade Francais), P Danahy (Life University), T Usasz (Nottingham), N Malifa (Glendale), C Hawley (Olympic Club).
