IrelandÕs pack takes serious pounding in Twickenham

THE hapless men in green were nearly shoved into the Irish Sea such was England’s frightening level of dominance in the scrum in the final Six Nations match of the campaign at dreary Twickenham on Saturday. For a team which had designs on championship glory at the beginning of the campaign, it was an embarrassing conclusion for Ireland.

There has been a lot of hype and column inches devoted to Declan Kidney and his squad over the past four or five seasons – and we all celebrated their long awaited Gram Slam triumph in 2009 – but Ireland have been gradually losing their way since then and the weekend surrender to a revitalised England suggests that the good times are finally over for what was rightly considered the greatest side to ever represent this country.

Granted, their two most influential performers (and leaders), Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll, were again absent last Saturday, while some of their huge problems in the scrum can be directly attributed to the retirement through injury of prop Mike Ross, but only the most blinkered Irish supporters could not be concerned about what the future holds for the team. The good days look well and truly over.

On the surface, that might seem a hasty judgement given that Ireland were unlucky to lose to a controversial late penalty against Wales in their opening match of the campaign, not forgetting their heroic effort against the French in the Paris. There were also those big wins over Scotland and Italy, but last Saturday in Twickenham exposed some serious fault lines and with a pending tour to New Zealand, the Irish have serious repair work to do.

Unfortunately, the absence of quality prop forwards is a problem which won’t be solved overnight – Tom Court was blown away after being introduced against England, while Rory Best, O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, Ronan O’Gara, O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, who had another nightmare in Twickenham, are all heading for the departure lounge when it comes to international rugby. Overall, the changes made by Kidney last Saturday only served to make a bad situation worse.

Without the ball, it’s impossible to win and the Irish backs were almost bystanders against England. Sure, they were over-worked in defence and Keith Earls showed some attacking spark, but it must have been a frustrating afternoon for Tommy Bowe and company, especially watching their team-mates up front being consistently hammered in the set piece. There is no argument with a 21 points defeat.

Under their interim coach, Stuart Lancaster – surely, he will be appointed to the position full time – England have improved gradually throughout the championship having almost been humiliated by Italy in Rome. Owen Farrell hardly missed a kick against Ireland, while their Alex Corbisiero inspired pack thrived in the soft conditions. After a few tough seasons, the English are back and they have the potential to get better.

For Ireland, however, the future looks grim. The conservative Kidney has to be to under pressure too after Saturday’s thrashing. Though nothing can take away from his impressive record at Munster and helping to deliver the Grand Slam to Ireland three seasons ago, he hardly cuts an inspirational figure and has been a long time around Irish rugby. Perhaps, the appointment of a new coach and backroom team would help to bring badly needed fresh energy to the Irish camp for the rebuilding work ahead.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.