Gerry Thornleytalks to Ireland's forwards coach who, while accepting Ireland face an Australian backlash, still sees the game as a big opportunity

WATCHING THE events of Saturday night unfold in the ANZ stadium as England delivered an overdue and belated blow for the Northern Hemisphere, the thought occurred it might have been better had they not.

As one of the Fox Sports commentators observed when the camera trailed the huddle of bitterly disappointed Australian players shortly after the full-time whistle, “the Wallabies will be stinging next week”.

Whatever the odds were on Australia losing at home to Ireland next week, the odds on them now suffering back-to-back home defeats against two of the home unions have surely lengthened. It transpires that the watching Irish management (defensive coach Less Kiss and kicking coach Mark Tainton went to the game while the remainder watched on television following their arrival from Auckland on Saturday evening) had much the same thoughts.

“Absolutely,” said Gert Smal from the Irish squad’s final hotel stop in the altogether warmer and buzzier climes of Brisbane.

“We were actually saying that ourselves when we were watching the game. We are in for a tough game but again if you play against a top-three team, it’s always going to be tough.

“But we’re not there to see what they can throw at us. We want to take our game to them as well. That’s what makes this such a great opportunity for these players. Because there is some skill there and they can surprise.

“And not just surprise us but themselves as well. That’s why you’re looking forward to it. You can just imagine if we beat them on Saturday what it will mean for these players and for Irish rugby.”

Less is more in the last of a 44-week season, and the squad had another down day yesterday, but before meeting local rugby fans and signing autographs at Brothers Rugby Club. Smal said as much to the players at a team meeting. Everyone had to believe they could win, or else there was no point being there.

Ireland haven’t won a Test in the Southern Hemisphere since beating Australia in 1979 here and in Sydney, something Paul McNaughton, who played outside match-winner Ollie Campbell in both wins, will no doubt have pleasure in reminding fellow management and players this week.

To remove that monkey from their backs would be timely indeed, all the more so as this will be Ireland’s last opportunity to win in the Southern Hemisphere before returning to New Zealand for the World Cup in September next year. What’s more, it would also throw down a marker prior to meeting Australia in their second Pool C match in Auckland, for the sides will not meet again between now and then.

Smal rated Jerry Flannery’s chances of playing at 50-50, while the results of a scan on Shane Horgan’s neck injury won’t be known until today. Competition at hooker is intense, with Smal singling out Damien Varley for his impact against the Maori while also agreeing Seán Cronin will be an altogether better player for having played against the All Blacks.

The same is assuredly true of Tony Buckley. Last November, Smal maintained Buckley had the potential to be world-class.

“And I still believe it. And, talking to a couple of the coaches here, they spoke of him quite highly. So, I still believe in his capabilities and you see what he can do around the park and if we can sort out his scrummaging he will be one of the best in world rugby. I think he has a lot of potential.”

Smal also said he believes John Hayes will make it to the World Cup.

Packing down against the All Blacks scrum, which Smal rates alongside the French as the best in world rugby, is tough enough with eight men; doing so with seven was “a mammoth task. But we also caught them on a couple of things which we worked on in the course of last week and against the Maori the scrum was much better.”

Noting the marked improvement of the injury-afflicted Australian scrum in the second Test, Smal added: “We still have a lot of work to do and also a couple of inexperienced guys who need to play together more. We’re looking forward to it, I think the Australians want to show what they can do and the better they play the better for Irish rugby, and it will put a little bit of pressure on the more established guys as well.”

While their have been mitigating circumstances, the lineout has been more disappointing.

“We only had four lineouts in the last game and we got all of them so that was good. When we played the All Blacks, we cocked up a couple of things and it’s not all down to the hooker (Cronin),” he stressed, before itemising a lengthy list of other aspects than went wrong, such as not listening or reacting to calls, timing and incorrect lifting.

He also conceded that “we were nowhere” in competing on the Maori throw.

“Again, it’s all about experience and the Maori came up with a completely different lineout from the previous week. But then you must be able to adapt. In the second half we changed to another system and it got a lot better. Again you want to see that experience within the team who can organise that quickly. So the locks there (Ed O’Donoghue and Dan Tuohy) had a huge learning experience.”

The lineout has also felt the absence of its established hookers, Paul O’Connell and a raft of backrowers, which has been compounded by the loss of Jamie Heaslip and John Muldoon, which leaves Rhys Ruddock as the only specialist blindside flanker in the squad.

“I think Rhys (Ruddock) has got a fair amount of potential also. Maybe he’s still a bit young but he’s learning a huge amount for future purposes.”

As Smal revealed that the coaches had ruled out the option of playing Tuohy at six, and given he hammered home the importance of experience repeatedly for a match such as this, this strongly suggests a backrow of, perhaps, David Wallace, Chris Henry and Shane Jennings, with Niall Ronan on the bench.

Creation of a tight five academy one way to address Irish propping crisis

GERT SMAL has called for the creation of a tight five academy as part of a badly-needed talent identification and progression programme for props in Irish rugby. The mini propping crisis in Irish rugby was highlighted by the European semi-final weekend in particular, and since then the number of overseas props in the Irish provinces has swelled.

Although losing CJ van der Linde, in addition to Stanley Wright, Leinster have also completed a two-year deal with South African international prop Heinke van der Merwe from Super 14 side the Lions.

On foot of confirming that South African Wian du Preez will return to their squad at the start of the 2010-2011 season on a two-year deal, Munster signed Canterbury prop Peter Borlase on a two-year contract, while Ulster have Springboks’ tighthead BJ Botha. None of this makes Smal’s job any easier.

“I think we definitely have to do something about it for the future. I don’t think we can do too much about it for now. We also have to understand the provincial dilemmas that they face.

“They also need depth. Some of their top players like John Hayes and Tony Buckley and the guys that play with us are going to be out of the competition at some stages so they need strength there as well.

“Something we have organised here is to give everyone some playing time. But for future purposes I think there needs to be a proper identification programme and maybe a scouting system where we can look for rough diamonds and look for a proper academy for the frontrow or the tight five because it goes hand in hand – the tight five. You can have good strong props but if you don’t have a strong hooker and if you don’t have strong locks then that doesn’t help much.

“What one would like to see is a proper progression plan in place – identify players so that you can have a five- or 10-year programme in place. In the meantime leave it to the provinces to make it work the way they do as well as the players and potential players getting enough game time with Irish rugby.

“That’s a commitment that the provincial coaches are going to have to make together with Declan (Kidney).

“Especially next year. It’s a crucial year for us.

“In the meantime get a proper tight five academy in place. I haven’t discussed it with anyone yet, but it’s crucial.”