RUGBY:NOT SO much a fortress, more a library. As homecomings go this was the wettest of damp squibs. Ronan O'Gara having the classy impact he did on reaching his century was one of the few beacons of light to illuminate a lamentably grim day in so many way for Irish rugby.

When Ireland bade adieu to Lansdowne Road four years ago with a sell-out against the Pacific Islands, one might readily have imagined a more celebratory return than this. Not least when one considers the Grand Slam and regular 82,000 full houses in Croke Park in the interim.

Having had 14 months to plan for a homecoming against the reigning world champions, one might reasonably have envisaged a carnival-like atmosphere, varnished by, say, U2 playing beforehand. Why not? As the watching Trevor Brennan observed, when contrasting what Toulouse fans get for their €140 season tickets and the section they devote to 2,000 under-age supporters, the absence of kids on Saturday was palpable.

In their embarrassment, the IRFU – aka the Ticket Masters – broke with custom and declined to have the attendance announced during the course of the game, before yesterday confirming that the official figure was 35,517.

Whatever the actual number of people there, quite a few gave up the ghost at half-time. But many, many thousands embittered by the union’s initially smug, arrogant and ill-conceived ticketing, eh, ‘strategy’ – not to mention non-existent marketing or imagination – clearly carried out their boycott of the game.

Fittingly, even the players’ commemorative jerseys began ripping, forcing a complete change at half-time. The performance mirrored the occasion too. Ireland went for the €100 plays from the off with a cart-before-the-horse performance, as Declan Kidney, Brian O’Driscoll and Ronan O’Gara all conceded afterwards.

As with the IRFU, the home side belatedly admitted mea culpa by adapting more to the conditions. Cometh the hour, cometh O’Gara and his longtime sidekick Peter Stringer, who injected tempo and urgency, and tried a few things which came off. Becoming only the third Irishman and 16th player all told to reach a century of tests for his country, O’Gara is a legend now, not that it was ever in much doubt, and he’s far from finished yet. It seemed scripted that he would complete an iron-from-the-volcano draw with the equalising touchline conversion, which was beautifully struck but faded against the upright.

Having such experience and quality on the bench is a godsend, and amounted to one of the few Irish positives from the day. Ultimately, the team came closer to saving the day than the IRFU had done but this still marked a fourth successive Test defeat – the longest losing run since the last days of the Eddie O’Sullivan reign.

Declan Kidney must be hating this, and ala the Scottish game, this was another unKidney-like performance. “We’ll keep evolving in what we’re trying to do,” he said, before adding: “But when you get weather like this adaptation is probably the most important word that we have to do out on the pitch because as an Irish team we need to play smartly against every team that we play.

“I still believe we’re capable of beating anybody but also we’re capable of losing to anybody if we don’t get it right and we need as an Irish team to get those smarts right. If we don’t have the courage to keep going the route we’re going, then we’ll only go backwards and we just need to pick our timing a little bit better, probably.”

He knows as well as anyone that “we tried things” will start to wear very thin if there’s a few more days like this and heaven knows how many will now turn up for Samoa next Saturday, even at ‘only’ €50 a ticket. Why not give thousands to schools?

One imagines Kidney’s elbow room for experimentation has been reduced by this latest setback, and the desire to get back on the winning horse, although the Samoans wouldn’t be the ideal opponents to risk some of your thoroughbreds a week before playing the All Blacks.

“I’m a great believer in the panel,” said Kidney. “I had some ideas but we are treating each game as it comes along. Samoa in a World Cup year would always be a bit different; they’ve got to two of the last three World Cup quarter-finals, I think, so it’s going to be a huge task in its own right.”

There would seem to be a strong argument for starting Stringer and O’Gara next week, and perhaps giving the latter the captaincy if O’Driscoll is rested, or maybe trying Stringer with Jonathan Sexton, who didn’t play badly. Leicester want Geordan Murphy to play against Australia tomorrow night, and Kidney intimated he was happy enough with that, but Rob Kearney’s knee may dictate otherwise. Tony Buckley has a hip injury which will also require further tests today.

The set-pieces were an issue, and as well as the case for recalling Leo Cullen, with Damien Varley added to the 30-man squad, Seán Cronin should start against Samoa. Ireland lost seven of their own throws and scarcely inconvenienced one of South Africa’s. Not all Ireland’s difficulties were down to Rory Best’s darts; nor would the presence of Donnacha Ryan or Devin Toner have necessarily made a difference, though Cullen might have (at least off the bench). But the darts – two over throws, one under-throw, one crooked – were a factor, and there seemed a compelling argument for giving Cronin a run, all the more so as his dynamic ball-carrying might have helped with the fightback.

When the Connacht hooker remained on the bench for 80 minutes (for the sixth time in seven Tests) as the lineout imploded against Scotland, one could argue that he’d only had eight minutes of international rugby prior to that. But he’s since had two full outings against the best two sides in the world. Similarly, given the knee problem which eventually saw him hobbling over for Ireland’s second try, Kearney might have given way to Keith Earls earlier.

Looking ahead to the rest of the month, at bare minimum Ireland need restorative wins over both Samoa and Argentina and a performance akin to England’s against the All Blacks. Otherwise, Ireland will be staring into a bleak mid-winter and a long road to the World Cup.