The Irish side looked punch drunk for all of the first half and quite a bit of the second. The French defeat had done even more damage than I expected to team confidence, collectively and individually. There was very little conviction about our play and we made more mistakes than we had done in the other four Six Nations Championship games combined.
Clearly the introduction of the substitutes injected life into the team but the game was truly over at that stage. Eddie O'Sullivan must regret not having made the changes to his team after the French game, when the problems had been clearly identified. We were flat against the French in Lansdowne Road but that performance was against a team of some quality whereas on Saturday Ireland played badly, made a huge number of unforced errors and also lacked enthusiasm and passion.
Wales, on the other hand, were full of confidence. They did nothing special to beat us, were much sharper and had much more finishing power. Overall, they had far more ball players than we did. Before the game I would not have believed they would have poured through the Irish defence, particularly Tom Shanklin, as easily as they had done against Scotland. But they did.
The Welsh had identified O'Driscoll as their greatest threat and they committed numbers to make sure he never got far. Again without Shane Horgan and Gordon D'Arcy to take the pressure off him, O'Driscoll became the victim of their absence. Kevin Maggs and Girvan Dempsey have given wonderful service to Irish rugby and I am loath to criticise them but the Welsh were never going to worry about giving them extra yards when Ireland were in possession.
We needed to start well and although we scored first we then gave away 16 points, which we should not have done. Ill-discipline was widespread and even the most experienced players were guilty, such as Malcolm O'Kelly (foolish push in the lineout), O'Driscoll (offside at the rucks) and on occasion Ronan O'Gara.
Wales deserved to win but I would say no side has won a Grand Slam with such limited ability. That is more to their credit than a criticism. Mike Ruddock deserves great praise. They have gone through a very rough period in recent years and there were many who doubted they would rise to the top again. Wales might not repeat this success for a long time but this Grand Slam will keep them going for the foreseeable future. The indication things were improving in Welsh rugby was apparent in the performances of their club/divisional sides. A lot of self-interest had to be won over to change their structures but it seems to have worked for them.
And what about ourselves? We were fortunate that when professional rugby arrived we had a ready-made provincial set-up. We also had a decent group of young players who made the transition from the amateur to the professional game very comfortably. We have enjoyed great results in the provincial competitions, Celtic League and European Cup, and at international level but we have achieved these with a small group of players. Some of these players are in the twilight of their careers, while it is also generally recognised there is a shortage of players coming through. This is happening at a time when there are more children playing the game, more schools playing rugby but serious problems in the club system.
The gap between senior schools and the full professional international side is an enormous one and the structures are not there to develop enough players to feed the senior sides. A huge number of foreign players fill up our provincial teams. Some of them have contributed hugely but their presence restricts the opportunity to develop our own players. Many would argue that club rugby has been sacrificed and from what I've seen of it the standard has slipped, while it is also obvious clubs are struggling financially. The biggest challenge for the near future is not that facing O'Sullivan and the national side but rather that facing the IRFU and particularly those responsible for the development of players.
And so another championship that promised so much has ended in such disappointment. The alarm bells were ringing early. O'Driscoll's brilliance rescued us from an embarrassing situation against Italy. Our rolling maul did similarly against a very poor Scottish side, which had kept the ball so much for the first 20 minutes, while we defended magnificently against England and got the breaks. France's victory over us was far more comprehensive than the score indicated. And Wales, who we beat so easily 12 months ago, improved a lot and performed at the top of their ability. But we helped them look even better.
From the Lions viewpoint, the championship has damaged the prospects of a number of our players but we should still have a considerable representation. Wales will probably claim a captaincy but in my mind it should go to O'Driscoll. A Lions captain has to be sure of his place on the team and it must be a player who can lead by example. We'll await this decision with interest.
(In an interview with Johnny Watterson)
