Wearily, Keith Wood leaned against the wall outside the away dressing-room in Eden Park. He spoke in hushed tones. He's carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders these days. He sought to put a positive spin on the tour which had just ended, yet like all his comrades inside who were too shattered to even share their views, he soon would be relieved and glad that the season was over. Alas, this was a bridge too far

Wood adamantly maintained that "the positives outweighed the negatives" and by and large it would seem that way. First and foremost, Ireland had revived their setpiece game and in the process restored belief in those bedrocks themselves. "We needed that," Wood confessed. The defence too, while wilting when the heat came on last Saturday, had revived some of the trademark aggressiveness and advanced over all.

Wood's assertion that about five new players have become contenders for a place in the World Cup squad might be stretching things, but in addition to the collective improvement, there have been some notable successes on this tour.

It will come as no surprise to his legion of admirers down Donnybrook way that Keith Gleeson was one of them, even if his second full Test was less distinguished than his first. Room will still have to be found for David Wallace, if nothing else than as an impact replacement anywhere across the backrow, although it could be that Eddie O'Sullivan will take a horses-for-courses policy to these pair of opensides. Nor does that take into account Kieron Dawson, of whom O'Sullivan is a big admirer. But at least the coach now has more options.

Wood was keen to emphasise that Anthony Foley has emerged as a more influential figure. Another unsung hero, Gary Longwell, has gone well. Reggie Corrigan has added to the scrum and put down a marker.

As both Wood and John Mitchell stressed, John Hayes (who played his first game of the season last August) gets better all the time, as does Girvan Dempsey, whom Mitchell also mentioned (along with Foley).

Geordan Murphy fleetingly proved he can take anyone on (a glimpse of more to come surely) if given the chance, Justin Bishop showed he still has something to offer and John Kelly's value has been reinforced.

As an aside, Leo Cullen's professionalism and training standards have been another positive, earning him a first cap as a late replacement on Saturday.

Yet it's such a shame that the worst memories had to be the last ones. This wasn't on a par with the hidings in Twickenham and Paris, especially when taken in conjunction with the first Test or indeed the results of other European teams on tour in the Southern Hemisphere. But psychologically there's only so many woundingly big defeats a group of players can take.

Even the management seemed in two minds over whether the tour was a success or not. While O'Sullivan vented his wrath over Tappe Henning's one-sided refereeing, in a typically enigmatic response Declan Kidney declined to call the tour an outright success.

"We played three games and we probably had six halves of rugby and all but 20-25 minutes I thought we were competitive enough. But we want more than that - we want to be winners and that's why it hurts so much. So asking me right now is it a success I'd be insulting the boys to say yes to that now, because I know they're striving and working for so much more."

Yet Brian O'Brien gently sought to disagree with Kidney, commenting: "From my point of view as a manager I thought it was a very successful tour. We were beaten on the day by a better side and we couldn't cope with whatever was happening and I'm not going to fault them too much for that. Down the road this tour will be of some benefit to us."

And Ireland didn't have their best hand to play with here. The return of a Rob Henderson, Kevin Maggs or Shane Horgan will add some midfield penetration, as will Denis Hickie's finishing. Admittedly Ireland's last three Tests have been away from home to the Grand Slam champions and the Tri-Nations favourites. Nevertheles, within Ireland's palpably more structured game, it will surely concern O'Sullivan that Ireland have stayed in single figures for all of them.