Gerry Thornely On Rugby: The anger over the Irish performance on radio phone-ins and the like this past couple of days hasn't been the same as that which accompanied the reaction to the then record defeat in Twickenham two years ago, but either way it's hard to share it. It's not as if Ireland went out to deliberately play badly.
No one will be as disappointed with the performance and as dispirited with the perceived gulf between England and Ireland as the players and the management themselves. Watching some of them drift through the departure areas of Heathrow quietly without a word from the departing Green Army, and comparing it to some rousing rounds of applause on previous journeys home, highlighted how fickle it all can be.
The sense of relative optimism beforehand had arguably been more credible given the performances of the intervening two years and not least because of the win over England last October, but bearing in mind how ruthlessly England had enacted revenge over Wales and Scotland, in hindsight it's clear that this was a match England were never going to lose.
It brought to mind one comment from a respected coach in the fallout from two years ago when analysing the odds which traditionally face Ireland against England. "Who do we think we are?"
Nevertheless, as good as England were, Ireland will know they played below par. When they meet to assess the damage on video this Wednesday in Dublin (the 22-man squad for the Scottish game will be announced after they break up on Thursday afternoon) it will make for painful viewing.
It's unlikely that even at their very best Ireland would have made England sweat discernibly over the result. Nevertheless for starters, so to speak, something will have to be done to improve Ireland's restart game, which has never been particularly inventive. And restarts are now about the most evenly contested means of possession in the game, and second only to lineouts in importance.
Coupled with Ireland failing to secure any of only four first-half lineouts, the loss of the game's first eight restarts gave them no footing whatsoever. In total England came away with the ball from 10 of the 13 restarts. They had three in the first half, and despite facing towards his own left, unsurprisingly Jonny Wilkinson flighted them all perfectly up the middle and within range of the chasing Mike Tindall, Ben Cohen and co.
Tindall won the first over Malcolm O'Kelly and Brian O'Driscoll; O'Kelly tapped down the second (a 22 to the right) but Anthony Foley fumbled it and Martin Johnson gobbled it up while Tindall challenged O'Driscoll for the third and Neil Back gobbled up the deflection.
Wilkinson's two second-half restarts were replicas, but on these occasions Ireland were a little more alert. Eric Miller scooped up one and the other was competed for by Gary Longwell with Cohen, O'Kelly then competing for a ricochet and O'Driscoll snaffled that one.
However, the major gripe about this aspect of Ireland's game is the lack of variation with their own restarts. Unlike Wilkinson's studiously and delicately chipped kicks, the first five of Ireland's six first-half restarts did not provide the chasers with any hope of securing possession. None of the first four, kicked long to the 22 or beyond by David Humphreys, were designed to. The fifth was easily caught by Johnson, but the sixth at least enabled O'Kelly to challenge Kay, who knocked on. Alas, by then the score was 31-6.
INTERESTINGLY, when Ronan O'Gara took over the restarts, he flighted his first up the middle a la Wilkinson, although Tindall snaffled Johnson's bouncing deflection when challenged by Miller. Ben Kay's reach claimed O'Gara's second, which was more orthodox but again gave Ireland's forwards a sniff. I cannot believe that such a consummate footballer as Humphreys can't attempt what might be termed attacking restarts as well, designed to give Ireland at least a chance of securing possession.
On this slow retreat from Twickenham (fog in Heathrow, surprise, surprise) for once the A squad and the management probably weren't too aggrieved in hindsight to have been sent home at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning along with Ireland's other representative teams.
Even so, such treatment - in Rome they were airborne while the second half was in progress, while the IRFU sends all 22 committee members and their wives as well as other officials to every Six Nations away game - seems crass treatment of them.
Philip Browne, the union's chief executive, explains that in the amateur days "we used to try and facilitate them but the logistics and costs can be prohibitive".
Obtaining tickets, he admits, is not a problem. "We have a reciprocal arrangement with the other unions" whereby their counterparts can also obtain tickets for non-test squads and managements for free. "Some do (take up the offer), and some don't."
It generally seems that the IRFU don't though, which would not be dissimilar to minor finalists on All-Ireland final day being sent home via the backgate after their showers before the throw-in for the senior decider.
Lastly, while I'm in a griping mood, the decision to make Beziers the venue for Munster's European Cup semi-final against Castres is something of an embarrassing climbdown by the European Cup organisers. It has echoes of last year's lamentable choice of Lille after three weeks' deliberations and negotiations for the Stade Francais-Munster semi-final.
Once again, despite the organisers' initial protestations that they would make a decision sooner rather than later, it's been a fortnight since the draw and, furthermore, they concede that Lyon rather than Beziers was their original choice of venue.
Furthermore, the fact that most stadiums in France are municipally owned surely obliges the ERC to start looking for alternative venues as soon as the quarter-finals are completed. Is Beziers really the only venue available? If Stade were in the semi-final, are ERC really telling us that a venue in Paris wouldn't be available.
Added to the choice of Lille last summer, the unexplained volte face regarding Ismaella Lassissi's rescinded suspension (when ERC insisted on the appeal taking place on the Thursday before Munster were playing a quarter-final in Paris) it all sticks in the craw.
gthornley@irish-times.ie
