RUGBY/Six Nations Championship: Ultimately there would be no public hangings, no sops to a disgruntled public and most of all no scapegoats. Backing their belief that a good Irish team hadn't become a bad one overnight, Eddie O'Sullivan and his management team gave them a public vote of confidence by making only one enforced change from the starting XV which was brushed aside by England last time out for Saturday's rendezvous with their old Scottish bugbears.
In times past a record defeat would assuredly have led to several beheadings but perhaps that would have been playing to the gallery at the expense of the team. Perhaps, too, it would even have been an easier call to make this week but this display of loyalty could well induce a more favourable response.
With Shane Horgan returning for the injured Geordan Murphy and the uncapped John Kelly coming in for the injured Rob Henderson on the bench, the sense of mutual loyalty between management and a grateful team comes with the rider that one more below-par performance won't be tolerated. "We'd review all options," admitted O'Sullivan when asked about the consequences of another defeat, adding almost chillingly: "All bets would be off." The players could probably have deduced that one for themselves anyway.
Hooker, second-row and the back-row unit all came under close scrutiny admitted O'Sullivan, who was well-prepared and in commanding form for the inevitable questioning. "I suppose to clear up the obvious question, people will ask why there weren't changes. There could have been a number of changes but we felt that the team we picked for Twickenham was the right team and a good team.
"The team did underperform, undeniably, but in the same way one good performance against Wales didn't make us the best team in the world, one bad performance doesn't make us the worst team in the world. So rather than chop and change the team, it's a chance for them to go out and prove themselves against Scotland.
"It probably would have been the easy option to make changes but to hang Twickenham around the necks of one or two players would have been wrong and I think it's a vote of confidence in the players."
Though quite prepared to re-affirm that the Irish line-out "misfired badly against England", O'Sullivan stressed that not only Frankie Sheahan should shoulder the burden. "Let's not forget that the line-out, like the scrum, is a unit skill. There are eight people involved. The first person people target is the thrower and okay, Frankie had a couple of wayward throws, but of 14 line-outs we lost 11 and they weren't all Frankie's fault, so it would be very unfair to hang it around Frankie's neck.
"I'm not sure standing him down would have done him any good. What message would that have sent out to him? 'You're a great guy but we don't need you.' A vote of confidence is what he needs. The guy has thrown well in previous games, and it hasn't become a bad line-out after one performance. The Scots will contest it but that's part of our job as coaches."
Similarly, he questioned aloud what kind of message dropping David Humphreys would have conveyed to him, bearing in mind "he received only five passes in the first half, he's been walking on water this season for his country and his province, and we all know what a wonderful player he is."
By comparison, O'Sullivan bristled when questioned about the restarts. Demanding statistical back-up from one inquisitor, O'Sullivan countered "they had five restarts, they won three and we won two. That's hardly disastrous," he maintained, adding that off Ireland's restarts "they (England) retained the ball, they kicked it back to us sometimes and scored off one. I didn't say they weren't a problem but I'd like to scotch the rumour that the restarts were a disaster."
The settled nature of the test team has accordingly led to an unusually low ripple effect on the A team, which shows only two changes to play their Scottish counterparts in Ravenhill on Friday night. Jason Holland comes in for the promoted John Kelly, while Bob Casey starts instead of the injured Jeremy Davidson this time.
Jeremy Staunton hurt his medial knee ligaments when called up to the senior squad's session in Greystones yesterday morning but did travel to Belfast, where he is due to sit on the bench, while Shane Byrne and David Wallace also had their involvement in yesterday's session curtailed by back and shoulder injuries respectively. Wallace looks the greater concern and as a result, Keith Gleeson joined the senior squad as a precautionary measure.
IRELAND A (v Scotland A, Ravenhill, Friday): P Wallace (Ulster); G D'Arcy (Leinster), M Mullins (Munster), J Holland (Munster), T Howe (Ulster); P Burke (Harlequins), N Doak (Ulster); R Corrigan (Leinster, capt), P Shields (Ulster), S Best (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), B Casey (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster), V Costello (Leinster), K Gleeson (Leinster). Replacements: G Hickie (Leinster), M Horan (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), A Ward (Ulster), B Willis (Leinster), J Staunton (Munster), S Coulter (Ulster).
