RUGBY: An at-times desperate game, between two teams desperate for a win, and ultimately won by the team whose desperation was greater. Nothing, alas, Ireland do next week against Romania - very much a case of after the Lord Mayor's Ball - can redeem the autumn/winter now.

No doubt the seven replacements on the bench for the last two games will be promoted to the starting line-up, and perhaps one or two others, injury permitting. Matt McCullough and Shane Horgan picked up dead legs in Saturday's 30-14 defeat to Australia. The concussed Malcolm O'Kelly was released from hospital yesterday morning but will almost certainly be ruled out.

In response, Eddie O'Sullivan has added a trio of Munster players to the 31-man squad who began their third consecutive week in camp last night, namely Mick O'Driscoll, Trevor Hogan and John Kelly.

An IRFU spokesperson confirmed the starting XV and replacements are expected to be chosen from the existing squad, and the continuing exclusion of Bob Casey and Trevor Brennan, even behind a reserve provincial lock, adds to the feeling the coach is adhering to some form of Union dictat about foreign-based players, albeit with exceptions.

"We've always looked at the Romanian game as an opportunity to change things around," said O'Sullivan after the defeat, "so we'll get over today, circle the wagons tomorrow and have a look at what we want to get out of next week. But it doesn't change the overall plan, of trying to push on and get more players out on the paddock."

This time a year ago, Ireland were beating South Africa and Argentina, and the Six Nations couldn't come quick enough. But spring can wait after this.

Ireland are palpably in a downward spiral and the body language of the players toward the end of the game and after is a little alarming.

Marcus Horan was one of the brighter lights, but he took little consolation from that. He spoke of a failure to execute a game plan of "taking the ball wide and then going back up the middle", adding "we needed to attack them up front in the forwards with the ball in hand more but we probably didn't get enough ball to do that."

Bemoaning the failure to execute the final pass, he added: "We're making mistakes that you normally don't make with your province or your club. I think that's maybe just a bit of confidence, and guys just need to believe in themselves and those around us, and maybe that was lacking in the last two weeks.

"We've taken a lot of flak all week from the press, and certain individuals have had rotten things written about them. But I think it's just a matter of us sticking together, because you're not here if you're a bad player. It's a confidence thing but it is hard when you have the press in Ireland on your back - because God knows there's enough around the rugby world to keep you down."

England's performance against the All Blacks rather puts Ireland's one-dimensional, rudderless, passive, even defeatist, effort the previous week into perspective. Mentally, the sheer scale of the defeat to the All Blacks looked to have a ripple effect, simply in the manner Ireland fell apart in the second half once Australia went ahead.

They look like a team short on self-belief, short on direction, short on leadership and short on skills. They also look like a coach-driven team that struggles to think for itself and play what it sees, perhaps because (Brian O'Driscoll being the obvious exception) they haven't been empowered to do so, especially in the latter stages of O'Sullivan's four-year, 48-game reign.

Admitting that things had gone wrong, but that there was "some good stuff" from the last two weeks, O'Sullivan was asked how he could turn things around.

"I think this year we went with a decision to be less predictable as a team, that would keep the ball in hand more. Of course there is a risk element in that, you've got to execute it in the crucible of a Test game, and we're still in that process. They're harsh lessons but you're not going to progress unless you take risks and that's part of the bigger picture as well."

Although Australia's desire was, as expected, the greater, they look just as patterned and jaded. Even though Ireland have lost four Tests in a row and conceded 107 points in the last three, O'Sullivan's position looks safe given he is under contract for two seasons after this one.

It could yet be that arresting a seven-game losing streak will not be sufficient to save Eddie Jones after the scale of their defeat to England a week ago. But for all the talk of tough schedules, teams in transition, injuries and developing a style, they looked like two stale sides on Saturday.