Usually after a Saturday international I have time to unwind before commenting on matches. Now, with the Sunday fixture as my excuse, I have to confess that yesterday's was a disappointing, annoying and worrying performance.

Disappointing because we played so badly right through the game. Annoying because, despite having played so badly, we were still very much in it at halftime. Worrying because it brought home the fact that we are not really at the races when playing against a first division team: yesterday Australia were as bad as they will ever be but they were still light years ahead of Ireland.

My millennium wish for Irish rugby is that we decide once and for all to head down the road of genuine change whereby we will eventually be able to compete in all areas with all opposition instead of persisting along our narrow tracks of limited gameplans. The days are long gone when fighting spirit can upset the opposition for 80 minutes.

I am not for one minute knocking our fighting qualities but the reality is that rugby, through the changes in the laws, is now a different game and we are still planning, training, coaching and thinking as we did before. I have no difficulty with Ireland losing provided we play to the best of our ability and make progress. Yesterday the team let themselves down as players and the general impression was that we are going backwards.

Australia will not be happy with their performance either. There is an old saying that teams play as well as they are allowed by the opposition but that wasn't the case on this occasion because most of the Australian errors were unforced. They lost at least two glorious try scoring opportunities in the first half by simple knock-ons. They also missed three penalties in relatively easy positions.

I'm sure when they review the video, they will realise that they should have carried the ball in the hand in the first half even though the wind was at their back. The wind is no longer the major factor it used to be and in fact, a lot of well regarded rugby people maintain that it is now easier to play into the wind than with it. Their lineout was more accurate than ours even though some of their last minute changing of positions probably infringed the laws.

Their scrum, while looking uncomfortable on the odd occasion, met requirements when it had to. But the major difference was in the loose where they produced 74 ruck balls to our 36. It is not that they had more possession but simply that they were more prepared to use it and retain it.

They were always comfortable with the ball in their hand and out-half Stephen Larkham looked like a guy who enjoys playing rugby. He wanted to receive the ball and knew when he got it what he wanted to do. And, in general, that was the right thing.

Tim Horan was their outstanding player as he has been on many occasions. When he scored his try, I suspect that he ran at David Humphreys knowing the Irishman was carrying an injury. That try, in effect, put the game out of Ireland's reach.

For Ireland the effect of this game is somewhat different. Had we produced a good showing (and lost) we would still live in hope of better things. But the quality of this performance was such that we cannot really look forward to playing one of the top sides again in the immediate future.

Conor O'Shea had as bad a game as I've seen him play. His decision making was dreadful. Both wings were beaten easily by their opposite men. Justin Bishop did, however, as usual, work very hard.

In the centres, the Australians were in a different league but Brian O'Driscoll came through with reputation intact. Our halfbacks were always playing second fiddle to their counter parts. David Humphreys was obviously affected by his early injury and probably should have gone off earlier. But, then again, Eric Elwood didn't improve things when he came on. A running game does not suit him. Tom Tierney will want to forget this game but he could do worse than watch the video and study George Gregan's performance.

The front five did not perform too badly apart from the line-outs. We were, however, completely outclassed in the back-row as I was afraid we would be. Trevor Brennan should have been taken off earlier as he was giving away too many penalties and committing too many handling errors. He was also lucky not to be sent off.

Warren Gatland and Phillip Danaher have to accept that, apart from the fact that the Australians had better players at their disposal, they were better drilled and had more imagination. With our limited resources we may never produce the physical qualities of other countries and therefore must rely on our imagination and commitment. I'm not questioning the commitment but we certainly seem to have problems in the other department.

(In an interview with Johnny Watterson)