Ireland wilts in Paris

[Jehna]

Ireland wilts in Paris
From correspondents in Paris, France
September 22, 2007

FRANCE kept its hopes of landing a first World Cup alive with a 25-3 victory over Ireland in their crunch Group D clash at the Stade de France.

Defeat would have meant an all but certain exit for the hosts, but the good news was tempered by the fact that unless either minnows Namibia or the Ireland beat Argentina, France will collide with favourites New Zealand in the quarter-finals in Cardiff.

Two second-half tries by winger Vincent Clerc and 15 points from man of the match Jean-Baptiste Elissalde were enough to see the Irish off in what had been a nervy and close-run affair till the Toulouse flyer scored his first.

For the Ireland, who under coach Eddie O'Sullivan has won just once against France since he took over in 2001, it is almost mission impossible. Only a massive win over the Pumas on Sunday week can give them any chance of making the last eight.

"We really needed to pull out a big match and above all else to win. We went about it in just the right way," French coach Bernard Laporte said.

"We built up our attacks and we knew how to stay patient except for two or three occasions in the first half."

"We didn't get the bonus point and that's a pity, but the important thing was to win and move ahead of the Irish and that's what we did."

Irish skipper Brian O'Driscoll said: "They made it very difficult for us. Our discipline was not the best. When they scored their first try that killed us. We give credit to them, but we didn't have a good performance as well.''

Elissalde opened the scoring in the sixth minute after the opening exchanges had seen some dreadful kicking for touch, notably by Frederic Michalak who missed with his first four kicks, as he slotted over a penalty from close range.

Ronan O'Gara had a great chance to level in the 11th minute, after Serge Betsen had fouled Simon Easterby in the lineout, but he put his penalty wide of the posts.

France came closest to a try in the first-half when a handling by Ireland offered a counter attacking opportunity. France would have scored, but for a stunning last-ditch tackle by Shane Horgan on Clement Poitrenaud.

Ireland still conceded a penalty - for offside earlier in the play - which Elissalde gratefully accepted to make the score 6-0.

The immaculate Elissalde added another penalty three minutes later, while the out-of-sorts O'Gara, who had been plagued by the French media through the week, received a stern talking to from referee Chris White.

O'Gara showed some poise to land a drop goal in the 37th minute to put Ireland on the scoreboard. However, Elissalde, who was the coolest head on the pitch, added his fourth on the stroke of the break to make it 12-3.

France coach Bernard Laporte had seen enough and was already walking down the tunnel as Elissalde stroked it over. He was present, though, when the Toulouse star added another in the 55th minute to give France some breathing space.

The mercurial genius that is Michalak created the moment that broke Ireland, as his delightful chip into space over Ireland's defence saw Clerc run on to score. Elissalde failed with the boot, making the score 20-3 with 20 minutes remaining.

Ireland was imploding and it all but reached its nadir when the vastly experienced lock Paul O'Connell, who with fellow British and Irish Lion Donncha O'Callaghan had been bested throughout the night by their opposite numbers, was yellow-carded by White in the 63rd minute.

Clerc then added his second try deep in the right-hand corner after he twisted and turned to foil Andrew Trimble and O'Gara's efforts to stop him. That effectively ended Irish interest in the tournament.

O'Driscoll, though, insisted that although bowed, the Irish had not given up all hopes of still making the last eight.

"We need a massive result for this next match (against Argentina)," he said. "I don't know exactly the combination of points we need but I'll think about it tomorrow. For the moment we're just disappointed."

Agence France-Presse

[Jehna]

O'Sullivan blames indiscipline
22/09/2007 8:51:01 AM
PA Sport

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan felt indiscipline was largely to blame for his side's 25-3 loss to France in the make-or-break Pool D clash in Paris.

Two second-half Vincent Clerc tries and five Jean-Baptiste Elissalde penalty goals proved enough to secure a much-needed victory for the French, leaving Ireland's World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.

Ireland's only points came via a drop-goal from the boot of Ronan O'Gara and they are now staring at elimination.

O'Sullivan felt the high penalty count against his side put paid to their chances of only a second win in Paris since 1972.

"We are obviously disappointed to be well beaten, and the better team won," he said.

"The penalty count was eight against Ireland at the end of the first half so that was a problem."

"We were being blown off the park there and it was more of the same in the second half. France built a lead on our indiscipline."

"We also needed a good line-out but that wasn't working either. So a combination of a lack of discipline and a poor line-out put us in a bad place."

O'Sullivan added that he had no qualms with the decisions of referee Chris White, who penalised the Irish on numerous occasions in both halves.

"He penalised us so we must have been doing something wrong," he said.
"Our discipline is normally excellent, but at half-time we were eight penalties down and this killed us."

"You can't argue with Chris. Maybe we were a bit too fired up at times, because we really wanted to win this game." "You would think as the game went on, we would adjust but we did not do that. We dug ourselves a hole and we fell into it."

Ireland was rudderless going forward and rarely threatened the French try-line. Elissalde's fourth penalty of the night on the stroke of half-time put France 12-3 up going into the break and they never looked back.

"I would have taken 9-3 but we gave away a penalty and then after the break we are soon 15-3 down," O'Sullivan added. "That was the cushion France needed."

If Argentina seal a bonus-point win over Namibia on Saturday, Ireland will be in third place going into the final round of matches in the pool.

It will probably need a bonus-point victory over the Pumas to progress, but O'Sullivan admitted he had not looked at the ramifications yet.

"It's going to be another challenge. We were hoping France would not play as well if we did not get a lead but they played well. I'm not sure exactly what is required. I used all my energy preparing for this game," he added.

"I believe we have a chance this week if we get the job done. This is the pool of death and we knew it might go down to the last game."

"We have a nine-day turnaround, which is good. We will get a plan ready for Argentina. We will dwell on this for 24 hours but we have to move on."

Captain Brian O'Driscoll shared O'Sullivan's sentiments. "Our discipline let us down," he said. "We usually set targets for penalties and we exceeded those targets in the first half." "They kept the scoreboard ticking over. We then tried to make things happen and that's where errors creep in."

France head coach Bernard Laporte was delighted to see his side grind out a much-needed and well-deserved victory.

After losing to Argentina in the opening match of the World Cup a fortnight ago, the pressure was on to build on its 87-10 demolition of Namibia last Sunday.

Les Bleus' defence was solid all match and their discipline, unlike Ireland's, was excellent.

Clerc took his two tries well, the first coming after a clever kick from the side of his boot from Frederic Michalak and the second following a deft kick from Elissalde.

Les Bleus now know a bonus-point win against Georgia in their final pool game will be enough to secure a quarter-final place.

"We are happy," he said. "We knew that in this high-pressure match, we would have been knocked out if we had lost." "It has not been easy since we lost to Argentina, but our players wanted to react."

"Things weren't simple. We know the Irish, we play them every year. But we were patient, well-organised, and by building up a way of playing, we built up a good lead." "When they had the ball, we did not give away any penalties."

The French did not manage to grab a bonus point for scoring four tries, but Laporte did not read too much into that.

"That would have been the icing on the cake but first of all we had to win the game," he added.

"If we had scored a try in first half, we could have gone on and got the bonus point. But winning was the crucial thing."

[Sagerian]

...tempered by the fact that unless either minnows Namibia or the Ireland beat Argentina, France will collide with favourites New Zealand in the quarter-finals in Cardiff.

Serves the "hosts" right for doing those dodgy deals in the first place.

[Jethro]

So it comes down to Ireland v Argentina for a spot in the quarters. As opposed to what planetrugby.com may think the equation comes down to Ireland winning, and scoring four tries, while making sure they are 7+ points ahead at end of game. Points difference doesn't come into it, the PR boys need to check the tournament rules and regs In the case of a tie it comes down to which team beat the other in Pool play.

[tragic]

Serves the "hosts" right for doing those dodgy deals in the first place.

heeheehee...

[Jehna]

Besieged O'Sullivan deflects flak
23/09/2007 8:05:00 AM
PA Sport

Eddie O'Sullivan is confident he retains the backing of Irish rugby chiefs and declared the inquest into a dismal World Cup would not open until the end of the tournament.

Ireland's ambitions of qualifying for the quarter-finals were left teetering on the brink of ruin at the Stade de France after the hosts coasted to a 25-3 triumph.

A shambolic group campaign should finally be put out of its misery a week tomorrow with Argentina poised to deliver the mortal blow at the Parc des Princes.

Pressure is mounting on O'Sullivan, who was curiously handed a four-year contract extension by the Irish Rugby Football Union last month before the World Cup had started.

The new deal raised eyebrows when it was first announced, but the baffling timing now looks even more premature following three desperate displays.

Questioned on the contract for the first time during the World Cup, O'Sullivan insisted there would be no knee-jerk reactions to events of the past two weeks.

When asked if he thought the vultures were circling, O'Sullivan replied: "No, I think the IRFU gave me the four years because they want me to do the job the four years." "Everyone knew this was the toughest pool in the World Cup - and we're not out of the tournament yet." "Maybe we should wait for the requiem until we're out of it. For now its onwards and upwards and we'll leave the review until after the tournament."

Few are backing Ireland to upset Argentina on the final day of the group stages, let alone secure the vital try-scoring bonus point. O'Sullivan hoped the sloppy, error-strewn victories over Namibia and Georgia were just aberrations, but against France it was clear their decline is terminal.

Despite a definite improvement on the opening two pool matches, they were confronted by the realisation they are just not good enough to progress to the knockout stages.

Tired, stale and disillusioned, by the end of the night Ireland looked a side that has been together too long, and an appalling World Cup will surely have brought a conclusion to some careers.

The permutations required against Argentina look beyond them but O'Sullivan is ready to go for broke in a last-ditch effort to reignite the nation's fading quarter-final dreams.

"We have a mountain to climb against Argentina, there's no doubt about that. We have a week to figure out how to go about that one," he said. "We can score five tries against Argentina. It won't be easy, but it's possible." "There will be a lot of speculation if we can achieve that goal or not. The trick for us is to put together a high-risk strategy to enable us to do that.""It might be a high-risk strategy, but that's what we have to go with.""People outside the camp may have given up hope but inside the camp we haven't. The players are very disappointed but we'll get them back on their feet."

O'Sullivan must somehow lift a squad low in confidence and besieged by off-field problems before the return to Paris. Given how far off the pace Ireland was against France he can take few crumbs of comfort from a deflating evening that made a mockery of semi-final pretensions.

Vincent Clerc, who broke Irish hearts at Croke Park in February, raced in another two tries in a one-sided second half. But it was Clerc's Toulouse team-mate Jean-Baptiste Elissalde who laid the foundations by kicking five penalties that edged the hosts into unassailable lead.

Ireland managed just a solitary Ronan O'Gara drop goal in response and O'Sullivan felt they paid the price for their unusually poor discipline. "It was a better performance than the previous two weeks and it needed to be. But our discipline was very bad," he said. "We had 13 penalties against us last night, seven in the first half, six in the second. We gave France seven kicks at goal and they converted five of them. That 15 points was the killer." "In terms of not getting into the game, our line-out didn't fire and we lost five out of 20 line-outs."

Leinster fullback Girvan Dempsey took a bang on his collar bone during Clerc's second try and his fitness will be assessed over the coming days.

[Happy]

Serves the "hosts" right for doing those dodgy deals in the first place.

you mean the sharing of games with wales and scotland?

[Sagerian]

If by "sharing" you mean selling out? yes...


Not like Australia, we just take what we want.. Co-hosting with New Zealand? Pfft, don't think so, we'll take that thanks.

[The InnFORCEr]

If by "sharing" you mean selling out? yes...


Not like Australia, we just take what we want.. Co-hosting with New Zealand? Pfft, don't think so, we'll take that thanks.

Actually England and Ireland "sold out" or "took the money" instead of a match.

[Burgs]

Pretty sure England didn't get any offer at all TIF but correct re Ireland.

[Sagerian]

Actually England and Ireland "sold out" or "took the money" instead of a match.

I know, definitely correct re showing Ireland the money.. lousy northerners. But my point is France will get there's in the end having to play their quarter final in a country that's not France, dispite France hosting the rwc.

As I said, it's not our way, we just take what we want.


-EDIT-

Ooh wait...

[Flat-top]

I can sort of understand some of the bad feeling about the percieved "selling" of votes but I think you have to put those decisions into context. This is not the first or last time "deals" have been done and usually as in this case with good reason...all the negotiations were done in the open and agreed many years before the tournament started. Neither of the three nations that voted along with France would ever have the option of hosting a world cup in their own right, there simply is not enough quality and sizeable stadia in Wales, Scotland or Ireland to do that. England do have the facilities to host alone and they did not vote for France. Unless they combined votes with another partner there would never be the oportunity for these major rugby nations to provide a world cup match to their own citizens. I think some of the bad feeling towards these countries for entering into the arrangement is not well thought out and frankly sounds like whining - you don't want to take the Poms title for that as well surely!

By the way, Ireland had the same arrangement as Wales and Scotland but due to the redevelopment of stadium they opted to take the funds (which are put into the development of rugby in that country - much needed now!) rather than host a fixture - I bet they wish they had found someway to have played the Argentina game at home now!

[Burgs]

The Croke Park deal must have run out hey F-t?
For the record, not everyone is complaining, it's not ideal but it is a reality as you lay out in your post.