The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley reflects on Ireland's worryingly poor World Cup warm-up campaign.
"Yhey're only friendlies, warm-up games, footnotes in history, etc, and at the outset Ireland would have traded four defeats in August for four pool wins.
"Alas and alack, it was grimly evident from a long way out in Saturday’s damp squib of a World Cup send-off that Ireland would be putting that theory to the test.
"But it’s not the losses that have proved so damaging, it’s more the manner of them and the baggage that’s come with them. Ireland haven’t just lost four matches, they’ve lost confidence, they’ve lost their form and, coming on top of losing Felix Jones a week before, even more cruelly, given it would have been his last World Cup and he’s only played in one before, they’ve lost David Wallace. It left a pall of gloom over the ground which must have further affected the squad’s spirits."
RSS feed
