As Irish rugby fans we’ll never forget our two great victories over the English in the Croke Park era…but I’m sure I won’t be thanked for reminding them of our last visit to Twickenham which was sandwiched in between. Still, I think it’s significant to remember that dismal day, which fell just before Paddy’s Day 2008, as it represented Eddie O’Sullivan’s last match in charge of the Irish team. Here’s how I felt about it at the time, and I’ll give the IRFU and Eddie SOME credit in that it WAS done soon, in less than a week.
No point analysing this match really.
It would be hard to do without repeating everything I’ve ever said on my blog about Eddie O’Sullivan.
So let me make things brief by simply outlining two more reasons I dreamed up why I think he should be fired.
#1 – Let’s presume the Triple Crown means nothing, shall we? Basically it means you won 3 matches out of 5 in a tournament, and if that’s so, both England and France won it as well as Wales this year. That being given, Eddie faces the embarrassing statistic of winning nothing of real note since his appointment, while the guy he replaced, Warren Gatland, won the Grand Slam at his first attempt since his departure. Surely that says it all.
#2 – The longer we leave Eddie in charge, surely the harder it will be to negotiate with the new coach. The IRFU will be desperate to replace him with quality, but if I’m a half decent coach and they approached me, I’d be sure to tell them – “OK, I’ll do it, but considering all the allowances you made for O’Sullivan when he effectively did nothing, I want a contract SO watertight that even Brendan Drumm of the HSE would be fired for incompetence before I would.”
Now it’s up to the IRFU to act. Sure, it’s going to cost them dearly because however inept E O’S may be, even he wouldn’t be stupid enough to resign. But with only five full internationals between now and the next Six Nations campaign, if a new pair of eyes is to brought in to take over the set-up, it needs to be done soon.
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