EVEN the most devout rugby fan couldn't bear to endure 25 minutes on the topic of Romanian rugby.
So it was hardly a surprise that much of the lengthier than normal discussion at Camp Ireland yesterday centred not on those selected for this Saturday's lunchtime joust with Romania, but rather those who haven't yet again made the cut.
Clearly riled by recent denigration of his leadership, Eddie O'Sullivan was encouraged to deliver a robust justification of his selection policy which at least instigated a reasonably healthy debate on the topic.
Understandably, O'Sullivan was forthright in his defence of a selection policy whether accused of ignoring valid alternatives or over-looking players by dint of what country they play in.
He was notably annoyed at the charge that Bob Casey's exclusion was somehow predicated upon the premise that there was some pre-conceived bias on behalf of the coach.
When asked why he persisted in excluding a player rated the best in the English Premiership by his peers and those who watch the game there on a weekly basis, O'Sullivan appeared to be visibly offended.
"Sorry, I don't know if I'm missing your question here," he bristled. "Are you saying he's a better player? Then that's your opinion. If that's not what you're saying, then are you suggesting that there's a problem with Bob Casey?
"There's a pecking order in selection and to be fair I think you could have asked me about any other player in the squad who I could have picked ahead of someone else. I don't know what the suggestion is about Bob Casey. Every player is considered and I think it's unfair to pick on one."
O'Sullivan rejected London Irish coach Brian Smith's allegation that his player hadn't yet been watched by the Irish management team this season.
"That's completely untrue," lashed O'Sullivan, although he didn't confirm whether anyone had seen Casey play in person.
"All the players under consideration are watched and if we can't get to see them, we have them videoed. I can tell you how many rucks he went into and what he did there. I spoke to him before the autumn internationals and explained my thinking to him. He's in the hopper, like everyone else."
Casey's exclusion is currently inextricably linked to that of another cause celebre - Trevor Brennan, the twice European Cup winner who, like Casey, is deemed less worthy than the fourth choice Munster lock. O'Sullivan, who has never selected the player in four years and 48 matches, once more stood his ground on this issue.
"Yes I am looking at Trevor as a lock at the moment because we're fortunate with the players in the back row," he explained. O'Sullivan also said he had been in contact with Brennan this year, which starkly contradicts the player's own assertion.
"I think the Toulouse system mightn't suit Trevor the best because with their squad rotation he can be out of the team for two weeks in a row. Come the Six Nations though, that'll be a whole new bag of spanners and we'll look at it then."
Hardly a ringing endorsement, then, but O'Sullivan at least laid the ghost to the suspicion that the IRFU, or indeed the coach himself, had been laying down some kind of fatwa against certain players plying their trade abroad.
"I pick the team," he reiterated. "Everyone has their opinions and you could pick five different teams here, but this is the best in my opinion. The union has a policy of wanting all the internationals to be based at home but that's not possible.
"It's in my interest to track down any player who can possibly make the current outfit better than it is, whether that be London, Paris or Biarritz. It'd be madness on my part to do otherwise, it's just silly.
"But I am concerned that there is a suggestion of an undercurrent of bias in some selection, and Bob Casey is a case in point. Selection is based on form and of course some players are going to be disappointed with that. But I stand over every selection.
"If there's a tight call between a player based in Ireland and one who isn't, then the one based here will usually get the nod. But that rarely happens in all honesty."
O'Sullivan also defended the limited lack of opportunities afforded Kieran Campbell, Peter Stringer's understudy at scrum-half, who is finally granted a chance to prove his worth in this week's hardly rarefied atmosphere.
However, injuries to hooker Rory Best and Matt McCullough ruled them out of contention this week which, in the case of Best specifically, represents a wasted opportunity given the effective, if measly, impact he has had thus far this autumn.
"I had hoped to give a few more guys a run but injuries have limited that," said O'Sullivan, who then undermined his assistant coach Niall O'Donovan in explaining Campbell's underemployment.
"In hindsight, we would have liked to give him more game time on the Japanese Tour but that was Niallo's call and in fairness he got the job done well," said O'Sullivan. Hardly a ringing endorsement of one of the coach's few loyalists still standing.
This very good article from Rugby.IE sums up the criticism of/on EOS pretty well...
Rugby.ie Enough Mr Nice guy, Eddie
22/11/2005
By Diarmuid O'Flynn
WHAT the hell is going on with the Irish rugby team? Backwards we're going, not
forward, and I'm very much afraid the blame has to be laid squarely on the
shoulders of Eddie O'Sullivan.
Let me make it clear from the outset here, this is not a personal attack on
Eddie.
I've met the man on several occasions: he's decent, straight, probably the most
dedicated and hardest-working team manager in sport. None of the above, however,
means that he's above criticism, and boy, how he deserves to be criticised.
The basic questions are:
1) Going back to the summer tour of Japan, why didn't Eddie (in New Zealand at
the time with the Lions, but be under no illusions about who was making the big
calls) rest Peter Stringer - whose potential he knew well - and give game time
at scrum-half to a few new kids?
2) Why did he not experiment in the two recent big games, against New Zealand
and Australia? If he was going to ditch Anthony Foley at number 8, why didn't he
bring in David Heaslip of Leinster, an outstanding prospect in that position,
and leave Denis Leamy on the blind side, where he was brilliant for Munster
against Castres in the recent Heineken Cup game?
Why did he go with Shane Byrne at hooker, when the guy isn't getting any real
game-time with Saracens and will be well into veteran stage by the next World
Cup? Why did he go with Malcolm O'Kelly, patently not match-fit? Why did he not
go with the youngsters, Neil Best of Ulster, Jerry Flannery of Munster
(man-of-the-match in that Castres game), Bob Casey of London-Irish, the guys in
form?
3) On that point, why does he continue to ignore proven talent, the likes of
Casey, the giant second-row, generally regarded as one of the best in the game
across the pond, the likes of Trevor Brennan with Toulouse, or David Wallace,
closer to home?
4) Why is he so slow to give youth its fling? Andrew Trimble against Australia
was the exception, rather than the rule. Why is he so reluctant to do what New
Zealand, Australia, France, England all do: throw the youngsters with talent in
at the deep end, and see if they can swim? And by the way Eddie, contrary to a
recent statement of yours, Andrew did NOT slip in under the radar; anyone who
knew anything about Irish rugby was aware of his fast-coming talent.
5) Why was there only one change from the side walloped by New Zealand, for the
Australia game? Winning challenge games, even games as big as those two, should
not be what it's about, with a World Cup around the corner. Those two matches
should have been about building for France 2007. They were a perfect opportunity
in fact. Opportunity lost even more emphatically than the two games themselves.
6) Why does he persist in trying to play a text-book, copy-book, structured,
chalkboard, coach's game? Rugby isn't American Football; it can't be played from
the sideline. Defence, yes, must be absolutely organised, pre-planned, everyone
on the same page. But offence, ball in hand? Give these guys their head, let
them play.
Last season, Peter Stringer's game went to pot because, distracted by the whole
Lions business, he tried to do things that are not in his nature, and suffered
the horrors. This season, with Ireland, it looks like the same thing is going to
happen to Ronan O'Gara and to Geordan Murphy, two immensely-talented
rugby-players who know, instinctively, the right thing to do in almost every
situation. Leave them alone, let them play; ball in hand, allow them to make
their own decisions.
I could go on, but there are only so many inches in this column. Eddie is a
rugby man to his fingertips, more educated in this game than I will ever be, but
he IS making blunders, major blunders. The ill-advised passing game against New
Zealand is a case in point, especially in the first-half, with a wind behind
Ireland. He's got to lighten up, loosen up, start trusting youth, start trusting
his players.
The biggest thing he's got to do, though, and the first thing he's got to do, is
stop talking down his players, his team, his pool of talent: Irish rugby. Above
anyone else, the coach has got to believe; he sets the tone for everyone else,
he sets the target.
If Eddie doesn't believe the resources are there for Ireland to compete with the
best, then get out, and allow someone into the job who does. Either way, enough
of the negativity. We've gone back far enough.
