Post-Match Reaction: Scotland 31 Ireland 21
See below for the post-match thoughts of Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan following his side’s ten-point defeat to Scotland in their opening Rugby World Cup warm-up match.
ON THE PRE-MATCH INJURY TO SHANE HORGAN:
“We don’t know what the score is with Shane. He turned awkwardly on his knee and was a bit worried about it so we took him straight out the game and put Andrew Trimble in instead. “We won’t know for sure how bad it is until tomorrow morning when he has his scan. I suppose we have to be honest and say that, at this point, we’re worried about it. But we won’t be making any definitive decisions until it’s been looked at by an expert.”
ON OTHER INJURIES FROM THE MATCH:
“We picked up a lot of bumps and bruises. Gavin Duffy got a bruise on the top of his hip and Neil Best finished with a bruised knee. But you expect knocks after a game like that, which was all about trench warfare from start to finish.
“We had to take Brian (O’Driscoll) off – he just wrenched his wrist and his hamstrings were tight so in the circumstances I wanted to take him off. That upset the midfield which cost us the last try. If it was a Six Nations game we might not have been so wreckless with the substitutions.
“The only worry is Shane though and he wasn’t even involved in the game. Otherwise we have a clean bill of health.”
ON THE LOSS TO SCOTLAND:
“The game was really a good test of what we are trying to do and where we are trying to go. A lot of questions were asked and we didn’t answer all of them. The things we need to work on are (that) we did not defend as well as I would have liked.
“I think our set pieces, at times, creaked early on in the game. As it went on we got better and I think we played too ‘left to right’ instead of up the middle in the first half. The thing I was most disappointed with was our defence. The first three tries came from rucks. It was particularly in the first half that the damage was done.”
ON THE GAME IN RELATION TO WORLD CUP SELECTION:
“It was a tough day for the wings because the conditions were wet and it was hard for them to get into the game. But the back five were able to role up their sleeves and get stuck in because it was real trench warfare.
“In the scheme of things the result wasn’t important but there will be some hard decisions made tonight and today’s performance will feed into that.
“I’ll examine the tape later because it’s only fair to look at the game again when there’s so much at stake.”
– Due to Shane Horgan’s knee injury and the need to wait until the results of his scan are known, the Irish management have confirmed that tomorrow’s Rugby World Cup squad team announcement has been put back from 11am to 11.30am –