<div class='quotemain'> <div class='quotemain'> O'Sullivan is the most successful coach in Irish rugby history. your hatred cant be based on any logic rugby based arguement, and can be justified by results on the field.
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EOS has had by common consensus the best ever group of players that have played together for Ireland. In a period of 4 years when England have been a mere shadow of their former selves and France also in decline in the 6N, the only worthwhile performance yardstick he has delivered a mere 2 Triple Crowns.
He has wasted opportunities to develop the squad leaving the team paper thin in places and utterly screwed if injuries occur aswell as having few subs to bring on who can change a game.
Also to the best of my recollection he is yet to lead Ireland to a summer tour victory over a 3N side and has blown 3 fantastic opportunities to finally beat the ABs meaning it is likely Ireland will go into a RWC QF with a huge mental problem as they are playing a team none of them has ever beaten.
And he picked Jeremy Staunton at outhalf.
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Well, EOS deserves crit + praise.
Do you criticise or praise him for the French match at Croker? And does anyone really believe that we could match France or the ABs with depth in the squad? At halfback, other players should have been given more of a go. But what possible solution is there for the front row?
On the praise side, he beat three SH teams back to back last November. SA was a good result - and NOT against a 2nd team. But Aus was awesome - that opposition was slightly better on paper than the team that beat the ABs a month ago. And he mullered England, although I can't see that happening again in the next few weeks.
So, two thoughts: we have a 22 man squad + they peaked last Autumn and may be timed to do the same this Autumn. That could be enough for a semi place.
We have some dark days ahead, but that Aus win might just draw the players into the light. Come to Papa! [/b][/quote]
Totally agree with you on this. Now EOS has his flaws, but how is he supposed to produce International class backup players to the first team when they are clearly not there at provincial level. Some of the players in the squad they are unproven at the top HEC level let alone at international level.
The provinces have not produced enough top quality players for these positions to provide adequate cover for the international first XV. As we have a relatively small playing population this is something we have to live with, it should not be used as a stick to beat the coach with.
While I will be the first to admit that he has not rotated as much as he could have, the suggestion of some people that that all EOS had to do was give these players game time and they would have magically turned into international class backup, simply by playing a few extra test matches is quite frankly absurd. Clearly looking at the last three tests alot of them are just not good enough.
