Ireland should ideally have at least three players per position and, following the recent tour, they are closer to that goal than ever before, writes the Irish Times' Gerry Thornley.
"Given Ireland play Scotland, France (twice) and England in the August before the 2011 World Cup, casualties are inevitable and Ireland should ideally have at least three players per position, or alternatively a notional base of 45-plus.
"They are a little closer to that now than ever before though it would help if the IRFU took a leaf out of the Australian manual (who are now adding on a fifth ‘Super’ franchise) and allowed Connacht to be competitive rather than use them to prop up the other three. Irish rugby is handicapping itself there.
"Of course the primary purpose of the tour was to register an overdue Tri Nations scalp in the Southern Hemisphere. That’s how it was sold to us and it didn’t happen, and the All Blacks game will remain an embarrassment. It was very unlike a [Declan] Kidney team to appear so tame, a Gert Smal pack so disorganised and a defence under [Les] Kiss which was caught so flat-footed. But one ventures nothing like it will ever happen again; perhaps these past few results have been a step back in order to take a couple forward. We shall see."
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