A second insipid Ireland performance in as many matches at the Rugby World Cup has prompted former head coach and RTÉ analyst Eddie O'Sullivan to compare watching Joe Schmidt’s charges to "watching paint dry".
Ireland made a perfect start to their encounter against Russia in Kobe, with Rob Kearney crossing the whitewash inside the opening two minutes.
However, Ireland laboured for extended patches thereafter en route to a 35-0 win, with their display all the more concerning as they enjoyed a numerical advantage as the Bears played 20 minutes with 14 men.
"It was like watching paint dry," O’Sullivan opined in a withering post-mortem on RTÉ2.
"We had these sparks now and again where we played a bit of rugby, but this was against a bunch of amateurs.
"We were 21 point up at half-time. They played a quarter of the game with 14 men and we eked out two tries, the last one coming in the 76th minute when the Russian are out on their feet.
"It’s just a terrible performance, let’s call it what it is.
"We should have put these guys away by 40 or 50 points.
"The positive - we got the bonus point. But there’s nothing else there, zero.
"The guys who had a chance today to put up their hand and put pressure on the coach to pick them, didn’t really put up their hand, and the guys who came off the bench didn’t really change anything.
"If you can’t stand out in a game with that much dominance against a team like Russia, you’re not really saying anything.
"An ordinary performance isn’t good enough against a team of that standard. You’ve got to light it up and I didn’t see anyone really lighting it up."
'It was just a terrible performance' - Eddie O'Sullivan laments Ireland's laboured display against Russia. Jamie Heaslip strikes a more positive note #IREvRUS pic.twitter.com/wjN0wPwD3p
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) October 3, 2019
After the hosts inflicted a 19-12 defeat on Ireland on Saturday, O'Sullivan and all Irish fans were hoping for a reaction which could give cause for optimism as the tournament advanced. However, such a performance failed to materialise.
"Today was a chance to set things right after the Japan shock," O’Sullivan added.
"That doesn’t set anything right today.
"There’s no evidence, on the basis of today, that we will go into the quarter-final and beat either of the two teams facing us.
"I’m not saying we won’t beat them when we get there, but we’re looking at the evidence in front of us.
"They played very stagnant rugby.
"There was no pace in the game, it was head down, into brick walls.
"Where was the creativity?"
