NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Ireland's age-profile could work against them again when it all really matters

- BY GARRY DOYLE

IRELAND were magnificent on Saturday. Let's start there.

They tore into Australia with the kind of controlled fury that has become their trademark under this regime - fast, connected, ruthless.

It was one of those nights at the Aviva when you could squint and see a World Cup quarterfinal unfolding in front of you, the sort Ireland have never handled well. For 80 minutes, Ireland looked like World Cup contenders.

And yet, if you were watching closely, you may have also felt something else.

A faint tightening of the chest. A little whisper of dread. Because while Ireland might be good enough today, the question we ought to be asking - the only one that really matters - is whether they will be good enough two years from now.

And on that subject, the evidence is becoming uncomfortable.

Ireland's age profile is a ticking clock. A loud one.

Tadhg Furlong is 33. Tadhg Beirne is 33. Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe - all 33. Six major players.

If you were picking Ireland's best XV to start a World Cup quarterfinal tonight, five of those six make the team. That's not an opinion. That's reality.

Now add two years.

Furlong at 35 in a World Cup scrum. Gibson-Park at 35 trying to win a footrace with Antoine Dupont. Lowe at 35 chasing kicks. Beirne at 35 in 35-degree heat in Australia.

It's not pessimism to say this out loud. It's realism. You don't win a World Cup with half your starting side in their mid-thirties. No matter how good they were at 33.