In British football, most supporters have a second team they follow, a team they do not necessarily blindly support but keep an eye on, to hope it has a decent season.
A West Ham United, or a Charlton Athletic. A team capable of the odd upset, that plays not a bad game, but is unfortunately never going to win anything.
So are the Irish like that in international rugby?Everyone sort of hopes they win, to have a few victories but ultimately they are going to have limited success.
And yesterday with less than 40% of territory and with key men off the pace, there was only going to be one result.
The All Blacks may not have scored a try in the first 30min but that opening half-hour tired the Irish out, which led to the opening-up of their defence in the second half.
The All Blacks are better than the Irish. They had more ball, so they won. It really was that simple.
But was it not a game which had too many of those mildly annoying things that make rugby a sometimes less-than-perfect spectacle? And we're not just talking about the breakdown contest.
Does every game of rugby have to lose shape after 60min as both teams empty the bench to give the reserves a run?
Too many games in the past five years have limped towards the end as the reserve benches see more action than John Key's office door.
Nearly half the team gets changed, which makes for a mistake-ridden last quarter of the game.
The paying public come to see 80min of action, not 60 with 20min added on at the end when a mixture of players come together and almost start again.
Players are given a run for the sake of it.
Also, to the naked eye Ali Williams scored a try. Yet because a camera was not at the right angle, or close enough, he could not be awarded a try.
In past years, he would have been awarded the try, because it appeared he had scored it. And he probably had.
But because the man in the stand is seemingly the sole judge, the try was not awarded.
How about the referee for once showing a bit of guts and awarding the five-pointer? He was closer than any television camera.
And Tony Woodcock gets yellow-carded, because of retaliation.
Never mind what the original offender did.
Cheats are not supposed to prosper but under this rule they do.
Years ago, players sorted out the cheating among themselves. But now it is up to the referee. Never mind that he has got a thousand other rules to look out for. No-one wants a return to all-in brawls, but it is hard to turn a blind eye to cheating. It goes against human nature.
And who sent Woodcock to the sin bin?
The mandatory interfering touch judge - sorry - assistant referee.
Fair enough. He'd flown all the way to Dublin from South Africa. He had to justify his air ticket.
Funny how these assistant referees can see things on the playing paddock but say nothing about a penalty try which happened right by the touch line.
Star All Black
Williams was the best of a good bunch, and is getting better as the tour goes on. Coach Graham Henry said no player would play more than three games on this tour but it is hard to see Williams having a rest.
Question
Does Ronan O'Gara save his very worst for the All Blacks ?
