Heaslip hoping Aviva factor can ensure a positive Irish start

By Brendan O’ Brien

Friday, January 27, 2012

ANOTHER little snippet of history will be written on Sunday week when Ireland kick off a Six Nations campaign for the very first time at their gleaming new home on Lansdowne Road against Warren Gatland’s Wales.

It hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for Declan Kidney’s side with the win/loss ratio standing at 3:5 since the ribbon was cut for the first big encounter, a 23-21 loss to South Africa, back in November of 2010.

New Zealand, France (twice) and England have all found the Aviva to their liking with the 24-8 rout of Martin Johnson’s side last March standing alone as the one day of unrestrained celebration for the side on its return to Ballsbridge.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland has found it just as difficult to deliver a rousing performance there against the world’s top football sides but Jamie Heaslip is eagerly contemplating another outing in the €410m venue.

"It’s very loud, just the way it’s built," said the Leinster number eight. "Being in Dublin, (the Leinster players) are lucky that we use it a couple of times for the club as well. We’ve probably been there more than a lot of guys.

"I love playing there. It’s great. It’s loud, the crowd are right on top of you. There’s an electric feel. It’s cool and I’d say teams that come over can get a little blown away by the noise."

Heaslip, Kidney et al may be comforted by the knowledge that Ireland have not lost their first Six Nations game when it has been held in Dublin since France squeaked a 10-9 win at the old Lansdowne Road back in 1999.

Five wins have been secured since, three of them against Italy, with Wales hammered 54-10 the last time they opened their campaign with a trip across the Irish Sea but such a shellacking would be incomprehensible now.

The average margin of victory has been less than eight points, not much more than a converted try, over the course of the last half-dozen meetings in what has become an increasingly spiky rivalry.

Gatland has been to the fore in that regard with his talk of bad blood between the two sets of players some seasons back but his talk of an Irish backlash for last year’s Rugby World Cup defeat was batted away by Kidney earlier this week.

The players, too, are keeping a lid on talk of revenge for the World Cup.

"For me, it doesn’t matter," said Heaslip. "Some guys will be using it as motivation or whatever. I’m just hoping to get into the squad, play a bit of footie for Ireland, wear that jersey.

"That would be great. Anyone involved in that first game, the atmosphere is going to be electric so everyone will want to be playing."

The message is clear: Wellington is buried, in the past. Ireland’s players enter into the next two-month period with far more momentum after a Heineken Cup pool stage that delivered three entrants to the last eight compared to Wales’ one.

That is no guarantee of success — Wales won Grand Slams in 2005 when no region reached the quarter-finals and again in 2008 when two got through — but the hope is Ireland can blend three successful strands into one.

"They’ll bring what’s working with the different clubs," said Heaslip. "The clubs don’t all play the same way but hopefully we’ll be able to pick the best of what each club is doing and throw it in the mix and see what comes out."

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, January 27, 2012