Single-mindedness and a winning mentality can be rich ingredients
At the time, everyone said it was bad sportsmanship, a disgrace, but players take to the pitch with a mentality the most important thing is winning.
Only people who play sport at a high level appreciate how the mind works under pressure when there’s so much adrenaline flowing and emotion involved. It’s so different to how it might operate in the cold light of day. I’d say Henry didn’t feel great afterwards, but it’s too late then.
You’re a different animal on the pitch, there’s an acceptance of that.
There’s the same single-mindedness when it comes to injury recovery. Ireland have a lot of serious talent to come back into the side in 2015 in the form of Sean O’Brien, Cian Healy and Donnacha Ryan — and that’s just up front. Those guys have been out of the public eye for a while now, but just because they’re injured doesn’t mean they’ve been lying on the couch; they’re still working from 8am until 5pm every day.
Rehabbing is a chance for players to focus on certain things they can’t every week, whether that’s skills, strength or any other area they need to work on. In a typical week, you’ve a game on Saturday and spend Sunday and Monday recovering, so you only have Tuesday and Wednesday to work on a few individual things before you’re looking towards the next game. So when you’re injured, it gives you a huge window to better yourself.
When I did the cruciate ligament in my right knee, it was obviously weak, so I had to work on it — but it was only when I did the same exercises on the left leg that I could see that wasn’t where it needed to be either. So instead of taking rests, you work the other leg too, and the whole lower half of your body gets better.
Motivation comes easily. In my case it might be thinking about a winning drop goal, for Sean O’Brien it’s smashing someone in a tackle, for Donnacha Ryan it’s charging down a kick, and for Cian Healy it might be running over someone — you have all these positive images in your head.
You could understand that someone like Luke Fitzgerald or Paul O’Connell, who have had a lot of injuries and sometimes consecutively, might have big demons, but most players just accept it. Of course you’re depressed for two or three days after the injury happens, but then you start taking the positives from it.
Behind what you see on a Saturday, all the provinces and the Irish team have a serious medical staff. It’s only when you’re injured you realise their value — you’re putting every ounce of faith in these people to get you back playing. You hang on their every word, you couldn’t care less about anyone else.
You’re thinking about how many hours you can get with this fella or that fella, putting all your trust in them. It’s amazing too, what tricks the mind can play on you when you’re out injured. Fellas often go off doing extra work because they feel they might not be getting enough done. A few years ago, Donnacha Ryan was known to go road running around Nenagh at night in a hoodie, or running around the farm in the dark! That’s how much it meant to him to get himself right.
You have to be careful not to push too hard and set yourself back, but there has to be that selfishness and dedication, because the margins are so fine at the top level of international rugby. Ireland had a fantastic 2014, only lost one game and that was a humdinger in Twickenham. But France had a big chance to win that crucial Six Nations game at the death — if that crucial pass went backwards instead of forwards, it would have been a good year, but not an excellent one. Those are the margins you’re talking about.
Of course Ireland can reach the semi-final of a World Cup, or even win it, but there are plenty of hurdles to be jumped and questions to be asked. The France game is the key, and that won’t be as easy as people think. France can only get better from what happened in the Stade de France; Ireland don’t have the same room for improvement, though they have the capacity to be more consistent in terms of performance.
However, bar the 2009 season, Ireland haven’t had that consistency. They’ve never had to beat high quality opposition for four or five weeks running. In 2011, it was the USA, Australia, Russia, Italy and Wales — easier games around the tougher ones, but lose one, and you’re going home. In 2015, Ireland have Canada and Romania first then it’s France, Italy and — if they get through — likely to be New Zealand or Argentina. We don’t know yet if Ireland can produce the big performances required week after week without any let-up.
The Ireland guys will be highly motivated, and they have a coach in Joe Schmidt whose ability to pick weaknesses in the opposition is unparalleled. His attention to detail in making the game simple for the players makes getting to a semi-final a possibility, but not a probability.
Ireland will need to be emotionally at the right pitch. Fine margins. Focused mindsets. Plenty to work on.
