Speedy recovery sees Hickie on fast track to Cup success
These are daft theories presented as fact, very often by people who should know very much better.
The old hurling theory springs to mind that hurlers are born, not made, and even then in the traditional counties only.
Tell that to Brian Whelahan, Joe Salmon or Pat Dunny. Then there's the American basketball theory, that black players are naturally superior their white counterparts. Well, the basketball players of Croatia, Lithuania, Australia, Greece and Russia all had something to say about that in the recent Olympics, as the USA fell from grace.
Of more relevance this Heineken Cup weekend, is the fallacy that the Irish don't have natural speed. For those who make that claim, let us point to Denis Hickie.
The flying Leinster and Irish wing could hold his own in any rugby company on the planet, Bath's Matt Perry the latest to feel the heat, in last weekend's thrilling Cup win at the Rec.
Since Hickie burst onto the national scene nearly a decade ago, the game has changed radically.
The forwards did all the mullacking then and when they were finished with their head-banging, reluctantly gave the ball to what they derisively termed 'the girls'.
In Leinster's recent win over Bath, it was the backs doing the best of the rucking, stripping ball from their opponents. Malcolm O'Kelly got the winning try, standing out wide on the wing.
"It is a different game," agrees Hickie.
"It seems to change even every year. There is a different emphasis every season with little changes in the rules in pre-season. These shifts in emphasis in the game can make it very different over a period of time."
It seems to suit him particularly. Despite serious injury, he's as fast as ever, but he's also bigger and stronger and playing better than ever.
"I'm happy with the way I'm playing, but I think I can play a bit better.
"I think I've got to the level I want at this stage, but it's still only halfway through the season, and I think it's important for everyone, not just for me, that we should play even better in the second half."
Especially if the rising expectations of Irish rugby fans are to be met. Leinster, albeit suffering a bit of a wobble lately, are in pole position to be the number one seed in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.
On the international front, with France and England coming to Lansdowne Road, Ireland are being spoken of as 6 Nations Grand Slam contenders.
There was a time when the weight of such expectation would crush those same teams. Not anymore.
"You have to treat it as a positive. It's great that people are that enthusiastic, but we have to step back a bit from it, look a bit more carefully at the challenges ahead.
"We can't afford to have the kind of confidence that the public seem to have. A small bit of pressure comes with that but I think the guys that are there have enough experience to be able to deal with that."
While he appreciates the vote of confidence, a little bit of realism wouldn't go astray either, reckons Hickie.
"A lot of people think that because we're playing France and England at home, we have a very good chance, but playing Italy, Wales, Scotland away is not going to be easy.
"If we had those at home, maybe that would be a better draw but Italy first up, away, that's going to be a very tough game. None of that is a factor at the moment, however, everyone in the squad is focused on this game. We've done a lot of video work on Treviso, studied all their games up to last weekend. They've had a bit of a break over Christmas, which means they'll be very fresh as well.
"They played very well against Bourgoin, a lot of people will have seen only the highlights of that game, but we've seen the whole game, they beat a full Bourgoin team in Italy and beat them also in France.
"They're a very good team, a lot better than a lot of people going to the game will give them credit for, but we don't have the luxury of underestimating them. We know how good they are."
The question, however, is how good are Leinster? Are Leinster going to implode again, like they did when they were in an even more advantageous position two years ago?
"With regard to a few years ago, things didn't go well for us, but it was a few years ago, and I'd like to think that if the same opportunity presents itself again, and that's still a big if, we'd improve on that.
"At the moment however, our focus is solely on this weekend, on Treviso. I think we each just want to improve at all levels.
"There's a lot of work to do, on a lot of areas, that's what we're trying to sort out this weekend."
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