Ireland’s great survivor keen for another Twickers treat

THE well held view that Malcolm O’Kelly only plays to his full potential when the mood is on him appears to carry some substance.

He wouldn’t necessarily agree, though he is honest enough to accept that sometimes he is his own worst enemy. He has also demonstrated the happy knack of getting out of tight situations and that’s one good reason why he wins his 80th Irish cap at Twickenham today.

One recalls how he was dropped a few years ago for Gary Longwell, only for the Ulsterman to drop out at the last moment and O’Kelly to return and play a blinder.

Earlier in this RBS Six Nations campaign, he was replaced early in the second half of the games against Italy and France. On each occasion, he looked down and almost reconciled to getting the boot, a fate that might well have befallen him only for the injury to Paul O’Connell.

Once again, though, he found the precipice an inspirational place, as he produced a big game against the Welsh and followed it up with another against Scotland.

So Big Mal has survived and this afternoon reaches a major milestone on one of the biggest days in the history of Irish rugby. He and O’Connell have the potential to inspire the side to a Triple Crown and possibly a championship at the expense of England at Twickenham, and this time you suspect the 31-year-old won’t need a kick up the backside to give the full 100% in his side’s cause.

“Sometimes it’s good to get pressurised and pushed so that you reach a level you don’t realise you’re capable of reaching, and suddenly you realise you can do it again and again.”

However, there are several Irish followers, not all of them in Munster, who believe Donncha O’Callaghan represents a better option, and the quietly spoken 6 ft 8 in, 17 stone 4 lb O’Kelly understands their reasoning. He readily acknowledges the quality of the opposition he faces for the number four jersey.

“At the end of the day you’re blessed with three or four world-class second-rows in the squad,” he says.

“It probably won’t always be the case but we’re lucky at present. But that’s it and I’m in the side at the moment. This might be my 80th international but I’m looking upon it as just another match.”

“For me, the excitement is playing England at Twickenham for the Triple Crown. I think I’ve played them four or five times there but never with such a prize at stake. Triple Crowns don’t grow on trees in this country and it’s a fantastic opportunity for us. We’re all anticipating a good performance from ourselves. The country is a little bit expectant what with Cheltenham and Paddy’s weekend but we’ve got to take it step by step; we have to do the job, we just can’t look at the thought of winning.”

Forgetting about Saturday for a moment, we looked back instead to 1997, when Mal played his first international against New Zealand. He’s been an almost ever-present since, and his 79 caps to date leave him 14 ahead of his nearest rival, Peter Stringer.

“I never thought I’d see myself play 80 times for Ireland”, he says.

“How could I? Anyway, I have never looked too far ahead, to be honest. I think when I got my first cap I didn’t see myself getting a second.

But now when you’re hitting 80, each one is special. I remember every game but there will be moments when I get confused about the specifics.

“Twickenham two years ago was a momentous occasion. It’s the big wins that stick in your mind and the bad ones that recede in your memory.”

The obvious question was whether that victory in 2004 would inject added confidence in today’s side. To his credit, O’Kelly doesn’t adopt the party line and give us all that stuff about England being a wounded animal and so on and so on. He simply accepts that: “There is added self-belief because of our win two years ago, a lot of our team did play in that game and a lot of theirs as well, and of course we beat them last year at Lansdowne Road.

As we chatted, Mal heard of Darren Grewcock’s omission from the English team and also that of hooker Steve Thompson, the man who crumbled in the face of the Irish lineout onslaught of two years ago led by O’Kelly and O’Connell. They have been replaced by another experienced campaigner in Simon Shaw and the lesser-known Bath number two Lee Mears, so that has obvious implications for the crucial line-out battle.

“Of course that changes a lot of things,” he mused.

“We’ll look at it individually and technically in terms of the changes but I’m sure those players who have been introduced will play with full commitment.

The changes don’t change the reality of England at Twickenham. None of those they have brought in is particularly new to us, with the possible exception of Mears, but in actual fact he’s a very solid player and probably more dynamic than Thompson. He will certainly strengthen their scrum, which will be very strong now.”

O’Kelly quickly dismisses a suggestion that the introduction of a new hooker might give Ireland the edge in the lineout. He points out that Mears has worked with Steve Borthwick at Bath and suspects that that might lend them more control, something that Andy Robinson desperately needs.

Left unsaid is the fact that O’Kelly and Bryce Williams had little to worry about as Leinster put Bath to the sword in the Heineken Cup clash of the sides at the Rec in January.

“I work hard at it and I enjoy the banter and the craic we have in the squad and that’s one of the major parts for me,” he reasons. “If I ever stopped enjoying that, it wouldn’t be worth it, but other than that, I can’t think of a reason why I wouldn’t play. I do try to look beyond rugby when I finally have to hang up the old boots and look around the corner but it’s hard to do so when you’re not there yet. We are very busy, if it’s not one thing, it’s the next but for now it’s excellent. Life after rugby, according to the likes of Paul Wallace and Jeremy Davidson, is good so I take hope from that.”

With Paul O’Connell at his elbow to keep his mind on the job, expect great things today from Big Mal!