Substance first, then style

JOHN KELLY is back in the hunt for international tries, less than a year after grabbing two on his debut against Italy.

Kelly has been called up for Ireland in Rome today following the late withdrawal, through injury, of Girvan Dempsey yesterday.

Kelly plays on the wing while Geordan Murphy is moved to full back in place of the unfortunate Dempsey. Said Kelly: “It feels good to be back and hopefully I will have as many happy memories of Rome as I had after my first senior cap last year. It’s bad luck for Girvan, but that’s the beauty of the squad system.”

Kelly was drafted into the senior squad earlier in the week in, as it transpires, a shrewd move by the Irish management. “I’ve played with the team before and trained with them all week so I’m not that worried about fitting in,” he said.

The injury will also give coach Eddie O’Sullivan time to assess the potential of Murphy in his favourite full back position. Recently, captain Brian O’Driscoll predicted that Murphy could play a huge role in Ireland’s World Cup preparations if he got any sort of a decent run on the national side.

After scoring a sensational try in Murrayfield from the wing, Murphy will be all out to prove he can do something similar coming from deeper positions.

“We have to respect Italy, now more than ever after their win over Wales. They have beaten us a few times, both in Italy and in Dublin, so it would be silly and very presumptuous of us to treat their challenge lightly.”

O’Sullivan is also looking for an improvement from last week. “We’re happy with the result in Murrayfield but it wasn’t quite the one-sided game people have suggested. We had some scary moments and a couple of them might have led to a very different outcome.

“It has been a difficult week and the fact that we have two away games in a six day period isn’t the ideal preparation. We have had to balance the issues, to measure the workload against the required period of recovery. It’s hard to say what the knock on affect will be but I do know that we will have to be on top of our form to beat Italy.”

There will be no excuses from the Irish management or captain Brian O’Driscoll, if they fail because of exhaustion. “We’re in a professional sport and, ok, maybe we don’t like it but that’s the format. It just happened that we had to play back-to-back games away from home. If we can get over a second hurdle it will be great,” said O’Driscoll.

The captain reckons that, whatever the result, the Irish players will be feeling more pain on Sunday morning than they did last Monday.

“Scotland are quite physical but the Italians are even more so. They revel in the physicality of the game and we will have to work very hard to match them in that area.

“They also appear to be a better side than they were a year ago. They showed against Wales that they have more width to their game. Combine that with the physical stuff and their natural passion for rugby and everything else in life is going to make them very formidable opposition.”

One thing in Ireland’s favour, believes O’Driscoll, will be the level of support. “We went into central Rome on Thursday night for a bit of fresh air and the green shirts seemed to be everywhere, particularly outside the pubs. It wasn’t a bad start for what is supposedly a mid winter evening! “Seriously though, it’s heartening from our point of view that they will be there in numbers. In response to that, it’s our responsibility to deliver the goods.”

Italian captain Allesandro Troncon was wary of making any predictions. “It will be very difficult for us to win two in a row and we will have to play with the same type of passion, maybe even more, to match Ireland. I rate them higher than Wales. Maybe they have slipped a bit while Ireland have improved much more in the last couple of years.”

Still, Troncon issued the following warning to the men in green. “We have worked very hard over the last four months and I think we have finally found a template for the way we should play. We appear to have found a style that suits the players and we are gaining more experience as we go on.

“We have not yet arrived but it is very important for us to build on that win over Wales. There is a lot of potential in this team and it could be the start of a new dawn. Under John Kirwan (coach), we have been given freedom to express ourselves. We go out to play good rugby and don’t worry about making a mistake. We go out to compete and combine that with enjoyment.

“ He has told us that results will follow as long as we follow our dreams. We have now beaten Wales and yes, even if it will be more difficult, we can beat Ireland too. Today we will not put pressure on ourselves. Hopefully, Ireland will feel the pressure more.”

Kirwan even had to deny reports during the week that he had declared two wins as his target in the competition this year.

“To attribute a comment like that to me offends me. I would never say anything of the sort,” he said.

“At the moment we’re concerned with what can be done to improve our game. If we get some good wins, so much the better.”

Any sort of a win will suit O’Sullivan and Ireland.

“If it was a soccer match I would be well pleased with 1-0. We will take any score we get as long as we win,” he said.