Horgan wary of the Gaffney factor

SHANE HORGAN’S biggest concern ahead of Ireland’s clash with Australia is not his switch from centre to the wing, but the Alan Gaffney factor.

Horgan knows that the Wallabies assistant coach Gaffney, a self confessed video analyst addict, will have a huge bearing on the outcome of Saturday’s clash given his time in this country. “For the Wallabies, it is a huge benefit to have him as assistant coach, given his time with both ourselves in Leinster and Munster.

“He’s big into video analysis and has a great ability to deconstruct teams,” said Horgan.

“But he would also have a hands-on insight into individual players, knowing what we’re good at and what we might not be quite so good at. That’s something Australia have in their locker, and it’s something we will have to deal with,” he said.

Despite such endorsements, Horgan is confident that Ireland can bounce back from defeat to the All Blacks, and heap further woe on Eddie Jones and Australia.

His philosophy is simple: “When you fall off the horse, you’ve got to get back up immediately. When you play against a team like New Zealand, it’s important to get it right. We didn’t do that and compounded the problem by making so many basic and unforced errors.

“This is life in international sport and we’ve got to live with what happened, learn from it, and improve. I think we have had to set aside what New Zealand did and have a look at ourselves and see where there is room for improvement. In the context of that game, we slipped back from where we wanted to be, from the standards we set ourselves.”

Even without Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell, Horgan refused to make any excuses.

“You can’t do that. You want to be in a position where we can cope with whatever happens. In this game, teams will always be forced to carry a few injuries. You still have to play the matches and you still have to want to compete against these teams. It’s not acceptable to hide behind factors such as that.

“I have no doubt that we could have been more competitive if we had done certain things in different ways, or if we hadn’t made all those silly mistakes. We certainly made them look better, but then again New Zealand came close to scoring another couple of tries, so we have to weigh up what happened against what might have happened.”

Horgan warned against the presumption that the Wallabies are a team in decline given their recent run of defeats. “It’s not as if they were beaten by Namibia or some team like that. They lost to New Zealand, South Africa, France and England and I think that should be taken into consideration. I’m not trying to talk us down, but you have to be realistic enough to realise that they have been only beaten by top class opposition.”

“Australia are a very strong team who will come to Lansdowne determined to stop that run of losses. They’re probably not as physically intimidating as New Zealand in the pack but they have some pretty big boys, and their back line looks pretty awesome with some great names, and great players. They’re strong right down to the bench as well. I don’t think recent results is a correct barometer of how good they are.”

The challenge, he feels, won’t be much easier than last week. “This is nothing different to any other game against a quality side like Australia. What’s important is that we don’t look back to the All Blacks. That game has to be forgotten. Now, we face a new team that will adopt a different defensive and attacking strategy. If we look back, then we won’t have prepared properly.”

As he contemplates a switch from centre to wing, he looks forward to watching new cap Andrew Trimble in action.

“Andrew will bring enthusiasm to the game. It’s going to be a fantastic day for him, a day he will remember forever. He’s had a phenomenal season for Ulster, he has shown that he can mix it against the best sides in the Celtic League and Europe and I’d be confident he can make this step up.

“He has performed very well in training during the week, he has bundles of pace and loads of skill and I’m really looking forward to seeing him perform. I think he and Gordon D’Arcy will be a very threatening combination.”

From Horgan’s own perspective, he is not unhappy to be back on the wing, though he did stress that he enjoyed the physicality of last week’s game in the centre.

“It’s a different challenge for me this week, but I really enjoy playing in the position. It’s not as if I’ll just be standing around waiting for things to happen; that’s not my natural instinct and neither is it what Eddie (O’Sullivan) wants.

“It’s an interesting position in that it requires a different approach; there’s a lot of off the ball work to get through. I’ve got to go and seek out the ball and get involved as much as possible. I enjoy doing that.”

While they believe the tournament that gets under way over the Arnold Palmer-designed Victoria Course at Vilamoura this morning deserves a better field, they also insist their focus is fully on their own games.

With the top eight Americans in the world rankings staying away, there is little point in arguing that the World Cup matters far more in Ireland than in the US. Harrington and McGinley won it at Kiawah Island in 1997 and have played together every year since.

“We’ve had a lot of success together, we’re both patriotic and it means a lot to us”, stressed McGinley. “I really enjoy team events no matter what they are. The World Cup is a huge title with huge tradition. It means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to Padraig. Half of Ireland is down here already and the other half will go mad at home. We love to be the little fellas competing against and beating the big fellas.”

Harrington agrees: “It is the small country syndrome. In Ireland, we’re very proud of our sports people. Any time one of our sporting individuals or teams get on the world stage, the whole country is behind them. We were in a bar at 1 o’clock in the morning in Shanghai on Saturday watching the Ireland-New Zealand rugby match. If we’re travelling around the world, we get out and watch and support. We follow every sport as much as I’m sure they all follow us. There’s no begrudgery or anything like that. And I suppose because we’re supporting other Irish teams, we obviously feel a lot of pride that we’re playing for Ireland ourselves.”

The friendship between McGinley and Harrington is hugely responsible for the considerable success they have enjoyed from the time they first played foursomes together as amateurs for Ireland through the Ryder Cup and World Cup.

“We’ve been playing together since 1990, we’re from the same place back home, we went to the same school so our backgrounds are very similar,” explained McGinley. “So I suppose when we go on the golf course, and even though we’re different in how we play the game, we know what’s going through each other’s head. That gives us confidence and as I say, we tend to enjoy the event, both on and off the course. That always makes for better golf.”

Harrington agreed that their golf games are totally different. “We’ve embraced our differences more in the sense that I don’t try to change him and he doesn’t try and change me.”

Those differences manifested themselves as long ago as 1997 at Kiawah Island.

Harrington recalled “I was practicing until it was dark and McGinley was looking down at me from the clubhouse tapping his fingers and waiting and us turning up late for dinner because of it.”

McGinley retorted: “I remember you getting up at dawn to go to the golf course four hours before our tee time.”

Harrington even arranged for his coach, Bob Torrance, to fly down from Scotland to McGinley’s home in Sunningdale on Monday night so that they could have a session first thing on Tuesday morning. “We were at it for four hours although ten minutes would have done,” he commented ruefully. “I got very confused in China and I’m a lot more comfortable now than I was going out on Sunday morning.”

McGinley is still undecided about undergoing an operation on his knee next week. It’s not a problem at present but his short game fits into that category after a poor scoring tournament in China and something he worked hard on curing yesterday. And as for David Howell’s contention that the Victoria Course would provide “a birdie-fest”, the Irish were scornful. “They are obviously very confident”, grinned McGinley. “I thought the course played strong”, quipped Harrington, “we’d better get back out there.”