O’Driscoll: we won’t capitulate
As the visitors chase a first win over the All Blacks, it must be noted that the home side have an uncanny knack of putting first game nerves behind them.
In 1992, Ireland lost 24-21 in the first Test, and 6-59 in the second.
Four years ago, they lost 15-6 in the opener and 40-8 in the second.
But skipper Brian O’Driscoll wants to use those facts as motivation.
“We don’t want to be another Ireland side that goes well in the first test and capitulates in the second. We will have to improve by 10 to 15% and if we do that we won’t be far away.”
O’Driscoll’s pain at losing last week was more acute after he watched a video replay.
“The key moment in a very tight game was when Luke McAlister intercepted a pass near his own line. Test matches often turn on one or two little incidents, and I think that was an example of one of those games,” he said.
“But we have to put the first game behind us; we want to be the first Irish team to beat the All Blacks, we want to create our own bit of history.”
He believes it’s possible.
“We have come a long way as a team, and we have become mentally tougher. It’s not a case of five or six guys being more disappointed than the rest, because individually, and collectively, we realised it was there for us last week. To a point, we threw the game away.”
He admitted they would have to study Saturday’s referee Jonathon Kaplan.
“It’s normal now to study the referee; you want to know what his likes and dislikes are, what he’s going to be looking for, particularly at the breakdown. You play to that knowledge, and it might be different this weekend with a different referee.”
O’Driscoll played down the show of genius that led to his try last week. “Credit hasn’t been given to my fellow players; I think everyone put the ball where they were meant to put it, and the move came off.”
The All Blacks have made a change in midfield, a possible reaction to weakness in defence from Ma’a Nonu last week. His replacement, Casey Lualala is, however, likely to cause as many problems in attack according to O’Driscoll.
“His name has been mentioned for some time now, so he is obviously playing some very good rugby. We will obviously be looking to find out a lot more about him before Saturday,” he said.
Lualula, a Samoan who has lived in New Zealand since he was 15-years-old, is delighted with the call to arms.
He had been linked earlier with a move to Munster, but he denied that yesterday. “People talk all the time with agents; we look at where our best opportunities are, but for me the aim this year was to break back into the All Blacks pool of players. I’m there now, and I just want to give myself an opportunity of getting into the World Cup squad,” he said.
Meanwhile, All Black captain Richie McCaw is expecting another tough physical and mental battle on Saturday.
“Ireland put it up to us last week, and we have to respond to that. We expected them to be aggressive, but not that aggressive. We have to look at what happened and move on. It was a game that could have easily the other way, but that’s the Irish for you. We thought we had things worked out, but it didn’t quite go to plan. Now, we have to sit back, look at the good and bad things we did and try to improve in every aspect of the game, because we know they’re the type of side that will not accept defeat easily.
“Ireland are certainly worthy challengers; they have a very fine side with a number of world-class players. We’re treating their challenge very seriously.”
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