‘We must dominate Welsh’, Simon says

SIMON EASTERBY believes the current Ireland team is better equipped to deliver on their promise than the outfit that ultimately failed to live up to the favourites tag in the 2005 Six Nations.

Back then Eddie O’Sullivan’s side also approached the competition on the back of some encouraging autumn form, but a defeat by France in Dublin was compounded by another reversal to Sunday’s opponents at the Millennium Stadium.

That result meant Wales claimed both the Championship and the Grand Slam, while Ireland’s once promising campaign petered out without even the balm of a Triple Crown to soothe the pain.

“There’s been a couple of personnel changes but, most of all, we’re two years down the line and two years more mature, two years more experienced,” claimed the Llanelli captain.

“We’ve had some setbacks along the way and hopefully we’ll be stronger for that. There is an expectation on us now, more so than two years ago and it’s time we lived up to that.”

Unlike in 2005, when their Grand Slam aspirations survived until the second last weekend, Ireland’s ambitions could be all but shattered on the opening week of the season this time.

Fifth last season they may have been, but Wales are unpredictable enough to finish first or last in this year’s tournament and, with so much expected of Ireland, Sunday’s fixture has been talked up as the most important game of the entire tournament.

With so much riding on it, the game has been described as a battle of wits and minds more than anything else. Easterby takes the point but adds the reminder that rugby is, first and foremost, a contact sport.

“You’ve got to mentally prepare yourself but physically as well. We’ve got to try and dominate the Welsh. Like every game, it starts up front. If we can dominate them up front, our backs are as good as anyone in the world at the moment.”

The question marks over Ireland may centre on their forwards and the scrum in particular but Wales have similar worries. Though their pack is mobile, all eyes will be on how a suspect front five perform in the heat of battle.

Easterby has heard the criticisms and seen the fingers pointed at the Welsh ‘grunts’, all of whom he has rich experience of playing with and against for the Scarlets, so his opinion holds considerable weight.

“I can only speak from a club point of view. We’ve come up against some good sides this year in Europe and we’d be as good as if not better than all the sides we’ve played against. I’m happy that Wales will see a strong outfit up front.

“They are one of the best scrummaging sides in the world and that’s something we will have take a good look at when it comes to scrum time and make sure we’re on top of our game.”

Wales will go into the tie aware that six of the eight Ireland forwards facing them enjoyed a less than satisfactory evening the last time they played a competitive game against Leicester at Thomond Park.

What effect that defeat has had on those wearing an Ireland shirt on Sunday remains to be seen, but Easterby admits Wales will be wasting no time in seeing for themselves if that Tigers performance was a one-off or a sign of a previously undetected fault-line in the Muster and Ireland armour.

“They may look to what was done in the European Cup. Leicester went to Thomond Park and possibly out-muscled a few of the Munster players and that is certainly fresh in the minds of the guys who will be playing at the weekend from our point of view. It’s something the Munster players in particular will be keen to put right come Sunday.”

Masterminding the Welsh challenge will be a man Easterby knows only too well, of course. Prior to taking the reigns with the national team, Gareth Jenkins was coach to the flanker’s Llanelli side.

Asked to describe the Welsh chief, Easterby uses words like passion and intelligence, and with ‘Bread of Heaven’ ringing around the stadium come kick-off, he expects Jenkins to have his side prepared to the nth degree.

“Most of all, he’ll get the players on the edge. When they take the field he will know what’s expected of them. That was always the case at club level. Expect nothing different from a forward pack coached by Gareth Jenkins.

“We’ll have to be right on top of them to beat them. Gareth has got a lot of positives points. We saw that in the autumn with the rugby they played. The big test for them now is the Six Nations and the World Cup.”

For Ireland too.