Fronting up to the critics

IT WAS a tough few days afterwards, guys trying to get over it — you’re playing things over and over in your head. More than anything though, a lot of us felt that we left people down, the manner in which we lost.

You’d think you could close out a game like that but we didn’t, and that’s very disappointing.

It had all started out so well, everything that went on before the kick-off — an amazing experience, I have to say that. You think you know what to expect, but you don’t. We had trained in Croke Park a couple of times already, but it was empty on all those occasions – this was different.

The national anthem especially, that was hugely emotional. With Lansdowne Road being so much smaller, we had never played in front of an Irish crowd as big as this before, on an Irish pitch. To hear the national anthem boom out the way it did, it was just immense, really got to us.

The crowd were so up for it — that’s why it took so much out of them as well, because they had put so much of themselves into it. That try really deflated everyone: it’s there in the pictures that appeared in the papers, the scenes at the final whistle; you can see we’re dejected, very down, but in the background you can see the supporters as well, many of them with their head in their hands, absolutely gutted.

I was on the outside for the try, myself and Andrew Trimble were the last two in the line; you play it back over and over again in your head – could you have done something different, should you have come in? But we were out on our feet at that stage after the long maul a few minutes beforehand, and the way it all happened, you’d have to say maybe they were just destined to win.

Thion swatted the ball, could have gone anywhere, but it took a bounce for them and that was that.

I think the whole nation was in mourning the morning after the match, we could feel that as a team. A few of us went down to Dundrum Shopping Centre the next day, got the reaction there from people, and they were genuinely sorry for us.

THAT’S a major target today — starting well and imposing our game.

We had a break for a couple of days which was great, a break from camp, get home for a while, get away from rugby — that was badly needed for a lot of guys.

Last Sunday Clare won well in the first round of the National Hurling League, a great start. To go to Down and win so convincingly — 3-25 was a great score, against any opposition; hopefully it continues. When I was home for the few days, and after mentioning in this column getting the signed Clare jersey before the last match, the biggest talking point among the lads was whether Davy Fitz’s signature was on it!

I didn’t tell them because I hadn’t checked; I have checked now, but I’m still not telling! You’d love to see him back, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the players. The important thing is that Clare continue to do well.

As for criticism of the front row, I try not to read the papers but these things come back to you. I get friends of mine saying ‘Did you see what Stuart Barnes said about you,’ that sort of stuff. It’s very frustrating, but all we can do is keep our heads down.

Alright, we lost our first scrum against France, and we’re furious with ourselves over that — lack of concentration, went in too high, didn’t get a good strike on the ball and got caught. You can go one of two ways when something like that happens — you can let it get to you, affect your confidence, or you can fight back, and that’s what we did, bounced back, fought hard, disrupted a couple of their scrums, turned them over in one. Those people don’t write about that.

But it’s amazing how certain pundits can talk up scrums, can talk up certain teams, talk up certain individuals, how powerful they are. It happened before we played the Welsh, all the talk was about the damage Jenkins and Horsman were going to do to our scrum, yet when it didn’t happen, when we actually turned them around, there was no talk, nothing from those same people about how myself and John had performed in the scrum, how well we had played.

I’m not here to tell journalists how they should see the game, what they should write, but I know what’s happening out there, and I’d have a lot more respect for these people if they analysed our performance in full, not just focus on one or two bad scrums.

Every game in this championship is going to be tough, we’re up against a huge pack again today. It’s about keeping our concentration, and if we do that, we know we can hold our own with anyone in the scrum. Doesn’t matter who they bring on, we have to stay focused, do our job. I don’t think we fear anyone; the way one English prop was written about last week you’d swear the guy was 6’10” and 30 stone. It’s amazing, the power of the pen. If he was that good, surely he’d be starting? We’ll stick to what we’re doing, not worry about what anyone else is doing.

I just feel that this Irish team is going so well, the backs especially, the back-row, the second-row, that people feel they have to complain about something, and we’re the targets.

The big Croke Park experience is out of the way, we’ve played our first game there, that’s over. This is about getting the win, pure and simple. It’s still a great national occasion, and we did learn that from the last day – the involvement of the crowd from long before the first whistle was immense, really drove us on. It’s going to be another tight game, another tough game, but that kind of support deserves the right result today.

We’ll be working our socks off, putting our bodies on the line, going after every ball like our lives depended on it, to give them that result.