We want to lay down a marker

IT HAD to happen. I’ve had problems with my calf before, but all week everything was going so well, in fact all year everything was going so well, to the point where I probably got a bit cocky.

All the scrums in the other games, not a twitch, I was beginning to feel, ‘Right, it’s grand now, it’s perfect.’ I probably slackened off a bit in looking after it properly, though in fairness I did go to the pool in the hotel in Scotland on the Thursday after we arrived.

Went out then for the captain’s run on the Friday morning and just in the warm-up, as I went for a sprint, I felt the pop. I knew straight away, same feeling back again, though thankfully it was a good bit down the scale. I could still walk on it, could even hop on it, but when I got back to the hotel it just got that bit worse.

Because it was Friday, game on Saturday, I had to make the decision, couldn’t leave it ’till Saturday morning. That was it, made the call there and then, gone. Sod’s law then of course, I got up on Saturday morning feeling great, thinking ‘Jeez I could have played,’ but no, we made the right decision, it still wasn’t spot on.

It’s an unusual problem, the calf, probably caused because of the way I walk, with my feet turned in a bit, but a lot of it is the kind of training we do. Because of my position a lot of my training is vertical, the power lifts, that sort of thing, so a lot of the work is in that direction. In a game, though, a lot of the work is horizontal, in the scrums especially but also in taking off, sprinting, and I probably wasn’t focusing enough on that.

I’m strong enough vertically, but I had to start doing more exercises in the horizontal direction. All three calf injuries I’ve had have come from horizontal situations, two from scrummaging, the one last weekend from sprinting, pushing off, so it’s a matter now of staying on top of that, combining the work vertically and horizontally.

Hopefully I’ll get to play, and if I do, it’s going to be well tested! I’ve heard suggestions that I might be better off missing out on this one, but I’d hate that. We all relish these personal battles and this was a game that, from the start of the Six-Nations, all our critics would have said that we were going to be found out, that our scrum wouldn’t be up to it.

Definitely the Italians will be targeting us, we know that, definitely they’ll see this as an area where they can dominate — especially now with Paulie out — but we’re looking forward to this as well. We’ve done well this Six Nations, now we want to lay down a marker. This is our last big game as a group before the World Cup, we want to go there with a bit of a reputation, the right reputation. It would be nice to be feared by teams.

Just to go back to last week’s game for a minute, I was sitting with management, up with the subs, and it’s an awful place to be.

I didn’t see what happened with Rog, and that’s not a cop-out. When he took the ball into contact, got the hit, I turned to Geordie (Murphy) and said, ‘Jesus, he’ll be sore after that’. A few seconds later the whistle went, I got up, was watching my feet on the steps down to the pitch, never copped that there was any sort of problem at all, went around shaking hands.

It was only in the dressing-room afterwards I heard that Rog had been in real trouble on the ground; John Hayes was a bit of a hero, reacted straight away, got Rog into the recovery position and checked that he hadn’t swallowed his tongue. Fiona (Steed, John’s wife, former women’s rugby international flanker) is a physio, so maybe that’s where he learned what to do, or maybe as a farmer he’s done some sort of safety course. Either way, I wonder how I’d have reacted, in the same situation.

With the Scots there were mistakes, too many handling errors, but that can be corrected; the most critical thing was the way the lads battled back from being two scores behind with less than ten minutes remaining, to get the win. That was fantastic, showed huge character.

In fairness to Simon (Best, Marcus’s replacement) I thought he was brilliant on the day, did really well for a fella called in at short notice. He’s got great experience, has captained Ulster, has a great head on him, did a superb job. I’ll be honest, I felt pissed off at missing out but I had had a word with Simon the previous day. As soon as I got back to the hotel I felt I had to put my own disappointment aside, put something into the team, make sure Simon is okay with everything, that he knows what he’s supposed to be doing. We had a good chat, Bryan Young there as well, about the calls and so on.

We’ve been in the hotel for several weeks now but everyone gets on, all the players, the management team, the backroom staff. Everyone has their own little quirks of character that they bring to the table, and the craic is always there, the bit of messing.

Everyone likes to slag off the front row guys, that we’re the thick ones, there for our muscle only, but there’s a certain back row – I won’t name him to save embarrassment – didn’t exactly cover himself in glory recently.

Rog’s birthday was during the week, we were having a party for him, this back row piped in – ‘Didn’t he have a birthday again around this time last year?’ The same fella was asked about the chances of one of the lads who was doubtful being ready – ‘I’d say he’s 70/40,’ he reckoned. So maybe the focus has to shift – maybe we’re not so bad in the front row, after all!

I’ve really enjoyed this Six-Nations, the France result apart. That was the real test, how would we react? But there was never any doubt, fantastic unity. There’s a great buzz there, great to be part of it. We know how to enjoy ourselves, know when to get down to business as well, and that’s encouraging going into a World Cup. Hopefully now, we can go there on a high.