Mal content to be back in action
O’Kelly is the tallest member of the party, but he is also vastly more experienced than anyone else.
It’s something he says will take a bit of getting used to, given the fact that so many hardy perennials like Brian O’Driscoll, John Hayes, Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer, his senior allies, won’t be along for the ride.
But while players of that ilk are being given a well deserved rest, it feels like the start of a new season for O’Kelly, who has put a frustrating injury behind him and is chomping at the bit to get at Leinster colleague Felipe Contepomi and friends in the two match test series at Santa Fe and Buenos Aires.
He admitted: “Being the senior figure — by a bit — on the tour is certainly different; it’s not something I would have experienced before. Right now, we’re trying to figure out who is going to fill the back seat of the bus!”
He is fully conscious of how important it is for him to bring the full weight of his 83 caps to bear on this tour.
“With so many experienced players staying at home, it’s going to be a huge challenge, but it’s an opportunity for some guys, myself included, to step up to the mark and lead by example for the benefit of the younger players,” he said.
O’Kelly’s last cap was against the Pacific Islands in November; he was disappointed to miss the entire Six Nations through injury, but ironically he feels it has been beneficial.
“If I had played the Six Nations, I know I wouldn’t be going to Argentina. I haven’t had the opportunity to play for Ireland since November and I’m certainly feeling very fresh right now. I’ve had a good run of games; I feel light on my feet, I’ve had six weeks off in the middle of the season which was very unusual for me, so it has given me an opportunity to gather myself again.
“Hopefully, with a run of games behind me, I’ll be peaking for this tour and the very least I will bring is enthusiasm.”
Hot on the heels of another Triple Crown and near-Grand Slam victory, the Irish provinces didn’t keep up the momentum in either Europe or the Magners League.
Their inability to do so has been criticised in certain quarters, but O’Kelly can’t quite understand why.
“Last season was pretty special for Munster, for Ulster, and nearly for us but I think that people fail to take into consideration the fact that both the Heineken Cup and Magners League include some very high quality teams.
“Certainly, in the Magners League, we (Leinster) were right there with a shout until the last weekend. We had some pretty significant wins, but this competition is run over 10 months and good wins don’t necessarily give you the right to win it outright.
“There are 20 games and we really left ourselves with a lot to do by losing a couple of particular games. We lost away to Borders and that was probably the winning and losing of the league.”
What happened at provincial level, insisted O’Kelly, will have no real bearing on how Ireland will fare in the forthcoming tour or the World Cup.
Yet, he is in no doubt that the trip to Argentina will be a daunting one. O’Kelly is good on statistics and he didn’t bat an eyelid when he rattled off a line about Argentina having exported 60 prop forwards to play with clubs in all four divisions of the French Championship.
“Believe it or not, it’s true,” he said, adding that one wouldn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the battle against the Pumas will begin up front.
“I don’t know their line-up yet, but I do know that they will be very committed, very aggressive in all sections of the pack; they’ll try to wear us down and they’ll be all out to disrupt and frustrate us by being ultra-competitive at the breakdown.”
Neither does he expect them to play it tight behind the scrum. “Maybe that would have been their style in the old days, but they have guys who have made their mark on the Sevens circuit, and I think we saw that they could play a bit when they were at Twickenham in the autumn.”
O’Kelly is often amused at supporters’ perception that Argentina aren’t quite worthy of being in amongst the top teams in the world. He puts that down to the fact that they lack serious game time against the big nations.
“Because of that, I think people tend to overlook them, but you do that at your peril. A lot of their top guys are playing in France, so that must be some sort of recommendation, and they seem to have great strength in depth, particularly in the front row, an area where other countries appear to struggle to get sufficient numbers of quality players.
“Maybe it’s the way over there; the way that youngsters want to model themselves on prop forwards as against here where the kids have heroes in very different positions. Whatever, we’re prepared for two big showdowns these next couple of weeks.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
