Hickie: You have to go and say you’re going to win it
They’re conscious of the thousands of supporters expending energy and money following in the hope that Brian O’Driscoll and co were about to embark on something special after last season’s incredible highs.
Instead Ireland look bereft of the spark and the initiative of last season.
Denis Hickie is determined to turn things around, but also feels stating ambitions of winning the World Cup wasn’t a bad thing — even if that now can be used as stick to beat them with.
“You have to say how you feel about these sort of things,” says Hickie.
“But it’s a bit typical that when you say ‘we’re going to win the World Cup’ and then you’re not playing well, all of a sudden it’s used as a stick to beat you with. It’s a very Irish thing. But if somebody wants to say something like ‘here’s our ambition’ — I don’t think that’s a bad thing. There’s no point going to the World Cup and thinking you’re going to get knocked out.
“You have to go and say you’re going to win it.
“There comes a time when you just can’t bullshit people. If this is what you’re feeling, this is what you’re aiming for and you’ve got to come out and say it.
“If you (media) want to use it as a stick to beat us, I can’t do anything about it. I don’t regret us stating our ambitions, doing as well in this competition as possible because if we weren’t doing that we would not be doing our jobs either.”
Still if tomorrow’s pool game against Georgia in Bordeaux turns out to be pick-me-up for the team’s World Cup ambitions, there are signs of a general malaise in the Ireland camp that seem impossible to arrest.
An alarming decline in form from the highs of the England game in Croke Park to the team’s nadir against the lowest rank team in the Rugby World Cup (Namibia) was glaringly obvious.
But, putting one’s index finger on where everything has gone wrong is difficult says Hickie, who retires from all levels of rugby after the RWC.
“I think we put ourselves under a great deal of pressure coming in against a team like Namibia. We were playing at the end of the weekend and we saw how other teams had played. We wanted to put down a marker. Maybe we forgot about what we were really supposed to be doing. Namibia, I thought, were very well organised; we just made so many errors; then all of a sudden you can’t get into the game.
“It’s funny — you’re suddenly on a hiding to nothing in a game like that. Winning the game by 20 points and you’re still chasing it. That’s what dictated our performance — we were chasing the game even though we were winning and therefore you put more pressure on yourself saying ‘why aren’t we up by more points?’ We looked more like a team that wasn’t very experienced as opposed to being very experienced. We were very, very annoyed with ourselves to let ourselves get into that position and get ourselves so flustered.
“There are a lot of technical elements to work off for the game but there are other things to get the right mind frame. This is the weekend to do it.”
On Monday, Ireland’s team room in their hotel, situated in a less than attractive location on the edge of what is a beautiful city, was the venue for — a truth session.
The feelings inside were ones of frustration, anger and above all embarrassment. But, on a symbolic level, it was where their road to World Cup redemption began. For players like Denis Hickie the idea of getting a bad match out of the system cannot come quickly enough.
Hickie cannot be singled out as a scapegoat for the Namibia shambles, and O’Sullivan didn’t adopt a slash and burn policy when selecting his XV to face Georgia.
Hickie may have avoided a possible cull, but feels the team — which was returned en bloc bar the injured Andrew Trimble — owe O’Sullivan for the vote of confidence.
“I think after the Namibia game when we spoke about it, there was no sense of tactics not going right on the night. We were drilled in terms of preparation for the game. But in terms of individual execution, it was plain to see — we had 39 turnovers, which is more than double what we would have in any international.
“The coach can only do so much — if you can’t hold onto the ball and make bad decisions he can’t do anything about it. There was a sense of that immediately after the game.”
Hickie is under no illusions that tomorrow’s pool match against Georgia represents an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong and says it’s a good thing to be given reassurances from the boss.
“If you don’t play well, you take what’s coming to you. If he wants to give everyone else a second chance that’s fantastic. We know the way these things come around. I’m delighted everyone has got a second chance. Mind you, he would have to drop the whole team if you’re judging us on mistakes.
“We all need to up our individual performances.”
Hickie is one who certainly intends doing so.
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