Cup hurt is driving Donncha

DONNCHA O’CALLAGHAN has won many admirers during this year’s Six Nations Championship — and not only for his striking performances on the field.

Web-chat pages, radio phone-in shows and message boards saw much traffic in response to the Cork man’s emotional but sincere post-match interview following the France match a fortnight ago. His teary-eyed responses had viewers reaching for the Kleenex as the second row expressed how his team-mates were trying to exorcise those World Cup ghosts during this Six Nations campaign.

“We’re just trying to prove to everyone at home we’re just a bunch of honest, hard-working guys trying to do our best,” said O’Callaghan after France edged Ireland 26-21.

“We’re desperate to make up for the World Cup and we’re now hurting after failing to do so (against France).”

He, like Ronan O’Gara, can be incredibly insightful in the immediate aftermath of high-octane battle. O’Gara, too, emerged before the press corps to underline his disappointment.

“It’s been a long time since Ireland produced a satisfying performance like that but the bottom line is that we have been beaten in Paris again,” remarked O’Gara, before adding: “At Munster, I’m used to winning and I expected to win today. We’re sore and very disappointed.”

O’Callaghan, however, has been doing all his talking on the field of late, after it emerged that he’s hurt by some negative comment directed at him in the fall-out from his World Cup experience. His reticence in the press is a result of a slating by one journalist.

But he continues to make headlines. His stock has risen considerably in recent months, proving that the RWC was, for him, an aberration. And, more noticeably, he has emerged from the shadows of his more illustrious second row partner, Paul O’Connell. The absence of O’Connell, who starts on the bench today, has, ironically, had a galvanising effect on O’Callaghan’s form, especially in the latter stages of the Heineken Cup before he pushed himself into a “world class second row” bracket after his performances against Italy and France.

“It was a very disappointed dressing room after the game in Paris, there’s no question about that,” he told the Munster Newsletter this week. “We knew we’d messed up. We knew it was a game we should have won even after we’d given them that lead. But at no stage did we think the game was beyond us. At half time there was no panic; no ranting and raving. We said at half time we just needed to cut out the mistakes. And even after the try in the second half we knew we weren’t out of it.

“We did get back to within a score of winning it, but to not close the deal was devastating, it really was.”

He added: “All the talk before was of what the French were going to do to us. I’m not sure people gave Italy credit at all. It was our first game since France. There was rustiness there and we didn’t play well as a team. We knew that but we also knew we were better than that and could play better. I think we saw in the second half in France what we’re capable of. And again I think it wasn’t that we were so bad in the first, just every time we made a mistake they scored.

“In total contrast people are looking at Scotland and expecting Ireland to do to them what the same people predicted France would do to Ireland.”

O’Callaghan made his Ireland debut against Wales in 2003, and then for a couple of seasons earned more caps as a replacement rather than a starter. He has been an automatic choice in the last two seasons, helped no doubt by his inclusion as a wild card on the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand, where he won two test caps against the All Blacks. Despite his reservations with some acerbic media comment, the RWC was a major disappointment for him, but his honesty on that RTÉ interview was enough to show how much he was hurting after his RWC.

His public persona portrays a gentle-giant exterior but he’s a serious-minded professional. Behind the scenes in either Ireland or Munster camp, he is known as the team prankster and a bit of a joker. On the field his performances have been characterised by incredible work rate and aggression at ruck-time. And while Mick O’Driscoll will operate as line-out manager today, O’Callaghan is a steady jumper both offensively and defensively, and lately is seen to be carrying more ball, an area where his limitations were shown up in the past.

“I’m looking forward to the Scotland game,” O’Callaghan continues. “We all are. You don’t like to see fellas dropped (Mal O’Kelly) but it’s great to have Micko in there and Paulie back in the 22. Certainly you can’t say there’s no incentive.”

O’Callaghan stresses that Ireland will pay Scotland every respect, even though expectations levels are high amongst the home support.

“The expectation out there is huge. I suppose when you’re at home you’re expected to win and that’s fair enough although all that home advantage guarantees is the crowd support. That’s a huge help, but this game won’t be won in the stands.

“There’s no-one in the squad under any illusions about how tough this game is going to be. No matter what level you play Scottish sides — in Magners League, Heineken Cup or this level — you really have to play out of your skins to beat them.”

And bursting a gut for Ireland today will be the man who wears his heart on is sleeve.