Hope for the future if attitude changes

IRISH captain Ronan O’Gara promised his side would do their utmost to put a smile back on the faces of the Irish public in advance of Saturday’s final Six Nations game at Twickenham. Did Ronan and his team-mates deliver?

A 33-10 defeat, doesn’t look like there’s anything to smile about there, does it? And yet I am smiling, I am happy, much happier than I was this time last week.

At least we had a cut, at least we had a go, and kept having a go to the death. We were undone, as we have been all season by our own mistakes. Nine turnovers inside the opposition 22, at least two tries conceded when there wasn’t even a hint of an overlap, is there another major test nation would allow that?

And remember, we did the same thing against Wales, Shane Williams scoring when he should have been blitzed off the park. The defence let us down as it has done all season – the fault there lies in attitude, in technique, a problem easily fixed. Overall, however, I would consider this a heartening performance, and bear with me while I explain.

I have a young fella, 19, who dropped out of college after three months in 2006, because he didn’t feel he was suited to the mechanical engineering degree course he was doing in CIT. In 2007, after just four months, he dropped out of another course, this one in music, again because he didn’t feel it was what he was looking for. About a month ago Niall headed off to Perth in Australia, where he will spend three months, after which he goes to New Zealand, then Indonesia, China and Japan, before returning in September.

A lot of parents would prefer that their 19-year-old was in college, studying anything as long as it led to some sort of qualification and a nice, secure future. Maybe I’m just an oddball, but I’m happy that he’s doing what he’s doing. It tells me he’s got a mind of his own. It tells me that even if he’s not certain yet what he wants to do, he knows damned well what he doesn’t want to do. It tells me he’s willing to take a chance, that he’s got spirit, he’s got courage, he’s got a sense of adventure. It tells me he will go after his dreams with real purpose.

All of the above is what I’d like to see in an Irish rugby team. I’m not a rugby expert; I’m not a video analyst, I don’t watch the tapes of the Irish Six Nations or World Cup games over and over again. But I don’t need to, to know what’s gone wrong, and it’s this – attitude. Somewhere between the end of last March and Paris in September, the attitude of the Irish rugby team changed.

I’m doing research at the moment for a book on hurling, on the 15 hurling positions, the qualities that defined them and the men who defined those qualities. In the course of which I’ve met a succession of veritable legends of the game. When Brian Lohan was defining the qualities of a full-back, there was, I felt, one glaring omission, so I put it to him – what about aggression, Brian? You didn’t mention aggression, your own trademark. And he gave me the Lohan look – I think you know the one, that look that puts you back very definitely in your box. “Aggression,” he said, “Is something you need in EVERY position.” Brian didn’t mention it because to him, it was a given. And of course, he’s absolutely right.

I watched Kilkenny in a league game on Sunday, and there it was, aggression in every position, and aggression in every situation. If the ball breaks loose you attack the ball. If an opponent has the ball you attack the ball-carrier. It is done, not just for the sake of attack but to strip him of the ball or at least make it impossible for him to have a shot. Aggression in every position, in every situation, that’s hurling. But, that is also rugby.

Ireland stopped being aggressive. We’ve lost our spirit, we lost our sense of adventure, we lost our courage.

Soft in defence, dithering in attack, we lost our way.

Despite the result, Saturday was a step or two back in the right direction. There was real promise for Irish rugby in Twickenham last Saturday and shows real hope for the future. We already have tons of mature talent, we saw glimpses of the future in the performances of Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearney, two youngsters who should have been in this Irish team since the start of the Six Nations. We saw promise also in the considerable presence of Tony Buckley, who will take over the massive mantle left by the magnificent John Hayes.

A small adjustment in the attitude, that’s all – with the ball or without the ball, in rugby or in life generally, attack, attack, attack. Do that, and no apologies are needed.

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