Admire the All Blacks, but don’t be intimidated by them

THERE’S a smart comment that the boss likes to employ (not my boss now, you understand, just ‘the’ boss — any boss) along the lines of ‘Whether I’m right or wrong, I’m always right, ‘cos I’m always the boss’.

Along the same lines, however, there’s another little saying that I much prefer, because it says so much more — ‘Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, either way you’re right’. And I can’t help applying it to the All Black rugby team, and the Irish international rugby team, in that same order.

I love reading about the All Blacks, I love watching the All Blacks, I love watching documentaries on the All Blacks — I love the whole culture that has grown up around them — but I’m just not intimidated by it.

During last year’s Rugby World Cup in France I spent three weeks with them, meeting several different players and getting more than just a flavour of what it meant to be an All Black. And I fell for it, I really did. It’s as close as I’ve come anywhere in the world to the kind of basics we take so much for granted here in the GAA.

It’s not about an ambition to make it on the sporting stage for the money, or the glory, it’s about the pride of representing your family, your parish, your community, your province, your country. It’s a pride that runs very deep.

I know now the cynical will point to the huge number of Pacific Islanders who have become All Blacks and nod the heads. ‘Yeah, right, representing your country — and which particular country would that be now? New Zealand — or Fiji, Tonga or Samoa?’ Because the All Blacks have drawn from all four of those nations, and then some. No matter, I say, the All Blacks are above that, the All Blacks go beyond such boundaries. It’s a special jersey, a special concept, one with which I intend to get closer at some stage in my current career.

Every time an All Black pulls on that shirt, he expects to win. Every time an All Black team takes the field they expect to win. They have that attitude — they think they can, and because they think they can, they can. So it was in Croke Park last Saturday.

They came to Croke Park, and before they even kicked a ball there, they paid the GAA due respect. That’s the way they are. They came to a new arena, a new culture, they made it their business to learn something about the GAA, about its games, its history, its tradition. They honoured the place. On the field then, they honoured Ireland, picked their best team for what they felt was going to be one of their toughest matches on this tour.

And they delivered — they won, convincingly.

But, are they that much better than Ireland? Are they 19 points better than us, and more if they had been more clinical? I’m not convinced they are. I heard much made afterwards of the physicality of the All Blacks, how much more powerful they were than Ireland, and in the way they brushed off so many Irish tackles, in the way they stopped so many Irish players dead in their tracks.

ON FIRST glance you’d have to say yes, the All Blacks were indeed more powerful. And then you look closer, and you compare. In the pack, from one to eight, only Marcus Horan is significantly outweighed, 13kg lighter than Tony Woodcock; everyone else there was only a pound or two in it. In the backs it was the same story with only young Luke Fitzgerald significantly outweighed, giving away a whopping 14kg to Nonu. But everywhere else things were close enough, though the two Irish half-backs were giving away about a stone apiece.

So, what was the real difference? If you think you can, if you think you can’t… Why was this Irish side so tentative, manifested in all the simple mental errors? Quick penalty taps in daft positions, chipping when the grubber was more on, bad passes at vital moments, bad kicking — mental errors. It might sound like a daft thing to say but tackling too is almost as much mental as physical, it’s about attitude as much as size. I’ve seen small fellas cutting big men in two in the tackle, simply because of attitude, an attitude that manifested itself in aggression.

The All Blacks have that attitude, oh do they have that attitude; on Saturday, Ireland did not.

Why? If you think you can’t…

Tonight in Thomond Park, to have any chance whatsoever of repeating the result of 1978, Munster must have that attitude. Forget reputation — do you think Tyrone worried about reputation in 2003, in 2005, in 2008? Did they hell! Without an All-Ireland title in over 120 years of effort, they came up against Gaelic football’s own version of the All Blacks — Kerry — and each time they did the business. These Irish guys can play rugby, and as our boxers have shown over many, many decades, as our soldiers have shown, these Irish guys can be as physical as anyone, can be as courageous as anyone.

We’ll need that fight next weekend, against Argentina, to give ourselves a real chance in New Zealand in 2011. We’ll need it tonight in Limerick. I think we can, anyway, even if in this one, as in so many others, I’m in a lonely place.

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