A hero’s return in green as Peter pulls the strings

IT WAS like he was never away. It’s been over a year now since Peter Stringer lost his much-prized Munster number nine shirt to Tomás O’Leary, followed shortly by the loss of the even more prestigious and more appreciated green jersey.

On Saturday, however, the little man was back, the little man with the huge heart, and delivering another huge performance, man of the match in an intense physical win at Murrayfield. He did all his usual work around base of ruck, maul and scrum to the standards we have become accustomed to, and that magnificent pass was in evidence time and time again, reason perhaps why Ireland managed the impressive total of 191 completed passes in what was a forward-dominated game.

On this day, however, it was the unusual that really caught the eye. Time and again, Stringer employed the box kick, taking some of the defensive pressure off long-time half-back partner Ronan O’Gara; on one spectacular occasion, however, there was the break that led to the only try, the try that ultimately proved the difference between the sides.

“The ball was thrown to Paulie, their pod matched him, tried to win the ball, I saw a nice opportunity to have a go, a bit of a gap…” and off he went, haring through. Problem was, with the Scottish cover closing in, Stringer didn’t have the pace to go all the way on his own, but initially he didn’t have a lot of support either. Did a little zig-zagging, delayed just long enough for the alert Jamie Heaslip to come steaming up on the outside, gave the pass at exactly the right moment. No vainglorious burst for the line on his own, no temptation even — suck them in, make the pass.

“You’re always thinking there’s cover defence coming, and if you don’t pass and are caught, opportunity lost, you’re the world’s worst. I heard Jamie roaring, he made it clear he was there in support.”

Now, all the talk is about Wales next Saturday in Cardiff, potential Grand Slam. He’s been down this road before; 2003 against England, last game of the season, two teams going for the Grand Slam, Ireland with home advantage — grand slam alright, Ireland grand-slammed to the tune of 42-6. Not a happy memory for anyone wearing green that afternoon, and good reason why Stringer won’t get carried away this week. “It was a massive occasion, we found ourselves in a position Ireland hadn’t been in for a long while, but the squad has come a long way since then, the provinces have had success and so have Ireland. There are more experienced heads going into this game, we won’t let the occasion get us carried away. Definitely we’re looking forward to it but it won’t be easy. We go back into camp straight away. This will be built up to a massive game but we’ll try remain focused, concentrate on the job at hand, work on our own patterns, try to impose those on the day. And that will be difficult, we know it’s going to be noisy, we have to remain cool-headed. It will be a challenge, but we’re capable of it if we retain our composure during the week.”

Also looking forward to that challenge is full-back Rob Kearney, another who had an impressive outing. Fear, he says, is driving this team, fear of losing. “It’s a great finale, potentially, but it could be heartache also, and we have to have fear in our game. If you don’t have it you can become complacent, you don’t get the best from yourself, you can go into your box. Another 80 minutes, that’s what everyone will be focused on. This is Six Nations, you don’t want to lose a single game. It’s cup mentality, win every game, and next week will be no different.”