History is made, not deserved

ONLY once in my career did I arrive at the last day of the Championship with a Grand Slam on the table for Ireland. Having secured a first Triple Crown since 1949 against Scotland in Lansdowne Road there was a four-week break before our final game against France in Paris. That proved three weeks too long.

Back in 1982 the country, not unlike now, was in the midst of a recession and any good news was welcome. The Irish rugby team provided that. Unfortunately, euphoria took over in the intervening weeks with celebrations aplenty. It was no surprise that we were well beaten by an inferior team.

At the time, success on the rugby field was hard to come by and for some strange reason the Triple Crown was the be-all and end-all. The focus on the Grand Slam was less than it should have been as the squad — and indeed the country — were content with our lot which included winning the championship outright. To this day, I think all the players involved regret that we allowed that to happen. Grand Slams are hard to come by.

Times have changed. Expectation levels are entirely different now both within the Irish camp and the general public, and one suspects that a championship win alone on Saturday in Cardiff will ring hollow to this outstanding group of players if they fail to beat Wales. It is astonishing to think that Ireland has but a single Grand Slam to its name given that Wales have two in this decade alone and ten in total.

In the last three games, Ireland have been content at times to contain and rely on their defensive attributes to frustrate the opposition and pull away in the end. That approach will be too one-dimensional to win this one. Ireland need to be more positive when they have the ball and back themselves to score tries.

Wales, for their part, will seek to control the pace of the game and play high-tempo rugby. When they are not allowed to do that, they act like spoilt kids at times and are unsure how to cope. The challenge for Ireland therefore is twofold — produce quick ball so that they can orchestrate a multi-phase attack on their terms, while at the same time denying the Welsh the opportunity to do likewise. The last thing Ireland need is a loose game which will play into Welsh hands.

After their poor showing in Rome last weekend, there will be considerable pressure on Warren Gatland and his team to produce. That narrow win handed the initiative to Ireland in terms of points differential but with a Triple Crown at stake for them I think the Welsh will not worry too much about points and just focus on winning. The eight changes that Gatland has made will result in a fresh side primed for action. The decision to re-unite the 2005 and 2008 Grand Slam winning midfield combination of Gavin Henson and Tom Shanklin is bad news for Ireland as Shanklin is the one who makes this Welsh backline purr. The omission of the massive Jamie Roberts, who had a very impressive opening to the tournament, suggest that Wales will attempt to add even more width to their game. Gatland’s faith in Henson this season is yet to be rewarded.

It was interesting to hear Declan Kidney recognise there will be massive hype in the build up to Saturday’s game and that the players should embrace it and enjoy it. It is the same mantra he preached for Munster’s last two Heineken Cup finals having learned from the experience of losing two prior to that.

While the Munster contingent will have a positive feel about playing in Cardiff, there will be one massive difference on this occasion. Munster faced French opposition in Biarritz and Toulouse in their two most recent finals and enjoyed the backing of a 50,000-plus red army. The challenge on this occasion will be to silence a highly emotional and committed red army of even greater proportions who will be driving on the home team.

WITHOUT question, Kidney has turned this squad around in his short time at the helm from a group lacking in confidence after a very disappointing period between 2007 and 2008 and has slowly built up confidence levels to a point where once again they believe they can win any game despite being under pressure for long periods.

Now he must devise the blueprint to deny Wales the opportunity to play on their terms. No doubt he will have observed how both England and France stopped their principal ball carriers, Andy Powell and Jamie Roberts, from generating any momentum. Now with Roberts on the bench, Stephen Ferris can set his sights on cutting down Powell, who looks a bit of a one trick pony at times.

Kidney, in making three changes to last Saturday’s team, has decided that Tomás O’Leary’s greater physical presence will be needed from the start to combat Mike Phillips at scrum-half. Peter Stringer did everything asked of him in Murrayfield and is entitled to feel a little disappointed. With more game time on board, the decision to retain Gordon D’Arcy with Brian O’Driscoll in midfield was straightforward and their battle against Henson and Shanklin will be key. Any slight injury doubt hanging over Denis Leamy made it easy to recall Jamie Heaslip who deserves to start anyway on the basis of his impact last weekend. Once again Jerry Flannery’s greater dynamism has won him the nod over Rory Best, who also played well in Edinburgh.

This generation of players have given so much over the last nine years They deserve a Grand Slam to highlight their contribution to Irish rugby. Unfortunately, as O’Connell once said, deserving and delivering are two different animals. Many of the above were within touching distance when playing for the Slam against England in 2003 at Lansdowne Road but were beaten by a far superior force. To be offered a second opportunity is rare for an Irish rugby player. It is imperative therefore that Ireland leave Cardiff with no regrets. History will take care of itself.