Friendship for life
“I
GOT a phone call saying the squad was going to meet up, but at the time there
was so much going on with the clubs; Heineken Cup games and so on. I remember
thinking ‘It’s going to be four or five days, I wonder what it's going
to be about - I'm really busy with Ulster, do we really need to have this camp?’.
But as soon as I walked in the door I knew it would be worth it.
“It was
a really good couple of days - we even ended up cutting the camp short because
we felt we got the work that needed to be done, done in a couple of days. We were
supposed to be there for three or four days, but we ended up only staying for
two or three nights.”
“We met up before Christmas in Enfield, and had a big heart-to-heart, I suppose
that’s what you'd call it. Everyone benefited from those few days; the players
came out knowing what coaches wanted, the coaches came out knowing what we wanted.
Declan and his staff were pushing for everyone to get involved, even the younger
lads; if you had something to say, say it, have your input.
Personally I was
delighted to get the opportunity to have a say, where normally I might have kept
quiet. You're there with guys who have already established themselves as legends
in the game, but you have to get over the awe factor, and fast, you have to realise
that these guys are also your peers, that you are competing for places with them.
It was the same for Stephen Ferris, for Rob Kearney, for all the younger guys.”
“THE blast from Rog (Ronan O’Gara) kicked it
off, what he said after Munster nearly beat the All-Blacks in Thomond Park in
November. When we all met up again in Enfield, that was brought up. We were disappointed
with ourselves after the autumn internationals, disappointed with the performances
more than anything else. We had got two wins from three, had managed to retain
our world ranking in the top eight, which was the major goal, but we knew we could
have performed better, we knew there was a lot more in us. Enfield was a getting-to-know-you
period, and it worked. Okay, a lot of us had been knocking around together for
a long time already at that stage, and we should have known each other well enough,
but it was a new coach, in Declan Kidney, a new management team, and I suppose
most significantly of all, a lot of new players.
“RONAN'S
comments about investing in the Irish jersey were talked about, but everybody
just looked over it, nobody took it as seriously as I think ROG did. There were
so many other things that were on people's minds. That was talked about, and then
we moved on to other issues.
“We didn't lose all three games in the autumn
internationals, we won two out of three and lost to the best team in the world
(New Zealand). It wasn't all doom and gloom; a lot of guys maybe realised that.
A lot of people may have gone into the camp thinking we were in a bit of a slump,
but came out of it looking forward to the Six Nations. It was more about getting
any issues sorted and ironed out before a massive championship.”
“ROG said nothing in the media that he
wouldn’t say to everyone’s face. People probably took it as a huge moment
because of its honesty. But that’s what you get with him, isn’t it?
I didn’t take any offence to it; I didn’t take it as anything else other
than one of my team leaders giving me a kick up the ass which we needed. What
he said was a 100pc true and it showed his complete honesty as a person.
“The
hardest thing to do is actually say what he said – he could have thought
it and said nothing, but that’s not his form and I don’t think it’s
the form of an awful lot of fellas in our dressingroom. We pride ourselves on
honesty, and he was being a 100% honest. Of course it’s going to annoy some
people. It was something that needed to be said, if everyone was thinking it had
to be addressed.”
“WE had been a bit bothered
by the autumn Tests; we felt we didn’t play that well, and we were wondering
how to fix things a small bit and get ourselves on the right track. There wasn’t
much training done, just a lot of talking and getting to know each other a bit
more.
“We had apartments that we shared with different guys - I was in
with Paul O’Connell. They were two-bedroom apartments that were right beside
each other - Stringer and Mushy (Tony Buckley) were next door to us.
Everyone
was around each other and there was so much talking done, we did get to know each
other better and it was a good laugh too.
“We split into three or four
groups, and a senior player was head of each one. We just threw in suggestions
about what could take us forward, brought it all together and threw the opinions
out on the table; it all kinda kicked off from that. Everybody felt happy and
came away from that weekend knowing what to address and where we were going. The
players and management came up with a game-plan and it came up trumps with the
way it panned out over the Six Nations.”
“IT wasn’t that it was great fun. We went into one of these Christmas
dinners and were told there’s a free bar inside.
There we were, in the
middle of Enfield, no one else around us. But putting forty lads into a bar on
their own wasn’t a good idea. We all sat there and said ‘f*** this,
it’s not healthy drinking in this situation. As much as everyone goes on
‘Enfield was great, Enfield was great’, to be honest I was happy to
hit Cork!”
“IT was those younger players,
more than anyone else, who brought up what Rog had said, about the pride that
Munster felt in their jersey, how maybe that same pride wasn’t there when
we pulled on the Irish shirt. The funny thing is, I don’t think that was
ever really the case, certainly not where I’m concerned anyway.
I’ve
always been very strong on Ireland, and I find it hard to understand the attitude
of some of the Munster supporters towards it.
Don't get me wrong, they’re
fantastic, and they’ve made such a difference in a lot of big games for us,
but surely, when a Munster player is then picked to represent his country, that’s
an even bigger honour, an honour for all of Munster to enjoy?
I think it is
important that people should know where we come from, that we’re Munster
men, but the Irish jersey represents so much more, and every time I’ve worn
it I’ve given it 100%. You're only away with the international team for a
short while, you must give it everything in that time. Then you go back to your
province and pick up where you left off there. That’s always been my attitude,
you can be a true Munster man but you can also be a true Irish man.
What Rog
had said came up, often, and it needed to be brought up. It was the right thing
for Rog to say, because there’s no doubt about it, that perception was out
there, and it was growing, the idea that the Munster players, especially, gave
more for their province than Ireland. It got the right response in Enfield; as
players, we wanted to change that perception, and I hope we have now. Once you’re
in an Irish camp, everything else is left at the door.”
“FAIR play to Marcus, he had the balls to say ‘enough
is enough’. If people think I care less abut playing for Ireland than Munster
they’re mistaken’. It was incredibly honest out of him.
Then Rob
Kearney spoke. A young player like him coming into the squad to say what he said
,well, he just went through the roof in my estimation.
I’d do anything
for him now. After Marcus speaking so honestly it needed someone else to come
in and Kearns did that.
He was saying sometimes he looks at Munster and wonders
do these guys get to the same level when they’re playing with him. In a way,
he asked questions of a few of us in the room. I thought fair play to him.
It
was a crucial moment for the team. You’d have to give credit to Deccie because
he put the situation together for something like that to happen. Those two boys
could have sat in the room and shut their mouth, but they didn’t - they showed
a bit of balls.”
“THERE was a great feeling
this season for whatever reason; we came together from different parts of the
country but after that Enfield meeting everyone got on. There was great craic,
always, a great social thing – in fact I’d have to say that even with
all the pressure, this felt like the shortest Six-Nations ever and for me, that’s
saying something, because I was really missing my little daughter. The social
committee really came up trumps. Donncha is the leader (naturally), Jamie Heaslip
is involved, Tommy Bowe, Tomás O’Leary - they kept things ticking
along nicely, no-one allowed to get ahead of themselves, everyone ripe for a slagging,
and that included the management staff. We had an evening with Christy Moore,
great craic – just pull out the guitar and he’s off. Great respect too
for anyone who gave a song. I tried ‘Clare To Here’, a few of the other
lads had their own favourites. Denis Leamy is probably the best of us, a good
man to belt out a song.
We really put down the time well, and the idea of mixing
up the camps really worked, leaving the capital for a while. Maybe some fellas
had got into a bit of a comfort zone, maybe some of us had got into a rut, but
every player embraced the idea, and for those of us with young families, it really
helped.”
“IT looks now as if
we sat down and had a massive heart-to-heart: it wasn’t like that. One day
Marcus addressed it and Rob Kearney spoke up and that’s all what was to it.
Deccie may have picked it out as a turning point in our season - and it was to
an extent. But to me, it was about being honest. We didn’t go in there with
a set agenda - i.e by the time we get out of here let’s clear the air. I
wasn’t going up there with that pre-conceived idea.
To be honest, going
there, we were all pissed off. In previous years we’d been in Portugal or
Lanzarote and it’d been nice to have been there coming up to Christmas week.
But, no, we ended up going to Enfield in Meath. I know where I’d go if I
had my pick.”
“EVERYTHING was shaken up,
including the rooming-list. I was always with John Hayes, and still spent a lot
of time with him this season, but I also spent time with Cian Healy, with Girvan
Dempsey.
Young and old, backs and forwards, it was all mixed up, and that
was important, especially for the younger fellas who can often feel alienated
from the established squad member. If everyone is thrown together then no-one
can feel bigger than anyone else, and no-one did, everyone felt on the same level,
and on the same wavelength. It seems very simple, but everyone got to know each
other better, and that was a great help through the campaign.
Mind you, from
my own perspective it was good to get a break from John – I’ve worn
out three or four pairs of ear-plugs over the years trying to drown out his snores.
The first night he was with Paul O'Connell the doctor got a middle-of-the-night
call, a request for ear-plugs!”
“I had
the ‘honour’ of rooming with Marcus in Limerick, and that was an experience;
I was in with Strings for a bit as well but I spent most of the games with D'Arcy,
all really nice guys. The spirit was always there, any time I’ve been involved
with Ireland there was always a good vibe, always mighty craic – I’ve
never had an unpleasant experience. But changing rooms meant you got to know a
lot of guys on a more personal level and we all benefited from that; everyone
put everything in for each other, and you really saw that in the games where our
backs were to the wall.”
“I’D
never worked with Declan before so it was a whole new thing for me. Paddy Wallace
and Rory Best had worked with him at underage level, but I didn't know him at
all. The first time I met him was when he came up to Ulster with (Ireland forwards
coach) Gert Smal and said 'I need you guys to tell me about any problems you have.
It's a team, we're going to work together to get to the top. It’s not just
going to be me, me, me handing out everything, spoon-feeding you, we all have
to contribute to this. And if you've any issues or anything's wrong, tell us and
we'll do our best to sort it out’..
“He has a fantastic team working
underneath him. Gert Smal has won a World Cup with South Africa - himself and
Paul O'Connell are like father and son, the way they get on - Les Kiss, Paul McNaughton...there's
a great balance, and it's great to be part of a team that’s striding forward.”
“A LOT of people are wondering what Gert Smal did to improve us
as a pack this year. Gert is an enormous figure, a great find for us; more than
anything else what he did was instil confidence in us, as individuals and as a
unit. We have worked hard on a lot of things, on the scrums obviously, and that
went well for us this season. He hasn’t changed the way we scrummage, he
really just instilled confidence, the confidence not just to hold our own but
to compete, to attack. He doesn’t say much but he says what’s needed;
when you achieve he lets you know, when you don't he lets you know as well, but
always, he’s honest, up front. You really want to do well for him, but as
a pack, you also want to do well for yourselves, and we knew we were going to
face some huge challenges.”
“THE overall
game plan is difficult to describe, so many parts to it, but there was going to
be a focus on three things going into every game – simple things but critical
nevertheless: 1) be very physical, which is given in every international game
nowadays; 2) accuracy, know where you are on the pitch at all times, be accurate
in everything you do; 3) enjoy ourselves. I think we achieved that throughout
the Six Nations. Obviously there were more than just those three goals, but those
were the main ones.”
“PADRAIG
Harrington (who visited the players) believes hugely in sports psychology. After
he chatted to us in Enfield, I remember he gave us a list of books and I went
off and got them: I thought if this worked for him so much and he believed in
it so much, there must be something to it. I thought he was brilliant – he
must have chatted non-stop for two hours. The self belief in himself is contagious.”
: “PROVINCIAL allegiances? I think as time’s moved on (that’s
improved). There used to be the die-hard fans from all the provinces, and even
though everybody is still a club man at heart, everyone’s come together a
lot more as time has gone on, everyone's mellowed out a small bit.
“Maybe
years ago when times were a bit tougher (for Irish rugby), it maybe brought that
with it to the Ireland camp, but it's such a great place to be at the moment.
Rob (Kearney) said it’s like playing with your mates now and it's definitely
true; I get on with everybody and everybody gets on with me. No-one dislikes anyone,
there's no back-stabbing, if you do have a problem it has to be put on the table,
because it can't be kept in camp.”
“I REMEMBER on the Lions tour, one of the rules was, ‘never look for
a table’. I was thinking, ‘why the f*** would you do that anyway?’
Even to be thinking like that I would find strange.
That never happened in
Ireland camp. Maybe it’s my personality, but I never had a problem with any
of lads from any of the provinces; they’re team-mates, I’d crawl across
glass for them. I didn’t personally feel that - maybe other people were thinking
like that so if they were, the important thing about it was that it was addressed.
Every
time I played for Ireland it mattered so much to me and I wanted to go out and
give it everything. There is a massive gulf in standard between international
and club rugby. Okay, you have high profile Magners League-Heineken Cup ties that
might get up there that might only three or four times a season. Every time you
play an international, you’re at a different level. Deccie learned that -
I think if you asked him himself when he coached Munster he probably thought there
was no difference between international level and club level. If you ask him now,
he knows that’s not the case.”
: “THE
FRENCH game was huge; over the years, with all the times we’ve lost to them,
they’ve been a team that are psychologically difficult for us to get over.
Croke Park then, the manner of the win, the tries scored – that was fantastic.
To see the young guys especially playing with such confidence – they were
talking in dressing-room beforehand and at half-time, talking in the huddle; that
showed great maturity on their part, great belief in the team, great unity in
the group. We saw that in the Jamie Heaslip try – there was a huge reaction,
you wanted to get in there and support him, support each other. Everyone was racing
in from all angles to celebrate with him, but that was part of the camaraderie
that had been formed in Enfield.”
“WE
prepared for the French like we prepared for any other game – in fact that
was what we did for every game, introduce a consistency. From my own perspective,
after I’d been selected, I was extremely nervous; it was my Six Nations debut,
I knew the French played an expansive game, knew I was going to have a lot of
involvement, and that’s how it turned out.”
“BEATING the Argies (last November) was a small corner turned – it was
the start of us realising the type of rugby we wanted to play as well. It mightn’t
be the most exciting or the most glamorous, but least it was confrontational.
The forwards really get into it. That game marked a point and the start of everyone
knowing their role a bit better. I knew it would take that as well. It takes time
to get to know a language that Les (kiss, Defence coach) is bringing in, what
Gert (Smal, forwards coach) requires and what Alan Gaffney is trying to get across.”
“EVERYONE was disappointed with the New Zealand game particularly.
From my own brief experience of them that day, they’re not very elaborate
but they do the basics really well, they’re very accurate in everything they
do, very good also at finding your weakness, and exploiting that.
What was
impressive also was that as a team, from one to 15, they had a very good understanding
of what they wanted to achieve, and they were very clever in the way they went
about it; nothing elaborate in their own half, but once they crossed that halfway
line, they really applied the pressure, then they could become expansive, and
still remain very precise.
We learned a lot in that game, but learned mostly
about ourselves; we had hung in there for the full 80 minutes, there was no lack
of desire or passion, but needed to make amendments to how we wanted to play,
on our style of play. And that’s what we did.”
“IRELAND on tour. Yeah, that was a great idea; everywhere
we went we got massive support, and the whole squad benefited from that. The Cork
guys had been moaning for years about all the travelling they had to do, how they
never got home, so this was especially good for them! But it can be monotonous
if you're in the same base all the time. The training sessions were a real eye-opener,
people coming out in support; that gave us a lift but it also gave us a sense
of the bigger picture, that we were playing for the whole country, not just stuck
in a bubble in Dublin.
I enjoyed all the locations but coming back to Cork
was a great boost. I went back to my old gaelscoil, met a lot of familiar faces,
hooked up with my old GAA mentor in Douglas, Eddie Murphy. I particularly enjoyed
that, being back in Cork, rarely get the chance anymore.”
“MOST of the guys like getting away from it; you can understand
it when you're cooped up in a hotel for weeks on end, you don't want to have your
day off in the same place.
“Even though it is an hour and a half up the
road, you go home, see friends and family who aren't talking about rugby, spend
a bit of time with the girlfriend. You're talking about coming back after the
Six Nations and having a few beers, you take that on board and look forward to
it. Then you get back to work the next day and keep working hard.
: “WE had an evening with Christy Moore which was fantastic.
I’ve been a fan since I was a kid, had never seen him live and then this,
singing with him! That’s one of the many privileges of being in this position,
you get things like that put in front of you, and I took full advantage. The Reel
In The Flickering Light, that’s what I sang, and several others took the
opportunity; even lads like Stephen Ferris were able to join in some of the choruses
– great evening, real privilege.”
“My
favourite camp, for obvious reasons, was Limerick. It didn't come as any surprise
to us that we were going to be going on the road; it had been flagged back in
August before the autumn internationals when we met in Cork, so we had an idea
then there was going to be change. Limerick suited me, only out the road from
my house, and Cork suited the likes of Rog, who was able to give Jess a break
from the twins. People don't see the other side of life for a professional sports
person, the time away from your family, the impact of that, especially when you
have a young kids, but when it’s spread around like this and you have a chance
to drop home, it makes for a happier camp.”
“MOST of the ‘social committee’ members were fantastic, took their
job really seriously, delivered for the team. I have to say though, there was
one very disappointing member. Snow Patrol, a very popular group, were doing a
gig in the O2, who are the major team sponsors and they made an offer to Jamie
Heaslip that Snow Patrol would come to the team hotel and play an acoustic gig
for us – he declined, said he felt it would be a bit of overkill. He was
dismissed from the committee after that, and for his punishment, had to sing one
evening at a big event, nearly 400 people at it, had to do a Snow Patrol song.
His try against Scotland went some way to repairing the damage but some members
feel that the damage done is irreparable. To be that thoughtless in life, generally
– he must learn to consider the needs of those around him. He came through
on the field, there’s no doubt about that, but Jamie still has a lot of ground
to make up before he’s forgiven for that.”
“IT’S the small things that don’t get enough credit. In France
the food was f ***ing terrible: you’d eat your food, you’d feel miserable,
you’d go straight back up to your room. You just didn’t hang around.
In Killiney, Sean the chef is incredible. The food is amazing. He looks after
all the lads and then what you see happening is fellas hanging around the table
having cups of tea and chats and hopping the ball for an hour, hour an half. It
was good fun; you enjoy each other’s company.
It’s a small thing.
In France we had poor grub and fellas were like dogs. It was nothing major but
you’d wonder sometimes with all these little things, do they make the difference?”
“COMING back to the team hotel
in a taxi after the Italian match in Rome, myself, Marcus and Rob Kearney were
in a cab. Rob was after a few pints, and went on to tell myself and Marcus that
we’re going places; he was just saying what we were all kinda thinking. The
words ‘Grand Slam’ were kinda banned. Myself and Marcus got a kick out
of it; he wasn’t in the best of condition but was so adamant about this being
our year. It was a light-hearted moment and we’ve been slagging him ever
since.”
“I WAS really angry leading into
that Italy game. There was an awful article written beforehand, quotes from a
former Italian prop where he said that I was a weak link in the Irish scrum, that
I was going to be hammered. I have a policy of always showing respect to the opposition
before any game, doing whatever talking you have to do on the pitch, so that really
riled me. I felt under pressure to perform, but I was happy enough afterwards,
felt I did a good job on day. What really helps a prop in that situation though
is the guy behind him. Donncha is normally the guy behind me, in the second-row,
Paul behind John Hayes, and because of the Munster connection, we really know
each other’s game at this stage, a very cohesive unit. Everyone knows about
Paul but Donncha is extremely powerful in scrum; we’re a partnership also
in the lineouts, I’m his regular lifter, so I suppose you could say it’s
reciprocated.”
“LAST Saturday
in Cardiff, Mike Phillips was cheap-shotting Rog on the ground. He was holding
onto him. Jamie (Heaslip) was the closest man nearby and all Jamie saw was a team-mate
and sorted out the situation. When you’re playing with your team-mates you’re
playing with your friends and you just react for him. I don’t think that
was any different to any previous year. Or that kind of divide that fellas wouldn’t
have rowed in. That was never there. I think you can read too much into it. For
example, if we had received that kick off against France two years ago, took it
down, we’d have won the Grand Slam and people would have been talking about
great team spirit and togetherness then too.”
“ROG had an off-day with his kicks against England, and normally you'd be
worried when that’s happening - not with him. We have supreme confidence
in Rog; other kickers can have a bad day, and it will stay a bad day, they’ll
miss everything, but Rog has this ability to pull it together even in the middle
of a big game. His kicks at the end were fantastic, but he’s just such a
tough character. Even when things aren't going right for him, you just know –
when the chips are really down, he’ll deliver. He did in that game, and it
wouldn't be the last time.”
“IT
WAS pretty hard to take it all in. During the Welsh anthem, it was so loud, I
had to blow my nose to try and pop my eardrums because of the intensity of the
noise. When the game kicked off, you're just into game mode and you don't really
notice the crowd at all, apart from a bit of noise every now and then.
“Unfortunately
I picked up that knock on my hand. I was in getting stitched up and wasn't allowed
to go back on, so Paul (McNaughton) said ‘your team needs you, go out and
give them support’, so I was straight back out with the rest of the guys
on the subs bench and giving whatever support I could.”
“I WAS talking to Jerry Flannery and we were saying how this was so unlike
the Heineken Cup, when you had a chance to get your breath back - in the Six-Nations
the games were coming thick and fast.
Beat Scotland one Saturday, no time
to enjoy it, just get ready again for Wales. In hindsight, given how it had gripped
the nation, a week was probably better - two weeks and we’d probably have
been driven demented.
Bad as the build-up was, the last few minutes before
the game was worse”
“NERVE-wracking, totally.
The atmosphere was just electric, the stands towering out over the pitch, and
the Welsh anthem - deafening, so much passion. That’s one of the memories
that will stick in my mind from that day, the singing for the Welsh anthem, then
the roars for Wales when they were doing something good, so loud that it was almost
impossible to hear our calls in defence.”
“IT WAS suggested that we got the Alex Ferguson treatment at half-time. That
wasn’t the case. We knew coming down the tunnel that they were blowing a
little bit more than us. We felt we could up the intensity and play at our pace.
We got key coaching points at half time. Declan, Gert, Les, Alan and the key leaders
spoke, Drico, Paulie, Rog, and Luke Fitzgerald to be fair to him spoke up before
he headed.”
“WALES
play a pressure defence, so the kick behind becomes a valuable tool, and we got
good yardage out of that all day. In the first half we did it early enough and
they knocked it on, but we dominated field position against them so you don’t
want to kick the ball away too much in the tackle zones. That’s why we had
to use it sparingly.
“But you can’t account for the kick for Tommy’s
try, for the bounce. People mightn’t understand but if you kick the ball
end over end and do it well then it should bounce, not land on its side. So there
is a little bit of skill involved, but the backspin taking it up like that.”
“WHEN that ball went out on the full we were thinking, ‘this
is it, this is our last opportunity’. Every forward wanted to get on the
ball, every forward knew it was our responsibility to get to work the ball into
position for Rog to kick the drop-goal. And he nailed it. Typical Rog - he’s
had his tough moments in this campaign, but again, we knew we could rely on him.”
“I visualise in a game, and from the left-hand side I had
the numbers on the stand picked out. On the goal-kicking front I’ve gone
back to aiming for that little hoop I’ve always talked about, but two or
three times in the thirty or forty seconds leading up to the drop-kick I pictured
the ball going through. It’s weird, because I wouldn’t normally think
like that, but when Wales got the drop-goal with five minutes to go I convinced
myself that I’d have one kick to win it. I just thought it’d be a penalty.
“I
was looking forward to it, just hoping I’d get a chance. I was saying to
myself ‘stay positive, stay positive’. A lot of drop-kicks are on instinct,
if it’s on it’s on, but this was - well, it had to be the play, really,
wasn’t it?”
“I GOT a shock running
back after the drop-goal when I saw the clock was at over 77 minutes on the screen,
I thought ‘There’s going to be more action in this game’. And there
was. I’d restarted the game at 75 minutes and it felt like a lot more than
two minutes 25 seconds had gone – kicking off, them putting it out on the
full, us winning the line-out and pounding their line. I said to someone afterwards
that if we’d had a bit more balls we would have held onto that ball and played
the clock a bit more.
It would have been looking for trouble if we’d asked
the forwards to keep hold of the ball. You have to take the chance when it comes
and we couldn’t have worked ourselves into a better position. But it still
left time to play. In a more ruthless world we would have held onto the ball for
another ninety seconds and then go for it, but that might have been a little over
the top.”
“I WAS praying, that’s
all, praying Jones’ kick wouldn't go over”
“I DIDN’T take a lot of joy out of the way we won it. I would have preferred
if we were defending our lines or down in their part of the pitch. But to win
on an error took a little bit of the celebration away from it – I didn’t
want to jump around at the final whistle; I didn’t want to rub it in. I just
went to a few of their lads, nearly apologising because it’s a shitty way
to win a game, on a mistake.”
“I SAW Paulie;
at first he had felt it was going over, that we were going to lose, and of course
there’s absolutely nothing he could do about it, it was completely out of
his hands, then he saw it was going to be short, that we were going to win the
Grand Slam. He went mental, and understandably so – didn't we all?”
“IT’S pretty mad, if I go to the shop
now it takes 15 minutes, but people are stopping to talk a lot. It’s really
nice but when you get so much of it all the time, you need to try to get away
from it too, so I’m looking forward to settling down a bit and reflecting
on it.”
: “THIS isn’t all knocking Eddie
O’Sullivan either. Personally I enjoyed my time under Eddie, he gave me a
lot of game-time, had his own coaching methods which I also enjoyed. What we achieved
under his management is kind of taken for granted now but we did win three Triple
Crowns, which in itself was a fine achievement. But, everything runs its course,
Declan came in, and he has a different approach.”
“I COULDN’T speak more highly of Declan. He’s the leader, the motivator,
he brought so much to the set-up – he was the X-factor. Les Kiss also is
fantastic, I learned so much from him, a really interesting guy to talk to about
the game, and not just defensively either - he talks with authority about attacking
also.”
“THE thing about the squad is it
doesn’t matter if you’re 21 like Lukey (Fitzgerald) or 35 like John
Hayes, everybody bought into what we talked about; everyone was talking and giving
it what they wanted. You need that; it's not just Paul O'Connell's team or Brian
O'Driscoll's team, it's our team, and that's what we got out of it. It was our
team, our tournament and our trophy - and we came away with it.”
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