Kyle: Ireland can retain Grand Slam
Kyle has heaped praise on O’Driscoll and the coaching team led by Declan Kidney for their 2009 heroics and sees no reason why a second title cannot be added this year.
The star performer of the 1940’s and 1950’s described O’Driscoll as “one of the greatest players in the history of the game”.
He said: “One only has to look at what he has achieved in the last decade. If there is one regret, from my point of view and I’m sure from his, it is that he was robbed of the chance to show the New Zealanders how good he is on that Lions tour of 2005 when he was injured in the opening seconds of the first Test. But I don’t think he has to prove anything to anyone.”
He paid further tribute to Kidney, whom he described as a magnificent motivator.
“He has the full support of the team and works well with the rest of the management. You can see that the players want to play for him and that’s a huge bonus. I think it will be more of the same in 2010. Of course it is going to be difficult to emulate what happened last year but I see no reason why this squad isn’t capable of doing so.
“They have the confidence and undoubtedly have the skill and physical presence to match up to anyone.”
Kyle is still captivated by the memory of Ireland’s big day in Cardiff when Ronan O’Gara’s late drop goal sealed victory and brought the Grand Slam back to these shores after a lapse of 61 years.
Kyle lavished praise on Ireland for the way they played that day, for the way they matched Wales with the intensity of their play and for having cool heads towards the finish when they needed to produce one big play to get the winning score. “I think the difficulty of winning away from home and particularly beating Wales on their own patch should not be underestimated. When we won the Grand Slam in 1948 we had Wales at home to win it; it was that much easier although, of course, it was not easy. Wales at home are a singularly difficult proposition; when the crowd start singing Land Of My Fathers you can feel the hair on your head stand up and it always seemed to be worth a few points to them. To beat Wales in Wales was a feat in itself.”
Reflecting back on 1948, Kyle refused to take any of the glory. He insisted: “We were fortunate that we had a very good all round side with a particularly mobile pack. In those days, the hooker was very important and Karl Mullan was the expert hooker; he could take strikes against the head which is unheard of in the modern game of course but he was the best hooker playing in all the countries. The back row of Bill McKay, Des O’Brien and Jim McCarthy were very fast across the field and of course they laid the foundations to score tries. In 1947 we were going for a Triple Crown and had beaten England 22-0, the biggest defeat England ever had, and Scotland, but lost away to Wales in Swansea in our last match, so it was a great relief to do it the following year,” he said.
Kyle reflected on what he described as a much tougher game these days, remembering the time of lightweight forwards who couldn’t compare physically to the big men in today’s game. “To make my point, when Karl Mullan was captain of the Lions team in 1950 to New Zealand, the heaviest guy on our touring side was 15 stone 4 pounds and yet you can see scrum halves today who are that weight!
“I suppose in a sense that accounts for so many injuries today because of the strength of the guys, you’ll meet guys today and they are 20 stone, I can’t imagine in my day having to tackle something like that.
“I suppose it would have been a challenge but I don’t regret not being involved in professional rugby which is certainly much tougher than anything we had to face. It’s also a bit revealing, I suppose, to watch guys like Brian O’Driscoll and others even managing to score tries against such well organised defences. It was a bit easier in our day to break defences and I reckon Brian and his like would have had a field day in my time!”
*Jack Kyle was in Cork on Saturday night to help Dolphin RFC celebrate its links with two Irish Grand Slam titles – 1948 and 2009. Kyle starred alongside Dolphin winger Bertie O’Hanlon and wing forward Jim McCarthy en route to the 1948 title; McCarthy scored a try in the 13-6 win over France that year.
The pair were also ever-present when Ireland won the Triple Crown the following season, with McCarthy scoring twice against Scotland and the only try against Wales to clinch the title. O’Hanlon scored a crucial try in the 14-5 win over England that year. Last season’s Grand Slam was achieved with the considerable help of scrum half Tomás O’Leary and, of course, the national coach Declan Kidney to leave Dolphin, along with Lansdowne, as just one of two clubs to have links with both triumphs.
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