Stepping out

BOXING is one of the few sporting activities in which the protagonists talk themselves up and promise to hammer the opposition into submission in the lead-up to a contest.

Otherwise, it’s invariably a case of building up the opposition and downplaying your own prospects.

The latter strategy is alive and well within the Irish international rugby camp ahead of this afternoon’s RBS Six Nations clash with Italy at Croke Park. However, no matter how much they try to spin things, nothing other than a comprehensive victory coupled with an impressive performance will satisfy Irish fans as the Grand Slam champions of 2009 face the perennial wooden spoon winners on home turf.

The bookmakers’ handicap makes Ireland winners by 21 points, and that seems just about right.

Whereas Irish coach Declan Kidney seems well on the way to achieving one of his chief ambitions of assembling a large and highly efficient squad, a point borne out by his belief that the loss through injury of Stephen Ferris, Jonny Sexton and Donncha O’Callaghan shouldn’t make any difference today, the Azzurri arrived in Dublin with a former hooker, Craig Gower, at out-half and a scrum-half, Tebaldi, of whom hardly anyone outside of Italy has ever heard.

True, coach Nick Mallett has been able to leave forwards of the quality of Gloucester’s Marco Bortolami and Fabio Ongaro on the bench. That paints a picture of a forward pack capable of doing a job on any opposing eight and they have some formidable operators in mighty props Martin Castrogiovanni and Salvatore Perugini, openside flanker Mauro Bergamasco and second-row Carlo Del Fava.

As a unit, too, the Italians can be expected to give the Irish plenty to worry about, but you have to doubt that they will be capable of maintaining a serious level of pressure for 80 minutes. Fatigue will creep in not just because they will find the Irish pack a handful everywhere except, possibly, in the set scrums, but also because they simply can’t trust those behind to use possession in the required manner. The presence of three overseas players, Luke McLean, Kaine Robertson and Gower, is an indication of the shortage of talent available to Mallett.

Kidney and his players have no option but to respect the Azzurri just as they would any side, not least because history has shown them to be at their most dangerous in the first game of each campaign when hopes and spirits are still high.

The point is not lost on Kidney.

“They always seem to be freshest in the physicality they bring to matches although I don’t like to emphasise that too much because there’s more than that to their game,” he said. “They’re coming off a win over Samoa, they’ve picked the same team, and a little bit of momentum can help. There are no easy matches at this stage of the competition. You’re trying to gel yourself so the challenge is within yourself. Italy have a good game plan, they’ll put us under pressure and they’ll be fresh coming into this one. The first game against them can be one of the toughest.”

Then there’s the concerns about the French referee, Romain Poite, who has given Munster and their captain Paul O’Connell a hard time over the past couple of years. His interpretation of the intricate laws at the breakdown baffled O’Connell in the recent Heineken Cup game against Northampton and their constant verbal jousts resulted in the big second row cooling his heels in the sin-bin.

Kidney noted: “Some tinkering was done with the laws last year and everybody came to a decision as to how they should be played. I assume everything is going to go according to plan and I would be very disappointed at this stage if anything was changed.”

An Irish victory may be virtually assured, but there are several cameos that will help to make this game both significant and more than a little interesting. Kidney will hope that the loss of Ferris, O’Callaghan along with Sexton and that he is justified in picking Andrew Trimble ahead of Keith Earls and handing a first cap to Kevin McLaughlin.

However, it’s Ronan O’Gara’s performance at out-half that will command a huge amount of attention given that he was upstaged by Sexton in two of the November Tests. One man in no doubt as to his number 10’s capacity for producing another big game is his captain.

“He looks really fresh and is so enthusiastic and looks like someone on top of his game,” said O’Driscoll.

Another good reason why Ireland will head for Paris next week with the wind still billowing in their sails!