‘You don’t go to Northampton for the shopping’

CONCENTRATION. Preparation. Focus. The buzz-words are drifting around the cafe when you sit down with Jerry Flannery. In fact, you’re even a bit conscious of having that little biscuit that comes with your cup of coffee as the Munster hooker breaks down what professionalism means.

“It’s about trying to squeeze everything you can in your favour. Coming up to big games with Munster, it’s a matter of getting the intensity right. It’s easy to stop focusing in training, because that’s stop-start, but in matches it’s got to be full-on. You’ve got to try to maintain your concentration, even though it’s never going to be at the same level all the time.

“But if you prepare yourself mentally to get into that zone in training it can be easier to get into it on the day of a game. It’s difficult to hold your concentration for a long time, which is why we put a lot of emphasis on having the 15 players talking on the field rather than relying on Paul O’Connell or Ronan O’Gara to lead the team all the time.

“They’re the quality players they are because they can maintain that focus, but they can’t be checking on everyone for 80 minutes. That’s why you need 15 lads chatting.

“You could be busting your ass running up and down on counter attacks and kick-chases, and there’ll come a time when you get up after making a tackle and you’re tired. That’s the time when you need someone to shout at you to keep running.”

Fair enough. He and his team-mates will need to keep shouting – and keep running – tomorrow evening when they host Northampton. It’ll be the third meeting this season between the two sides; no wonder Flannery says it’s a dangerous proposition.

“Declan Kidney used to say ‘every dog has its day’, and if you play a team three times over the course of a season then it’s bound to be dangerous. I think they’ve got a really good team spirit. When you look at a lot of English teams they tend to have big names, and Northampton certainly have big names, but you’d wonder, in some other cases, if the players are playing for the club.

“Knowing some of the Irish lads at Northampton, from what they say you don’t go to Northampton for the shopping. You go there because you want to play rugby, and everyone seems to understand what they’re playing for. They’re a bit like Munster – they’re an old-school club.”

Flannery’s direct opponent, Dylan Hartley, figured prominently for England in the Six Nations. “He’s coming along pretty well, he’s a good ball-carrier and generally speaking he’s an important player for them. He seems to work well with their second row and Courtney Lawes is coming into play for them as well.”

Lawes, a terrific athlete, is being touted as the next big thing in English rugby. Flannery acknowledges his potential.

“He’s got all these weapons, but it’s a matter of working out what the best position is for him to use them. He mightn’t have made a massive breakthrough at international level yet, but I’d say he’ll have a big impact in the next couple of years. It’s about him learning some street smarts – when we played them in Franklin’s Gardens I was very impressed with him, but the game kind of went his way. He’s very powerful, very athletic, but he was a lot quieter in Thomond Park.

“When you get more experienced, you learn how to get around that – you learn that instead of waiting for a game to come your way, you can work your way into it. That’ll come with time, but there’s no doubt he’s a great athlete.

“I know that it’s easy to discount a guy by just saying ‘he’s a great athlete but he’s not a great rugby player’, but give him time.”

Time isn’t on anyone’s side when it comes to the new refereeing directive on the breakdown, but as Flannery puts it, the man with the whistle is always part of the preparations anyway.

“That’s something you always have to remember in a game, that you have to play the referee. That’s the reason you analyse referees in the first place, to see their pet hates and you have to learn to work with those. The difference now is that the directive has come down to referees about the breakdown and it’s difficult when that happens in the middle of a season. Suddenly you’re getting pinged for something that you were able to do a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s difficult to break habits in the middle of the season, but if that’s the way you have to go, then that’s the way you have to go.”

Preparation isn’t just a matter of video analysis and refereeing foibles. Does Flannery avoid meeting people in the run-up to a big game? He broadens out the discussion.

“Well, you need to completely focused, 100%, when you show up for a session, and park everything else – if you’ve had an argument with your girlfriend or whatever. But away from that you need to take your mind off the game. For instance, I’m involved in business – USN Ireland, a sports nutrition company, and the bar (Flannery’s). I know what you’re saying, that if you’re walking around people would be wrecking your head, but when we played Sale a few years ago, when they were coming to Thomond Park, the amount of positive energy and belief I picked up on in the street with people was great.

“That feeds into the players, a sense of ‘everyone really believes we can do it’. We had an inner belief ourselves, but the people who didn’t see that still believed we could do it.

“Now having said that, if I was walking around and people were saying ‘ye’re useless’, well, I’d probably lock myself in the house.”

Balancing that professional focus with outside interests is important to Flannery.

“It’s really healthy to have those interests, and it’s a big thing for me. Rugby is such a selfish sport that you can let it dominate your life – you get up in the morning and what you have for breakfast is dictated by the fact that you’re a rugby player, your friends might be going to the cinema but you’ve got to be in bed by ten to have your rest. All of that.

“Anything that pulls you away from that a bit and gives you a taste of the real world has to be healthy. It certainly takes you away from that in the run-up to matches and helps you stay fresh.

“Everything in your life is geared towards making you a better player, but that can be a very selfish thing and it can make you very hard to be around.”

So it’s better to be rounded?

“Without a doubt. Rugby isn’t like professional soccer. Every professional player who finishes playing rugby will have made a few bob, but he’s going to have to continue working. If you’re not of good character, if you don’t treat people right while you play rugby, then people will remember that when you finish.

“You should treat people as you’d like to be treated. That keeps you grounded for when you finish – and it also prepares you well while you’re playing.”

But while you’re playing, it’s all about the little things. The little biscuit with the coffee, for instance.

“Ah, I’m off chocolate for Lent,” says Flannery with a glance down at the saucer. “I’d love that biscuit, to be honest.”

Don’t worry, kid. I focused on that for you.