O’Driscoll keen as ever for Tour action
The centre has been playing top-class, high-intensity rugby for the best part of the last 12 months, a series that included a Lions Tour, a rigorous Six Nations Championship and intensive Heineken Cup and Magners League campaigns.
He gets married next month and surely, then, couldn’t be blamed for regarding a tour of the Southern Hemisphere, during which his team takes on New Zealand, the Maori and Australia in the space of a fortnight as a bridge too far.
But in the team’s Limerick headquarters in the Strand Hotel last night, he strongly denied this was the case.
“It’s all about compartmentalising your season, trying to get yourself to peak for important times,” he reasoned. “The great thing about finishing the season with a couple of Test matches is that they are that – Test matches, an opportunity to go to one of the hardest places in world rugby and go and win. If that doesn’t get the juices flowing, maybe you should pack it in.
“So as much as it has been a long season, coming off the back of a Lions tour for some of the boys, I think you’re able to get yourself up for another couple of competitive games knowing that on the far side of that, you’ve got a good break and a long pre-season into next year’s campaign. You don’t allow the mind to think about how fatigued you are because that tends to have a knock-on effect to the rest of your body and your general persona. So it’s a case of getting on with it and enjoying being in the camp. It’s not going to be there forever so enjoy it while you can.”
Declan Kidney has chosen what can only be regarded as a scratch side to take on the Barbarians but the game will still be crucial for a number of players with designs on making the Test side against New Zealand in Rotorua just a week later.
Even captain-for-the-night Ronan O’Gara fits into this category as his ongoing battle with Jonathan Sexton for the key out-half position continues unabated into the summer months. While O’Gara starts the game, Sexton is included in the replacements panel and so can expect to be introduced to the fray early in the second half. Although unlikely, the game could sway the issue as to who will wear the number 10 shirt against the All Blacks and so both men will want to be on top of their form.
With Stephen Ferris and Kevin McLaughlin both out of the reckoning for the blind-side flank berth, a marvellous opportunity has opened up for the likes of John Muldoon of Connacht, Ulster’s Chris Henry and Munster’s Niall Ronan, all of whom are accommodated in the back-row against the Baa-Baas. There could also be a reward for the Ulster second-row pair Dan Tuohy and Ed O’Donoghue, with Paul O’Connell and Leo Cullen out of the equation and Kidney unsure as to the best partner for Donncha O’Callaghan come the Test matches against New Zealand and Australia.
Another strong candidate, Mick O’Driscoll, is on the bench and he, too, is likely to be given a chance to further his claims for a return to international action.
Having missed the Six Nations campaign because of illness, Marcus Horan is restored to the loose-head prop position where he will hope to put pressure on the new incumbent, Cian Healy, while Sean Cronin has an opportunity in front of his own Limerick fans of consolidating his ranking as second-choice hooker on tour behind the fit-again Jerry Flannery.
Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan are the only members of the Leinster team in last week’s Magners League final to start the game and indeed Connacht’s Gavin Duffy, who isn’t included in the tour squad, has been drafted into the centre as partner for Fergus McFadden.
Ronan O’Gara, skipper in the absence of Brian O’Driscoll, pointed out this Irish team is just as much a scratch affair as the Barbarians, and as a result, there will almost certainly be as many spills as thrills during the 80 minutes.
Wisely, the vast majority of the Leinster contingent have been rested and with a number of bruises and knocks, it was inevitable that, as Kidney put it, “there would have to be a lot of mixing and matching, although it’s still about trying to find things out and test the strength in depth of the squad. We’re not bringing anyone who couldn’t play at some stage of the tour, they’re better off rehabbing at home and getting ready for next season. The fellas who aren’t included are obvious enough and that’s why they’re not coming.”
The tour is a huge ask of the vast majority of the players who have been hard at it for the best part of 12 months. And, of course, it is also an intimidating proposition taking on the All Blacks and Australia in their own backyard for Declan Kidney and his coaching staff.
“When you go to the number one and third-ranked countries and Australia will be trying to do a number on you feeling that they allowed a victory to slip out of their hands last November and we’re in the same World Cup group as them, well, it’s a huge responsibility,” said Kidney.
“Ireland have never beaten New Zealand but we’re going to beat them some time. This is a our opportunity to have a go at it, we’ll go down and do what every Irish team has done in the past and we won’t be there just to make up the numbers.”
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