Luke’s case for his defence

LUKE FITZGERALD has long been used to admiring rugby greats and learning from his elders. That comes with the territory when your father happens to be a former international.

For Ireland’s full-back, who grew up watching videos of French stars Serge Blanco and Patrice Lagisquet and was inducted into the game by a prop by the name of Des Fitzgerald, choosing which former players to listen to has to be given serious thought.

Fitzgerald was pleased with his first start for Ireland at full-back in Rome last week, though there were many who singled him out to blame for being out of position as Italy scored their go-ahead try in the 75th minute.

The feeling, echoed by commentators and pundits alike, was that Fitzgerald had stepped inside and left space open for opposite number Luke McLean to grab the vital score.

The Leinster back was this week more than happy to put the record straight on that incident: “It was really interesting to hear some of the guys, all the comments about it, because I was actually in a similar situation where I stepped in against Saracens and that was definitely wrong.

“But I think last week, when you’re close to your line, you never allow teams, you know you don’t say, ‘Oh, I’m going to stand out here and let them go up the line’.

“Once the attacker gets outside the last defender, as a full-back you’ve got to step in, that is just the rule. It was really interesting hearing, I think it was Conor O’Shea who got that one wrong.”

Vindication also came from his captain, Brian O’Driscoll and defence coach Les Kiss and that was good enough for the fledgling full-back.

“The guys in the studio were saying that Drico was trying to push me out, but Drico after the game was saying I had to step in there and I talked to Les Kiss and he said I did the right thing as well.

“The people who really count said I made the right decision. You don’t go soft in your line, you don’t let them come over for a try. You try and make them make a mistake if you’re the last person you don’t just hang out and hope.

“Your man would have fallen over the line if I’d held out. It’s one of those real tricky ones for people who were commenting, they were probably taking a guess because there wasn’t even a camera angle showing Drico pushing me out, so it was real interesting to hear them talking about it when they didn’t really know what was going on.

“I just listen to the guys whose opinion I really respect and who have good knowledge of the situation and of our systems. They’ve been a great help and they agreed with the decision I took on the weekend so I won’t second guess myself again.”

Given a vote of confidence in the position by Declan Kidney, who retained the 23-year-old for Sunday’s home game against Six Nations champion France, Fitzgerald is expecting a less constraining opposition than the Italians provided at Stadio Flaminio.

“I think it is always a really enjoyable game to play and I have only played them once, I was lucky enough to be on the right side of that result (in Grand Slam season 2009). I think whenever you play a French team it is always a really enjoyable game, especially from an outside backs’ perspective because opportunities do open up and they play the game with flair as well.

“So if there is ever turnover ball, opportunities should be there for us. I think if we are clinical enough on the inside we should be able to get our hands on the ball a bit more and go at them. It is one I really look forward to and one I really get excited about.”

That excitement stems from a childhood studying the Fitzgerald rugby video collection. “Serge Blanco, fantastic to watch, I think we had some videos in the house of him from the 1987 World Cup and he was outstanding, an unbelievable player.

“And Lagisquet, I think he was coaching (Biarritz) recently. So, some real quality players that I remember there when I was young, but that is just me being a rugby nerd, I don’t know if anyone else remembers them.”

Nerd or not, the French way of doing things around the rugby pitch has impressed on the Irish full-back enough to alert him to the attacking opportunities Les Bleus will provide opposing teams.

“First of all, I think it is very important to frustrate them,” Fitzgerald said. “Defensively it is very important for us to get in there and spoil and slow down ball, because if they get good front foot ball then they are hard to stop, especially if they get some momentum up. But, from what we have looked at (regarding France’s last two games against Australia and Scotland) in the last couple of days, there will be opportunities.

“I think when you get your purple patch it is important to take advantage of your opportunities because they do give up opportunities.”