High-flying Heaslip takes panoramic view of defeat

JAMIE HEASLIP has never been the type of guy to get too worked up about a game of rugby.

He loves it, no question, and he’s damn good at it but he has always prided himself on an ability to step out of the bubble that all too often envelops other players.

This is a guy who likes to do his own thing, one of those being flying lessons. So it was no surprise to listen to the Leinster number eight rise above the depression of this defeat and take in a more panoramic view.

He likes what he sees, too.

“I can’t speak for the other players but my own feeling is that there is no lack of belief or confidence. We have an exceptionally good group of players here in Ireland.

“One of the main reasons I stayed around is that I think we are on the verge of doing something great and playing some unbelievable rugby.

“At times we just kind of give teams easy opportunities to take scores. That can be frustrating. We have to marshal ourselves more so than anything else because our defence and attack take care of themselves.”

Oh, this defeat hurt. Heaslip talked about an “opportunity lost” and spoke wistfully of how they had managed to hit a French team for three tries and still come out the wrong side.

Just like they were in Rome the weekend before, Ireland proved to be their own worst enemies. Unfortunately, the price for that was far greater second time round and Heaslip admitted Ireland had left the occasion with what they deserved.

“Even the way the game went, two minutes to go we’re on their line and a knock-on, you can’t blame a guy for knocking the ball on. Everyone’s trying not to do that. If we did hold on to the ball and brought it through a few phases…

“You saw what we did. We scored three tries going that way and we still could’ve taken it (at the end). We didn’t.

“In fairness France stuck in the game, they took their scores, forced their penalties. I can’t deny it to them.”

Heaslip delivered his post-mortem with a smile — if a wry one. It disappeared just once, when it was suggested that Ireland should ‘go back to basics’ in an effort to cut down on those costly individual errors.

“Back to basics?” he asked a little incredulously. “What do you mean? We still scored three tries.”

That they did but the fact that France won, while only scoring the one five-pointer, isn’t exactly a source of comfort. Neither is coach Marc Lievremont’s assertion that his side’s display merited no more than a four out of ten.

“They won. They are still on course for a Grand Slam. We can’t win a Grand Slam. I think anyone looking at that video will see we exposed them. You lads had them all hyped up thinking they’re the dog’s bollocks. I don’t think they are. We exposed a lot of holes in them. I think England can definitely cause them a lot of problems.”

By the time England and France meet in Twickenham, Ireland’s date with Scotland in Murrayfield will have come and gone but it remains to be seen who will be there taking an active part for the men in green.

“I’ve been sitting around watching games, which I’m not good at, so it was good to get out there. I’m sure talking to Fez (Stephen Ferris) and Tommy (Bowe) and some of the other guys that everyone just wants to get out and play.

“No-one likes sitting on the couch watching games and it’s not easy to get back in there either because there’s a lot of competition for places in the squad and that’s what we want with the year that’s in it.”

Typical Heaslip. He’s already looking ahead to September.