Ross: We can more than match any team in the world

AN old perception that rugby front row forwards are a bunch of light-in-matter heavyweights no longer applies, happily so for one of Ireland’s latest recruits.

Mike Ross, who will be at the coal-face for Ireland against Wales at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, tomorrow, insists that physicality is but a small part of the package that goes to making up a successful prop forward, explaining: “The stereotype notion of the props being ‘thick’ doesn’t hold true because if you’re stupid you simply won’t survive.”

For Ross, his day’s work doesn’t start and end on the training ground or on the pitch come match day. He spends a considerable amount of time assessing his direct opponents so that he can be prepared for most eventualities on the day of the game.