Ross: We can more than match any team in the world
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.
“You do spend a bit of time looking at footage, but (obviously) you can’t obsess on it too much because guys will change to a certain degree as time goes on.
“But you (do) look at recent stuff (footage) first to get an idea and then see what’s caused them trouble in the past and try to formulate a strategy.
“It gets complex but it’s up to you to deal with it. If they’re (individual opponents) trying to take your space, you need to come up with a strategy to nullify that. That’s what I enjoy about it. It’s not (totally) like chess, but a small bit.”
And it’s something Ross sees as maybe more a challenge as the physicality of the front row collisions. “Yeah, I enjoy that aspect of the game. It’s satisfactory when you come up with a strategy that works really well. I suppose it’s like a back-line play that comes off. If you’re implementing a scrummaging policy that is causing the opposition maximum hurt, you do derive satisfaction from that.”
Ross is growing into the role filled for so long and so effectively by veteran John Hayes but sees every day as a challenge as he bids to retain his place ahead of Munster’s more experienced challenger Tony Buckley.
“So far, it certainly has been a great experience. It’s another step above Heineken Cup, that’s for sure. It’s been great. You want to push yourself and play at the highest level you can and you just want to enjoy every minute of it.”
Part of the enjoyment includes winning, and clearly Ross doesn’t like to be on the receiving end. “We don’t really want to be classified as underdogs, for instance, it’s something we feel we need to get away from. With the quality of players that we field, and if we can perform the way we know we can, we can more than match any team in the world.
“We have to take that approach. I think the days of Irish teams putting themselves down… we need to step on from that.”
Ross did concede Wales would be favourites tomorrow, though: “They’re at home so that’s probably a big part of it. They haven’t played well in patches and missing a few players but when they switch it on they can beat any team in world rugby.”
Yet, alongside Rory Best and Cian Healy he’s confident he can play a part in Ireland turning over the Welsh.
“From a personal point of view, it’s getting better but I’m not 100% happy with it yet, although I’m pleased with the progression. We need to keep on that upward curve and not regress against Wales this weekend.
“There’s a flip side to being a newcomer in that people (opponents) will watch you more and try to figure out what makes you uncomfortable; so you might come up against something you might not have dealt with before.
“I’ve played against a few Welsh teams in my time and they certainly haven’t lost those characteristics of a classic old Ponytpool front row unit (tough and abrasive). If they’re on top of you, you’ll certainly know about it.”
Tomorrow he packs down against Paul James, whom he described as a “very, very good scrummager.”
“Yeah,” said Ross, “he probably shades Gethin (Jenkins) a little in that regard. Whereas Gethin has the all-round game attributes, Paul’s scrummaging is what I’ll principally focus on, what I’ll have to focus on because he’s not an easy customer to cope with.”
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