Leamy keeps a lid on Ireland ambitions

DENIS LEAMY insists Ireland’s focus at the Rugby World Cup must be “all about getting out of our pool.”

Four years ago the national side had expressed big ambitions ahead of the global showpiece before coming home red-faced after a series of uninspiring performances. But Leamy believes the 2011 crop have learned hugely from that debacle.

He explained: “I think we’re better off moving on from it. There was such a big build-up and we probably didn’t help things in the way we went out in the open and stated that we wanted to get to the semi-finals and final.

“When that didn’t happen it was used as a bit of a stick to beat us with. I think it’s important this time that we go through the process, that we start with our warm-up matches and tick all the boxes there. Then we look at the USA first up and make sure we get the points and move on from there.

“It’s all about getting out of our pool. Then we can start to dream.”

After an exhausting pre-season, Leamy (50 caps) is now looking forward to getting game time as Ireland head into warm-up matches against Scotland, France and England.

Leamy believes the combination of hard training and tough matches, on top of the experiences of 2007, will stand them in good stead.

He explained: “They have the luxury in the southern hemisphere that the grounds are a lot harder for most of the year. Up here it gets a bit wetter and boys are probably a little heavier because of the way the game is played. But I think the way we’re going now, you’ll see guys ready for the top of the ground sort of rugby.”

Leamy gave an interesting insight into the work Ireland have undertaken ahead of the global showpiece in New Zealand. “It has been very intense, we’re into our fifth week and a lot of the heavy work has been done in terms of our fitness. It has been pretty exhausting and every spare minute we have seems to be spent putting our feet up.

“It’s a challenge, you try to get through the pain and your muscles are aching, the muscles are screeching at you to stop, but you have to keep going and get as much of a baseline fitness as you possibly can get.

“It is a good test of your mental strength when you come out the other side of it. We have had particularly tough fitness sessions and had a few guys throwing up their dinners and things like that.”

So was the demand for such hard prep work unexpected? “Not really, anyone who worked with Phil Morrow (fitness coach) knew he was a bit of a psycho in terms of his fitness and weights drills and we knew we in for something that was going to be very tough. We figured that being World Cup year it would be that much harder.”

But the fitness programme has, he said, become much more personalised. “For instance, you wouldn’t have John Hayes doing something that Luke Fitzgerald is doing so it’s not a generic programme. One way or another it (fitness programme) is tough, it can be horrible at the time but at the back of your mind it makes for confidence (building); when you’re in a huge test match you know you have done the hard yards and the questions don’t arise to ask whether you’ve got the fitness to go on and actually win it (the game).”