O’Brien back and relishing chance to test himself against best
Ireland face Tri Nations champions Australia at Eden Park with O’Brien having finally shaken off the medial knee ligament damage that kept him sidelined since the second warm-up Test against France on August 20. The rampaging European Player of the Year is understandably eager to get stuck in and gauge both his and the team’s progress.
“Absolutely you want to test yourself against the best players in the world and Australia have them,” O’Brien, 24, told the Irish Examiner during an interview at the Ireland team’s hotel in the Auckland suburb of Mount Wellington.
“We have them as well, and that’s the thing. It’s brilliant that this game has come now and you can really see where you are personally and as a team as well. It’s going to be a very interesting contest and one everyone is looking forward to.”
Despite missing both the England game on August 27 and Ireland’s Pool C opener against the USA in New Plymouth last Sunday, O’Brien is quick to point out he has only missed one week of training since injuring his knee at the Aviva Stadium 27 days ago and has been involved in full contact sessions with the rest of the squad for the last week. He is also aware he does not make for a very good spectator come match day.
“I’m definitely not one of those players who likes to look at games when I’m not involved. I don’t even like going to games to be honest, it kind of annoys me a little bit. But that’s just me and I’m glad I’m playing this week and not sitting in the stand again.
“I do tend to get into it a little too much when I’m watching games and that’s probably the thing I don’t like about it. But it’s all about playing this week and that’s where my focus will turn to now.”
And following on from a theme in the camp all week, O’Brien is determined to make his first World Cup experience enjoyable.
“I like to take it all in, soak it all up. You know, there’s no point in not enjoying it. You have to like what you’re doing and you have to like the situations you’re in and I’ll certainly be enjoying this weekend hopefully.
“It should be a packed house and a great atmosphere at Eden Park and the closer we get to the match the atmosphere will be building and building and we’ll start feeling it a little bit more. I’m looking forward to getting into it now. I’ve worked hard the last couple of weeks to maintain my fitness and work on certain little things, so I’m happy enough.”
You can be sure that among the certain little things being worked on by the Irish pack under forwards coach Gert Smal this week has been the breakdown. The consensus among players and coaches from last weekend’s game against the Americans was a chaotic tackle area was not helped by too few green shirts getting to the breakdown quickly enough.
“I think it’s probably a thing we were a little bit shy on at times in the last game but I thought our ruck ball at times was brilliant, we just weren’t getting the numbers there.
“I suppose the first two lads in there being as effective as they can as well, that really sets the tone from the start of the ruck to the end. We’ll have that sorted come the weekend.”
Yet they are coming up against possibly the best back row in world rugby right now with David Pocock an authentic, scavenging openside alongside massive number eight Radike Samo and former Leinster captain Rocky Elsom.
“Every game you go into you want to win those little battles and I’m sure everyone in our team will want to win the breakdown as much as they want to win their breakdowns. It should be an interesting contest.”
Particularly for O’Brien, who must curb his ball-carrying instincts just a little now he has been asked to reprise his role as a seven. Again, not a problem as far as the Leinster star is concerned.
“Probably in recent games at seven I haven’t carried as much but that’s up to me to work harder on to get my hands on the ball. It’s just one of those things to adapt to and I need to bring it to my game. But I have to get the ruck right first. The ruck’s the main thing for me this week and that will be the first thing on my list.
“I suppose it is quite the test but I’m very comfortable playing there and I enjoy it as much as the other positions and I certainly won’t be holding back, anyway. If I sort out my first job first and foremost then I can get my hands on some ball maybe. But I’m not going to worry or think about it too much, I want to just go out there and play and if I carry, I carry. If I don’t, I don’t. That’s the way it is, anyway and I’ll be doing my utmost to do my best for what’s good for the team.”
For a player seen as essential to Ireland’s success at this World Cup, it still seems remarkable that O’Brien only has 11 caps to his name.
“I don’t really think about that too much, to be honest,” he said.
“I take every game as it comes to me and go along with it and as long as I’m playing good rugby and enjoying myself I’m happy. It’s the same for most of the lads here, as long as they’re enjoying themselves and winning games. That’s what it’s all about now, it’s all about results over here and winning every game as it comes to us, so next up is Australia.”
O’Brien though, has been involved in the best two Irish performances since the Grand Slam, the November 2009 win over South Africa and last March’s Grand Slam-stopping victory against England.
“I think our mindset is probably one of the things from those two games, and just looking after the ball. We looked after the ball very well in those games and I suppose we brought a different intensity to those two games. So you can take those good things out of it and say, ‘we have done this already’.
“All we have to do is try and repeat it and really look after ourselves and be confident that we can do this and that’s what we’ll be aiming for. I don’t think we’re that far off it at all to be honest. We’re fractions away from putting in a massive performance and just clicking and maybe one thing in any game might do that for us. Hopefully it will be this weekend.”
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