Strauss already having a ball

He had waited three years to pull on an Ireland jersey and it took just three minutes for his long-awaited Test debut to unravel.

The newly-capped hooker Richardt Strauss, word perfect in delivering Amhrán na bhFiann during the pre-match anthems, was yesterday nursing a split lip that had threatened to end his Ireland debut almost as quickly as it had started last Saturday.

Just three minutes into the Test against his native South Africa, Strauss, playing for his adopted country under the three-year residency rule, dived face first into a trailing boot, forcing him off with a mouth full of blood. It had capped a shaky start to his Ireland career having thrown a couple of wobbly lineout balls in the opening moments, but luckily for the Leinster front rower a few stitches was all that was needed to repair the wound and he returned to action for what would become a more than competent performance.

Still, describing it yesterday at the Ireland team hotel, was proving a little uncomfortable.

“Sorry I talk like this, I feel so stupid,” Strauss said, tapping the healing wound on his bottom lip.

“It happened with Ruan Pienaar and he’s the most soft-spoken, nicest guy there is. As he kicked I tried to ankle tap him and just dived into the back of his boot, so I was pretty unlucky.

“I felt my teeth. As I stood up I felt the warm blood on my chin and then felt a bit of a split so I knew it wasn’t too bad.”

Making his Ireland debut was a special moment, he said and coincidentally it came against the country of his birth with his cousin, Adriaan Strauss, playing as the Springboks starting hooker. Post-match, Adriaan had said he had been sure Richardt would be capped since the day he left South Africa for a new life in Ireland. As the Leinster man earned his qualification over three years, Richardt said he became less confident.

“Obviously it was always in the back of my mind to maybe come here if things went well but when I got over here you don’t really realise the quality of players that are over here, and I had to sit on the couch and watch the lads play and think this is going to be really tough and not as easy as people might think.

“I’ve just been fortunate enough that everything worked out for me, and Rory (Best) getting injured and me getting the opportunity – one guy’s difficulty is another guy’s opportunity.”

As for the anthem, Strauss said he had not even dared learn it until he was sure he was in the team.

“I actually thought of it a while back but I thought I don’t want to be arrogant and jinx the whole thing so I thought I’ll do it the first week we got into camp and then got overcome with all the new detail and left it off until last week.

“I started learning it off then, to be honest, and it was actually quite easy. I wouldn’t say I’m the best singer in the world, so I tried to keep it as private as possible.”

Still, Strauss surprised himself with the emotion of the occasion, admitting: “To be honest I’m really not a guy who really gets quite emotional, I always get fired up when people get emotional and start crying and stuff and I never thought it was going to happen to me.

“And as we ran onto the pitch I found myself getting really emotional and thought, ‘get yourself together, it’s not the time to get over-emotional now’ and after a couple of seconds on the pitch I actually calmed down and I was all right.”

Strauss’s decision to leave his homeland for pastures new was never just about winning one cap, though and the hooker believes his debut highlighted the need to keep improving.

“You’re never happy with everything you did. Obviously there’s some good stuff, but you’re always looking at the stuff you didn’t do right.

“For me, there’s loads of breakdown work I’d like to work on. A couple of line-outs didn’t go as planned too so that’s something we’ll have a look at and try to sort out.

“You always have to learn. The day you stop learning is the day you have to hang up your boots. Whenever you think you’ve got it all, that’s when you’re going to get hurt.

“I think the day when a player thinks he has it all is the day when he has to walk out the door.”