Leamy: Irish squad at odds with themselves
The 31-year-old former Ireland back rower, who won 57 Irish caps but was forced to retire in May 2012 due to a hip injury, feels some of Declan Kidney’s decisions have generated unwanted attention around the squad.
Leamy, who is readying himself for a tilt at the Munster Senior Schools Cup on Monday in his new role as part of the coaching staff at alma mater Rockwell College, believes the captaincy issue and the management’s handling of Ronan O’Gara may have affected squad morale.
“It’s been a tough gig for the players, and probably a very tough gig for the management too,” he said. “There have been a lot of injuries, plus a lot of focus on the captaincy and the way Declan has handled Ronan O’Gara, with Paddy Jackson coming in and then ROG being left out of the squad altogether.
“I would imagine it’s been very difficult, and there’s been a bit of a circus around them, which hasn’t helped.”
Leamy stressed that he hasn’t heard any murmurings of discontent from his former team-mates, but his own experiences of international rugby suggested Ireland were at odds with themselves.
“Getting a 13-13 draw against a French team that hasn’t won a game? I’m not sure it’s a great result. A lot of people felt it was better [in terms of performance], I’m not convinced it was,” the former Munster player added.
“I think there’s something not quite right within the squad; I’m not sure what that is, and I don’t know from talking to any of the boys, I don’t really ask them about rugby. But I’m making my own assumptions from [the outside] looking in. To me, Ireland aren’t quite at peace with themselves.”
Ireland are out of the championship running ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Italy after failing to win against England, Scotland or France. Leamy pinpoints the headlines generated by the switch of captaincy from Brian O’Driscoll to Jamie Heaslip — plus the comings and goings at out-half — as being potentially detrimental to their efforts after the opening weekend victory over Wales in Cardiff.
Veteran O’Gara was initially back-up to Jonny Sexton and played the majority of the 12-6 loss to England after the Leinster man went off with a hamstring injury.
But Kidney then promoted Paddy Jackson to the No 10 shirt for the Scotland clash, before dropping O’Gara from the squad altogether — in favour of rookie Ian Madigan — for France’s visit to Dublin last Saturday.
“I just thought it was a very funny one in terms of taking the captaincy off Brian, then putting ROG in the squad, then when Jonny Sexton got injured, [Paddy Jackson] leapfrogging him, then leaving him out of the squad altogether,” Leamy said.
“It doesn’t suggest a lot of cohesion. The whole thing becomes a media circus then. I know from being involved in Irish teams that when things like that have gone on, it’s very difficult as a player. Every time you go out for a coffee or you sit down to talk to your family, you’re being asked what’s going on. It’s very difficult not to let it affect you, I guess.
“A lot of the lads would be reading papers, there’s obviously websites and newsflashes and everything, it’s very hard to get away from it. You’re meeting people all the time who have an opinion, and whether you like it or not it’s always there, there’s no getting away from it. I would imagine it’s hard at times for players to clue in.
“Ideally, you want a balanced squad, and you don’t want a huge amount of distractions or dramatics in terms of rumours around the camp. That’s always a dangerous thing.
“I just feel that maybe the management have got it a little bit wrong in the way they’ve handled some of the big issues.”
Of course, at the moment it never rains but it pours for Kidney. Minutes after the under-fire coach announced his first choice No 10 Sexton would be fine to start in Rome tomorrow, despite sustaining a foot injury in training yesterday, the horizon clouded over again.
This is what Kidney had to say in a pre-departure press conference at Carton House yesterday: “Jonny went over on his foot a little bit, he’s gone off to get it checked but we imagine it will be all right. We just have Ian Madigan on stand-by but we’d be hopeful we wouldn’t need him.”
But they do, and Kidney is left with another dilemma in what might be his last Six Nations match in charge of Ireland.
However, he opened up further debate by the decision to include Devin Toner (four caps) in the squad before veteran Donncha O’Callaghan.
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