No rest for Wood as Quins go for glory

IT’S a laughable situation but Keith Wood isn’t smiling.

These days the Irish captain is playing a very delicate high wire act as he balances his Irish career with his English club one with Harlequins and the practice of going from one high profile match to another is becoming second nature to him.

mmediately after celebrating Ireland’s victory over France, Wood was on a plane back to England to prepare for Harlequins’ Tetley’s Bitter Cup Final against Newcastle at Twickenham tomorrow.

After the final, Wood will allow himself a short period with his Quins team-ß

mates before linking up again with Ireland as they attempt to stay on course for the Grand Slam by beating Wales in Cardiff on 3 March.

Wood’s current playing schedule would floor a lesser man and highlights the ludicrous nature of professional rugby in Europe.

Given his situation, how does Wood avoid falling between numerous stools? He said yesterday: "I had to get everything to do with Ireland out of the way on Monday and there is a key to it.

"You have to analyse everything from the match and, basically, close it off. I did that by going through the video on Monday and marked off a few notes on a piece of paper and that has been put away until next Sunday. I will then take it out and use it in the build-up to the Wales match.

"For now, it’s out of the way and good luck. I have to do that or I would lose all reason! I hope that I will be celebrating with Quins on Saturday evening but, as soon as that is over, I will switch straight back into Ireland mode and the club knows that’s how it has to be because I am back with the Irish squad the next day."

Yes, he does get well paid for his efforts, but money isn’t everything and irrespective of the amounts of money involved the pain remains.

It’s not necessary for Wood to take you through his three weeks from hell because the tiredness is there for anyone to see in his eyes. But, being the kind of bloke he is, Quins will get nothing less than the 110% Woody always gives in matches, irrespective of the jersey he wears.

It is Wood’s bullet headed approach to matches that marks him out from the rest but that does little to alleviate the huge fixture list facing him. One popular answer to the current fixture problem is to play the Six Nations matches on consecutive weekends, but this finds little support with Wood.

The sport does not allow that kind of quick recovery period and the championship would be won by the team that has the biggest squad, not the best 15 players.

"As a player, I cannot see the benefit of playing every week-end," added Wood.

"An Irish supporter doesn’t want to see Keith Wood limping through a match because he picked up an injury the previous Saturday or Brian O’Driscoll coming back a week too soon with a hamstring strain and then hurting himself even worse.

"Thankfully, what we are dealing with at the moment is an isolated situation and I don’t agree with it at all. What I am concentrating on is getting some sleep. While it is possible to play 30 matches a season, after that the message has to be ‘leave us alone and give us a real holiday’.

"A lot of people don’t under-stand the situation and say: ’Woody, you want to be paid well for playing 12 months of rugby.’ What I actually want is three weeks’ holiday like anyone else and then time to train properly before the season starts all over again."

Meanwhile Scotland coach Ian McGeechan believes forward Simon Taylor has surpassed the level of fitness he enjoyed even before his hand injury in November. Taylor broke his left hand in the Test against Australia and has been forced to sit out the two opening Six Nations games before his inclusion in the squad to face England.

The 21-year-old enjoyed a tremendous two days after being named in a provisional Lions squad for the summer. But McGeechan has no doubt that the Edinburgh Reivers number eight, who replaces Jason White, is back to his best.

McGeechan said: ‘‘I’m very pleased with the way Simon has come back having had the hand injury. I know he has been working hard so he is fitter, faster and stronger than he was in the autumn.

‘‘Simon has been supervised and watched very closely and he can do many things now. He has played very well in the A team and is back to the level he was at when he got injured.’’

But McGeechan admitted that informing White of the decision to drop him in favour of Taylor came with much soul searching.