Healy on World Cup prep: 'Play our game and play it to the best of our ability. Don't be the hero'

Healy certainly knows what is required to impress the Ireland coaches during the remaining days before squad selection.

Cian Healy and Tom Stewart. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Cian Healy has outlined Andy Farrell’s criteria for securing a place in Ireland’s World Cup squad later this month by warning “don’t be the hero” in the remaining Summer Series Test matches.

The Grand Slam champions, currently on a warm-weather training camp on Portugal’s Algarve, have two more warm-up games before head coach Farrell names his 33-man squad for the tournament on August 28. They play England in Dublin on August 19 and then Samoa in Bayonne, southwestern France, a week later.

Evergreen front-rower Healy, who has experienced three previous World Cup pre-season campaigns and seems certain to be selected for a fourth at the age of 35, will surpass former captain and hooker Rory Best when next selected, reaching 125 caps and making the loosehead prop his nation’s third most-capped player behind Ronan O’Gara (128) and Brian O’Driscoll (133). 

And he certainly knows what is required to impress the Ireland coaches during the remaining days before squad selection.

“There’s going to be a lot of players looking to put their hand up but we’ve talked about how to do that,” Healy said on Thursday from Quinta do Lago.

“It’s to play our game and play how we play to the best of our ability. You don’t get picked by being the hero and going out and trying to do something fantastic because the percentage of doing that is pretty low.

“We have a pretty expansive game and players that know how to play it and have the ability to play it so just looking forward to seeing everyone getting their chance and I suppose how they buy into what we’re doing and where it’s going and what stamp they can put on it themselves then.” 

The Ireland veteran also explained why he was enjoying Ireland camp so much this time around, despite the mounting pressure as the selection deadline draws nearer.

“It’s a great buzz. A really good camp to be in. A lot of fun, a lot of time together on and off the pitch, especially over here, we’ve got nice time in the afternoon to spend a bit of time with the group and break off to spend a bit of time with families as well.

“So it’s really good. It’s a really positive camp and we’re working hard. We’re working very hard when we’re on and we’re recovering very hard when we’re off so it’s a good mix.

“It’s very hard to go into the life of comparing pre-training campaigns and stuff like that. What we haven’t done this time round is the kind of mindless running up and down the pitch. Now we did it today as a top-up but that was the first time we’ve done it this pre-season.

“All of our fitness has been through rugby and in the sessions the skills are very sharp. Players are on and going well so it’s a nice change-up, way of doing it for sure.”