Brian O'Driscoll's Diary: The death of Cormac McAnallen impacted on the Irish camp in the week leading up to facing the world champions
Cormac McAnallen's tragic death was a huge shock to everyone in the sporting community. It's difficult to reconcile how someone in fantastic physical condition and who at 24, a year younger than me, can be struck down in his prime.
It leaves you at a loss for words other than to offer sincere condolences to his family, fiancée and friends. He's a huge loss for Irish sport and will be remembered outside his own sporting code.
It's difficult to dwell on a tragedy like that but one thing it does crystallise is the importance of making the most of your life, taking nothing for granted.
GONE WITH THE WIND
Wales had arrived in Dublin sporting a newly-buffed reputation following their exploits at the World Cup and in their opening Six Nations Championship match against Scotland. We heard about them being rejuvenated, resurgent and a couple of other "rs".
In fairness they had played some cracking rugby at the World Cup and in the Scottish game looked good. Their performances made us focus that little bit more, although we were never in danger of underestimating them. We weren't worried but aware that given the scope they were a capable side with plenty of wheels out wide.
It's funny how peripheral things can have such a big bearing on the outcome.
The pre-game tossing of the coin: let's face it, you're never sure whether to play with or against the wind. Fortunately for me that's not a conundrum I have to address that often.
My record is abysmal and in comparison to the "coin king" Reggie Corrigan, who has largely an unblemished record in this respect, is particularly puny.
Wales won the toss and elected to play into the wind. Sometimes it's better when the decision is taken out of your hands and you just go out and play.
Another factor is the kick-off. Invariably when a team wins the toss they choose a side, whereas kick-off allows you to set the tone, establish momentum by getting stuck into the opposition from the off.
Those are the theories but I'd be interested if someone did a study of how teams fared when they opted to play into the wind as opposed to with it.
On a personal level there were aspects of my game that pleased me and were down to the work I've done in the last six weeks. I don't think I would have scored that first try in an international six weeks beforehand; I don't think I would have had that power to break through tackles. That is not only down to hard work but more to the strategies of Mark McCabe.
Momentum was going to get me there for the second try so it was a case of hanging on to the ball. His (Gareth Thomas) only chance was to knock the ball out of my hands, so it was a question of keeping it as far away from him as possible. At kids' clinics I try to stress the importance of keeping the ball as far away from the tackler as possible: stepping off right foot, keep ball in left hand.
I received some abuse from Andy Robinson (England forwards coach) on the Lions tour in 2001 about giving up the ball too easily. I didn't necessarily agree but it is something that struck me and I've been conscious of it ever since.
NIGHT FEVER
The team was in excellent spirits on the Sunday night at the post-match dinner. I have this ritual with regard to speeches. Johnny Redmond (IRFU press officer) provides me with speeches to work off in the build-up to matches. I never take the losing one, figuring it would be silly to go into a game with negative thoughts.
I'm in the lucky situation of having had to make only one losing speech against a great English side and it's a record I'd dearly love to preserve through this weekend.
A lighter moment was provided that night. A Bee Gees tribute band was providing the entertainment but they weren't getting quite the attention they were due so they tried to spice things up by going around trying to get people to sing into the microphone.
They approached Rog (Ronan O'Gara). Now I have listened to a lot of Bee Gees tunes but I'm pretty sure this wasn't one of them. He's no Charlotte Church, as the Welsh might say, and certainly doesn't have the voice of an angel.
There was a positive response to the "experiment" of playing Darce (Gordon D'Arcy) and myself in midfield. I enjoyed the new partnership and thought he did extremely well (he carried a couple of knocks throughout the game), making a couple of trademark breaks but also thriving defensively.
We had our own little competition to see who could poach more ball on the deck. He (Darce) has phenomenal upper-body strength. Jim Williams would probably shade him (Darce) but there wouldn't be many others.
There was no shifting me the following day. It was about 3 p.m. when I quit the Radisson, very tired, very sore, feelings adrenaline had camouflaged in the immediate aftermath of the game.
It was real first-game (of the season) syndrome where you feel every niggle. My shoulder had seized up.
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
On the Tuesday we were back in camp, hardly aware of having been away. The previous Saturday we had prevailed upon Eddie (O'Sullivan) to cut short the camp from three days to two because the guys wanted another day at home. The management readily acceded to the request and it made a tough two days more palatable.
I was too sore to train on the Tuesday so had to make do with massage and physio, a fate I shared with Shane Horgan. We bore our hardship with dignity particularly when Ralla (Paddy O'Reilly) sneaked us a bit of cake that he keeps for special occasions.
The wife of Brendan, our bus driver, made some gorgeous cake and we were treated to a couple of slices. We were obviously conscious of the calories and made sure we ate slowly and digested it properly with a cup of tea. As tasty as this cake was it was pretty much fat free and the perfect accompaniment as we sat back and watched out team-mates knocking seven bells out of each other.
The training was less intense on Wednesday while the Thursday allowed me to visit Mark McCabe.
That night it was great to chill out with friends, invited over, to enjoy dinner, which I cooked. Chicken Faijitas, thank you for asking, a recipe borrowed from Bob Casey, of London Irish fame. It's the little extras that made it different and it'll be just one of the recipes available when the cookbook is launched for the Christmas market!
Friday proved to be a great day, or at least the afternoon. I got picked up by helicopter at Stradbrook and was flown down to Seafield Golf Club outside Gorey for a photocall with Dave Cullen, who's working on the project. Flying in and getting a first glance of the course, it looked magnificent. It was a really enjoyable day, hitting a few shots; bunker play, a few drives, pitching and, of course, some putts.
Unfortunately we couldn't land at Stradbrook on the way back and were diverted to Westin. Kaiser (Denis Hickie) rang me en route back and I sent him a text explaining that I couldn't talk as I was in a helicopter. His response was succinct if rude but he ended up with the last laugh following our diversion.
That night, like everyone else, I wanted to see Christian Cullen play his first game for Munster. It wasn't quite his type of game but you saw a couple of sparks. He'll be brilliant, so exciting. When he hits those open spaces and the ground hardens up, there'll be a lot of guys saying, "he's your man".
It was great to have Trev (Trevor Brennan) back this week. On the first day he plonks himself down beside the management, blissfully unaware that they have a daily meeting over breakfast.
He's like, "pass the sugar over there", as he tucks into his cornflakes. He was told gently that it was a management meeting.
His return meant that everyone was in full body armour from head to toe for training. Some people that had been on the bench for the Welsh game were very thankful he would be with them in training.
The banter was good especially as far as Axel (Anthony Foley) was concerned. The newspaper piece that appeared outlining the fact he would win his 50th cap against England gave the lads so much material. They were wondering whether he'd care to reveal the rest of the team or had he simply sought out private guarantees. I have never seen him so quiet.
Today is about starting well, being aggressive from the start and taking the game to them. We are playing the world champions at their home and it's pointless standing off them.
