Confident to make more carries

John O'Sullivan talks to Ireland and Munster hooker Jerry Flannery who tries to play like an extra flanker

Jerry Flannery possesses a sense of humour. It is a self-defence mechanism that is vital in professional team sport and stood him in good stead following a high-profile cameo in the Six Nations Championship victory over Wales at Lansdowne Road last Saturday week. In offering a reprise it's appropriate to allow the Ireland hooker the opportunity to set the scene.

"It wasn't a (pre-planned) move, I was just running a line. I got a good pass from Rog (Ronan O'Gara) and while I'd like to blame my ankle as I had a bit of an injury during the week, I should have finished it. It was good defence by Wales as well. If the opportunity comes up again this week I'll nail it."

Flannery was mown down in sight of the Welsh try line by full back Lee Byrne, initially, and then Dwayne Peel. Offered tongue-in-cheek mitigation by the media on the basis of Byrne's near Olympic-class speed, Flannery laughed: "He's an exceptionally quick player, exceptionally quick. I am just looking for reasons really. I should have nailed it. He tripped me, and (Dwayne) Peel nailed me."

His Munster team-mates were never going to shirk the opportunity for a little sledging. "Most of the Munster lads were on to me and Axel (Anthony Foley) was giving me the one about: 'Warning, quicksand found under the West Stand', and all that crap. I was trying to delete them as quickly as they were coming. It was a case of beep, beep, beep, beep: I knew the slating I was going to get."

Joking aside it is easy to spot the Limerick man's growing maturity as a Test player. There has been a stepped progression in his four caps and it's reasonable to assume Saturday's game against Scotland will offer further vindication of a burgeoning talent. He's definitely more content in his surroundings.

"A player should be confident enough to step in and play his own game. Maybe in the Italy game I stood off a little bit and went laterally from ruck to ruck to ruck. I thought I got my hands on the ball a bit more against France; it was just such a hard game to read. It was hard to get into it. I'm comfortable here now and I am enjoying it.

"It's about trying to find a niche for yourself in the team. Playing with Munster is slightly different from playing with Ireland as we do things differently in different places (on the pitch): with a few more games you can offer a bit more."

Despite the differences in patterns at times, he maintains there is a central tenet to beating any opposition. "You try to take on the other pack and dominate them. No matter how good our backs are you can't just shovel ball onto them and expect them to do something with it. We have been given licence to take it on and get stuck into the opposition and carry ball at them.

"If you go off the set-piece (the last day), then our scrum and lineout functioned well and I got my hands on the ball a bit around the pitch. As you grow in confidence with every game, you feel more comfortable in taking on a bit more ball. It takes a bit more pressure off Leams (Denis Leamy) who doesn't have to make 28 carries per game, if I am contributing a bit more."

So how does he see himself as a hooker? "You have big huge guys like (Steve) Thompson who are bullocking forwards and then guys like Keith Wood who are dynamic around the field. I am more a work-rate player, like an extra flanker. Thompson's like an extra prop around the field but I'm not 18 stone. I just try to contribute for the whole game. I used to watch a lot of Keith Wood. Not everyone is blessed with his physical attributes but you watch what other fellas do well and try to bring it into your own game. I just try to play like an extra flanker."

The Scots present their own unique challenge for any opposing pack. The premise for Scottish forward play is simple: apply pressure and feed off the resultant mistakes. Their ability at ruck time is legendary in protecting as well as turning over ball. Flannery advocates patience. "The aim for us is to stay calm and go through the phases. You try not to force it and the gaps will come eventually. We have got to get our intensity up from the get-go."