SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP:DECLAN KIDNEY and Warren Gatland shared a conversation in the foyer of the Hurlingham Club in London, the formalities of the Six Nations Championship launch having concluded a few minutes earlier. Gatland knows what it is like to defend a Grand Slam having led Wales to an all-conquering success in 2008. Kidney is about to find out, having inspired Ireland to bridge a 61-year gap last season.
Advice was probably neither sought nor dispensed but earlier the New Zealander offered a snapshot of what Ireland can expect when they begin the 2010 Six Nations against Italy at Croke Park on Saturday week.
“As defending champions there is pressure on Ireland. As we found out in 2008, everyone targets you as the game to win.
“I expect France to go for them in Paris, as they did for Wales two years ago. They’ll make it tough. They go into the campaign as favourites but they face two tough away games in Paris and Twickenham, and they have us who went to Croke Park two years ago and won.
“I could see that going to the wire this time. But they have got two teams in the European quarter-finals again and so they are playing well. There is a togetherness; a closeness in the team. They are a happy side and are very experienced. You can’t coach experience and they are a very tough team to beat.”
No one attends to the minutiae of preparation with more zeal than Kidney, be it physical or mental. He’s aware of what many perceive to be a burden, the mantle of favouritism. It’s a natural legacy bestowed on champions and can either inspire cussedness in a team to strive for the summit again or suffocate under the expectation.
“You have a bit of confidence but you also have the fear. Last year if we were a dartboard we were a two or three but this year we are the bullseye. Because we have been lucky with provinces at Heineken Cup level and Magners League level, the experience in the team will know that is the case.
“I’m happy but I am also more fearful that every team will be targeting us. That could be to our advantage if we front up to that. If we don’t front up to it the tournament could be very tough. I was looking at the stats – they can tell lies – but the truth seems to be that on this particular cycle of matches (every second season) we are averaging about third in the Six Nations. I would be fearful of that.
“There is firstly the cycle of matches every two years and then within that there is the way the games fall. There was a lot of talk last year about Enfield but we took a decision this year that the most important component; we could have had a camp since South Africa but we decided to have a rest week for that period instead.
“We took a decision that the players were better off having a rest week to try and keep them fresh for those challenges that lie ahead. We have a whole host of things to do but we can’t do them unless the players are fresh.
“It’ll be a different dynamic going into this season’s tournament. Last year you had more trepidation but you had an underlying confidence.
“This year there seems an outward confidence which can lead to a bit of trepidation: there’s an Irish answer for you.”
The Grand Slam has been consigned to the past, Kidney stressing that a team’s fortunes can change in an instant.
“The Grand Slam won’t help us do anything this time. Going in last year there was a bit of doom and gloom about how we might do. That can lead to determination. This year you can argue that with a bit of confidence, that can bring you on.
“We can’t take our foot off the pedal, we’re not that good. But I haven’t seen anything to suggest the boys are backing off one bit. If anything they are more ambitious. They have shown that in their Heineken Cup performances to date and the way they went about their business in November.”
Ireland’s captain Brian O’Driscoll, not alone share’s a player’s view of the upcoming challenge but one that represents a maturity honed by an appreciation of how fickle any sport can be.
“No, you’re not really happy (to luxuriate in winning a Grand Slam). You are hoping you can do it again. You get selfish after attaining a goal. You get a taste for it. It doesn’t wane; if anything success heightens your ambition.
“I enjoyed all of the trappings of last year, the winning itself, the celebrations, the general feeling in the country. It’s not about retaining it. It’s about giving it back and trying to win it again.”
O’Driscoll touched on the magnitude of that task when he pointed to the fact that Ireland had won only once in Paris in 38 years.
France have been touted as Ireland’s main challengers but the Irish captain wasn’t about to under-sell upcoming opponents.
“I was talking earlier about it (Six Nations) being such a good competition. It’s eight times now I’ve sat down at tables like these since 2003 and usually there are usually four or five teams can win it. It depends on who starts well. Nothing has changed in that regard.
“Scotland are probably the most improved team after beating Australia. Wales, well there’s been just one year since they won the Grand Slam. England are capable of beating everyone. Italy are capable of taking a scalp, maybe not putting five wins on the bounce but they are capable of winning if teams don’t play well.”
Last season’s successful mantra of one game at a time appears to have endured, something Kidney, O’Driscoll and an Irish nation would hope will be replicated on the pitch.
