Healy strong in the eye of the storm

CIAN HEALY emerged successfully from the eye of an Italian storm, but whatever happened in the furnace of the front-row, especially in the 22nd minute, he was intent on parking it on the pitch. Asked if he was upset at the time, and to say he was upset was putting it mildly, Healy merely said: “Heat of the game, wasn’t it?”

There wasn’t a whole lot of love between the players at the full-time whistle, whatever about the respect between the coaches. Nick Mallett lauded Declan Kidney for the nice words he whispered to him at pitch side after his last game in charge of the Azzurri.

“He’s an amazing gentleman,” Mallett said of Kidney, adding: “rugby is very fortunate to have people like him coaching international teams. What he said to me means all the world to me.”

By contrast, Salvatore Perugini, refused to shake Donncha O’Callaghan’s hands for some reason (much to the lock’s chagrin) while it was noticeable that Healy didn’t bother joining the line of players shaking hands. Nor was he the only one.

Yet, rather pointedly, he maintained: “I had a good time. I enjoyed the scrum.”

And, when the dust has settled following this performance, Healy will probably have enjoyed the taste of victory more than most.

He could take particularly satisfaction from the scrums, where he stood up to Martin Castrogiovanni again and then had Perugini in big trouble.

“That’s our job, isn’t it, with the backs we have, to give them good ball to play off. We worked well as an eight to do that and I’m happy enough about that.”

Clearly, Mallett’s comments after Italy’s win over the USA about Italy having a better front-row must have riled Healy, Rory Best and Mike Ross, but again Healy wouldn’t play ball.

“It was there, but we don’t really need anything to do that. We’re happy in ourselves with our own scrum and we don’t doubt ourselves; whether others do or not isn’t our problem.”

In any event, he asserted that the Irish scrum is now a weapon, and when asked if Ireland can win the World Cup, was obliged to answer in the affirmative. “We can, yeah. We’re capable of it, but it’s just putting the right performances in and everything working out. It’s something that takes a hell of a lot of work and perfection in every aspect of your game.

“There are a lot of strong teams left in the competition that you have to fight your way past, but our next hurdle now is Wales. That’s a huge, huge task.

“Inevitably you’ve got to win a Six Nations first before you can win a World Cup, on this side of the table (draw) the way it looks.

“That’s not an easy feat either, so we’ll be working hard at it.”

Another of the team’s young tyros, Conor Murray, was also asked if Ireland had a growing belief they could reach the final.

“I dunno, it’s really one match at a time we’re looking at and building a performance based on the team we’re playing next week and we have managed to do that this far. We have Wales next week and that will be a huge challenge for us,” he said.

In any event, he is a barometer of the team’s growth with each game. “Yeah personally, I feel I have grown with the lads over the last few weeks, getting more comfortable and stuff and things might be happening a bit easier but it will be a huge challenge again next week.”

He was reasonably happy with his own performance. “There were a few little messy bits but it was always going to be physical and messy around the rucks and stuff, but we expected that. As a team we dealt with it pretty well and tried to get on with our own game.”

Not surprisingly Murray’s physicality was a useful counter to Parisse. “I don’t think we targeted that but he is obviously a quality player and we had to keep an eye on him a good bit off scrums and stuff. I got him down a few times alright, I was happy with that.”

As much as anyone, this being only his second Test start, Murray really is living the dream, all the more so given the Irish support.

“Unbelievable. the best I have ever experienced. It’s strange, the stadium obviously makes it a lot noisier but they were incredible and hopefully they will stick around for next week as well.”

Murray has made a compelling case to start again next week against the player he has often been compared to, namely Mike Phillips. “I knew that question was going to come! Obviously, people have been comparing us and he is obviously a great player, a starting Lion but I don’t think I really base my game on anyone. A lot of people compare us but I concentrate on my own game . . . Hopefully, I will get a chance to meet him at some stage next week.”