RUGBY:FOREWARNED IS forearmed, as it were, and with memories of the Namibian and Georgian games still vividly uncomfortable for the majority of the Irish squad, that should be of some benefit before the equivalent 2011 banana skin against the USA on Sunday.
The recuperative week in Queenstown having restored morale, Ireland are probably better off starting against one of the minnows (it’s not often we get to pair America and Russia in that category) than in the in-form and newly-crowned Tri-Nations champions from Australia, or even Italy. But, coming on the heels of August’s four warm-up defeats, that is only on the premise that the Eagles don’t inflict the same kind of psychological scars that Namibia and Georgia delivered.
Indeed, had Denis Leamy not positioned himself under one of the Georgian sumo wrestlers who had rumbled over the Irish line, Ireland would have suffered unquestionably the worst result in its history.
“I’ve been told of it and I think I remember something. I’ve never even watched a replay of that game,” recalled Leamy of that video nasty yesterday. “I think a lot of us leave that behind because it was such a disappointing time in our careers. Yeah, I possibly did stop him, but the comparisons between the two are a little bit different. We prepared so well for the last World Cup in terms of our fitness we possibly forgot about the rugby.
“I vaguely remember it (the incident). The whole thing is a haze and I think a lot of us try and forget about it to be honest. We try and make a joke of it but behind it all we realise how serious it was at the time, and a lot of us felt a huge disappointment because we really had prepared so well and we’d done everything right.
“We were living like monks, we weren’t going out and probably in many ways it was the wrong thing to do. We broke from what we normally did and we probably didn’t enjoy ourselves as much as we should have coming up to it. That led to a vicious circle of poor results and poor performances, and I think that experience will stand to us this time round. Already it’s so much more of a better experience.”
As he said it, Leamy was looking out on the snow-peaked mountains of the Remarkables and the Coronet as the sun bounced off the Lake Wakatipu – not exactly comparable with the Sofitel du Lac on the grimmer outskirts of Boredeaux.
Refreshed by Ireland’s pre-season and being at a second World Cup, Leamy himself hasn’t felt so injury-free in about three years. “To play rugby, at times you get on the pitch you’re not right and that can have an effect on your form. Getting out there and playing injured just isn’t any fun. It takes the edge off you when you’re sore and you’re constantly getting banged on it. It does take a little bit off you, especially from the contact area, being honest about it.”
Three seasons ago, his shoulder was persistently hurting him and then following an operation he began to be troubled by his knee. That dragged on for about two years and even after another operation it remained sore last season. “But the off-season seemed to help settle it down a lot.”
On top of his knee complaints, Leamy carried a big load last season when standing in as Munster captain for Paul O’Connell in the first half of the campaign – remaining in the job for the painful defeat in Toulon – and then ending the season on the bench for Munster’s successful Magners League run-in.
“I must say I was pretty worried toward the end of last season in terms of where it would lead. I spoke to Deccie at the start (of pre-season) and he just said ‘look, do your best and enjoy it’. I think he got the sense that I probably wasn’t enjoying it in the last while. He said the main thing was to enjoy it and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but at least you’ve given it a shot, and I think that’s the way it worked out. But the real business starts now.”
Virtually every squad, regardless of where they are in the season, have various injury concerns and Ireland are no exception. But, encouragingly, everyone trained fully yesterday, according to kicking coach Mark Tainton, bar Cian Healy, with all except the Leinster loosehead apparently in contention for the opener against the USA on Sunday.
Much also has been made of Eddie O’Sullivan’s insider information on the Irish squad, as Jerry Flannery alluded to yesterday.
In citing O’Sullivan as a very knowledgable coach who gave him his first cap and “technical information” in making him a much better player, Flannery did admit it would give the Eagles an insight that no other opposing coach will have in this tournament.
“Our team has probably progressed a long way, and players have progressed as well since Eddie left in the last four years, but players’ mentalities don’t change too much. I think that’s one of the biggest insights that he’ll be able to give his team, like we had when we played the South Africans before,” said Flannery.
“I remember Gert Smal gave us a good insight into the mentality that they would have going into the match and I suppose it gives you a little bit of a taster of what to expect when you’re going out. I think Eddie will be able to give his lads that kind of information.”
