Learning to keep focus on fresh challenges

INTERVIEW JAMIE HEASLIP: John O'Sullivantalks to the Ireland and Leinster number eight who, far from sated with last season's triumphs, is looking for more success

JAMIE HEASLIP can’t help smiling when describing a game-managers’ meeting at Leinster earlier in the week. Essentially it’s a brainstorming session between several players in key decision-making positions like hooker, secondrow, number eight and halfback to both review and formulate patterns on a weekly basis.

The Ireland and Leinster number eight is well known for his laid-back approach to statistical data. He laughs while suggesting that his input might be less fulsome than some of his team-mates before pointing out that it is quality rather than quantity that makes for the most salient verbal intervention. He pleads his case well, his sense of humour never far away.

“I don’t know if I contribute much, to be honest. I throw my tuppence in and if people listen, they listen. The 10s and nines obviously have a lot of say but out of politeness they run it past us forwards at times. It’s good; just making sure everyone is (reading) off the same page.”

The analysis of last weekend’s defeat was pretty clear-cut. Leinster played much of the rugby but they were guilty of some poor game management given the conditions and unusually this season, an issue with regard to defence.

Heaslip explained: “To be honest, as a pack we let ourselves down a little bit. Over the past couple of seasons, we’ve built a pretty high standard in terms of the intensity we bring to games and especially those kind of close-quarter games. We just kind of let ourselves down a little bit, as regards soaking a lot of tackles rather than meeting them at the gain-line.

“And we made a lot of silly mistakes, which they punished us for and put points on the board. We were upset with ourselves (about) letting the standard down but at the same time we were happy to get the bonus point at the end.

“I think it showed good character in the squad to keep going at them and get that bonus because it keeps us there in the top four and that’s what it’s really all about come the end of the season – as long as you’re in the top four. I think we controlled the game well.

“They probably played a little bit smarter than us with the wind but I thought we controlled the game. We just made more mistakes than them and they punished us for that.”

In any sport, a team’s ability to absorb lessons, rectify mistakes and move on accordingly is a cherished facility. Leinster scrutinised their shortcomings in Belfast and by Monday evening had begun the recalibration required for Cardiff’s arrival to the RDS on Saturday night.

The Welsh side are a physically abrasive outfit populated by big ball-carriers like number eight Xavier Rush and Andy Powell to complement the more subtle and skilful contribution of Martyn Williams. Heaslip offered an insight into his side’s primary concerns this weekend.

“The focus is really to stop their ball-carriers. They’ve got some guys who can carry the ball well and get momentum for them. We’ve got to meet them in the collision zones. You’ve got to meet them head-on, not let them get over the gain-line too often, slow down the ball so we can get our defensive line set.

“We have a pretty good defensive system in place, where teams are finding it hard to get tries against us. We’ve got to trust that system and then, when we have the ball, we’ve got a great backline. God only knows what backline he’ll put out there this week; we can rotate guys but whoever is out there can do a job for us. A lot of our attention this week has been on our defence and especially that close-quarter stuff.”

Williams is a player for whom Heaslip has huge respect having played against him for the past few years and during the summer with the red-haired openside for the Lions in South Africa.

“I always compare him to Glees (Keith Gleeson). He is a very good link player between forwards and backs. On the ground he does a lot of work, some of it legal, maybe some of it illegal. He’s gifted in those black arts; he’s definitely good at what he does.

“In attack you have to work hard to make sure he doesn’t slow down that ball and mess it up; in defence you have to keep one eye on him because he’s very a very smart player. He sees space a little bit quicker than other players do.

“You can’t just focus all your attention on him because then you have someone like Xavier Rush breaking off a scrum or Powelly (Andy Powell) breaking off a scrum so you just have to keep your wits about you.”

In detaching himself from the Leinster scene, Heaslip is looking forward to the upcoming November Test series with Ireland, not sated by last season’s haul of silverware and keen to look forward rather than back; much like this week.