Mutual respect gained after sound workout

RESIDUE FROM the November international series. Do the Springboks respect Irish rugby? Well they have to now. When nit-picking for flaws, as this group of men undoubtedly will, the scrum will be top of the list.

Jerry Flannery works at the core of Irish set-piece play and he had no problem addressing both these issues in his typically honest manner. The Limerick man speaks as he plays.

“I think our scrum has a long way to go,” he said. “It let us down a few times. To give credit, like, when I look on some of the players we played against (Benn) Robinson, the Australian loosehead, is one of the best scrummagers in the world and BJ Botha the same.

“When BJ went off the tide turned for us in the scrum. He’s an excellent player and I’ve played against him with Ulster. He is very, very powerful.

“I suppose we need to get a little more depth with regards to our frontrow positions. We just need to improve our frontrow play.”

Cian Healy is undoubtedly the answer. Marcus Horan is back in the gym but unfortunately the Bull cannot go on forever. “It is just difficult to find these massive John Hayes players. There is not a lot of them going around because we have a small player base. The players we have we just have to make them the best we can.”

Rugby’s amateur ethos was build on a foundation of camaraderie. Bust your opponent up and then sup a pint with him afterwards. John Smit referred to the Lions’ refusal to join the Springboks for a beer last summer in his autobiography (Just blame the ghost writer, John, everyone else does.).

“I don’t know any of them,” said Flannery. “I know Jean de Villiers but I respect them all as you would respect anyone. On the rugby side of it I respect all they have done in the game.

“I don’t know. People are talking to the media just because they are trying to sell their book or something like that or trying to drum stuff up – buy my book because there is some sort of animosity there. As Irish players I think we respect the South Africans.”

The Newman-esque eyes peer out above his busted nose. Flannery breaks it down for those who are wondering. “There probably isn’t as much beer as there was in the amateur days but rugby is the same. The mentality of rugby players is the same whether you go down and I talk to my mates who play for Shannons third team.

“When a fella like Jean de Villiers comes over there is still a bit of craic. That’s why we all got into the game first. It just gets more and more serious as you go on. But the fun is still in it.”

Jamie Heaslip’s mere presence confirms as much. Before the match Rala O’Reilly, the long serving bag man, threw him his tracksuit top to keep out the bitter cold during the anthems. He threw it straight back. Boiling point was close at hand. A nice physical encounter promised.

“It’s South Africa, they ain’t exactly ladyboys (the reference needed explaining to the confused South African journalists),” said the number eight. “They’re big boys and they hit hard, man. They’re big men and they can get around as well. They’ve got a good, high work-rate. I think that that’s what it boiled down to though, winning the collision zones, getting around that corner because they like to bring it around the corner a lot.

“We targeted getting impact tackles in and slowing down their ball and I think we did that successfully. They didn’t slow down as much of our ball as they would have wanted to either.”

One more issue. What about the Republic of Ireland soccer gear Puma designed for the rugby team that Heinrich Brussow kindly ripped off his chest?

“It was the first thing I said to Rala afterwards, actually. I was nearly sure I spotted Rala up in the crowd with a fag in his mouth, wondering what to do. But yeah I’ll have to get on to Puma about that one.

“I think we looked all right in white, I just have to go and get white boots now, not yellow ones.”

Good day for the battle hardened forwards. Summer memories now fading.