RUGBY: GERRY THORNLEYtalks to the award-winning forward about Ireland's start to the season

IN SOMETHING of a multi-award winning year for Seán O’Brien, the Tullow man was last night named as the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year, thereby following up on his achievement in winning the inaugural ERC European Player of the Season.

Coming into the calendar year, O’Brien had made his first start against Samoa the previous November, but finished it having become a regular starter throughout Ireland’s Six Nations campaign as well as an inspirational driving force in Leinster’s Heineken Cup success.

In the latter he played the first four pool games at blindside, the next two at number eight and the three knock-out games at openside, scoring four tries and picking up three Man of the Match awards while also posting high scores across the board to lead the Opta rankings as the top performing attacking and defensive player.

Against France in Bordeaux last Saturday, O’Brien won his 10th cap at open side, thereby playing across the Irish back-row as well, and he seems sure to be involved in Saturday’s return World Cup warm-up match at the Aviva Stadium.

In what was his seasonal return, O’Brien admitted: “The first 20 or 25 they really came out of the traps. We were struggling to live with them a little bit and we didn’t get off to a good start. They had us under pressure for that time and got a couple of scores out of it.”

“It was tough physically, particularly for lads who haven’t played in a long time. We knew it was going to be physical and we expected that. It was good that it was physical and we got nothing handy out there.”

What was particularly encouraging was the way Ireland’s fitness shone through after such a searching examination. “We spoke about that, that they might tire a little bit and we’d have to keep going. We probably did at times, but we didn’t have that killer instinct about us out there. We kept the ball a lot better in the second half, sorted out the ruck a little bit and started putting a few phases together. But we dropped a couple of balls and I lost one or two myself.”

Though patently disappointed with the defeat, it was at least a relief to have a game under his belt. “That’s the thing, you can do all the running and you can do all the pre-season you like but it’s actually getting out there and playing the games that gets you properly fit. Match fitness is one thing and running around for a couple of hours is another thing.”

A feature of Saturday’s games between Australia’s Tri-Nations win in Durban (an ominous portent of the Wallabies’ customary readiness for the World Cup and for Ireland’s second pool game), Wales’ win over England in Cardiff and France’s victory, was that the winning sides scored the game’s only try, with no team reaching 20 points.

For Ireland, it was a second game without a try, but O’Brien maintained: “I wouldn’t say it’s a worry at all. If you look at the last couple of games we’ve played against France, we’ve outscored them on the try-sheet. It’s just about getting the attack right and if we hold on to the ball the tries will come. That’s what let us down a little bit.

“We showed that we were a score away from them and we played poorly. You have to be confident that if we can get it right we can beat them. That’s what it’s all about this week and that has to be the mindset.”

To that end, O’Brien stated: “We have to start a lot quicker. We were playing catch-up after 25 minutes and it’s hard to play catch-up against any international side. We have to start well and sort out our ruck. In the first 15 or 20 minutes we were wondering should we go in and compete or should we not? There was indecision there from a lot of us. Sort out a couple of things like that and hold on to the ball, and it should be good.”

At last night’s awards dinner in the Aviva Stadium, Leinster also picked up the Dave Guiney perpetual award as the Team of the Year, Lynne Cantwell was named the inaugural women’s player of the year after another season as the stand-out player for the Irish women’s team, and Ulster Bank All Ireland League champions Old Belvedere were voted Club of the Year (only the second Leinster club to do so).

The Tom Rooney Award, for exceptional contribution to the game, went to Alan Lewis, whose refereeing record includes two World Cups and a record number of European Cup matches. The two new members inducted to the Guinness Hall of Fame were outhalf Ollie Campbell, the key points accumulator in the 1982 Triple Crown who would have won more than 22 caps for Ireland and another six for the Lions but for injury, and Mick Lane, who won 17 caps and was selected for the Lions in 1950.

Lane missed out on the 1948 Grand Slam through injury but he was on the side that took the Triple Crown in 1949, and the side that narrowly missed another Grand Slam in 1951.