O'Cuinneagain at home in the green

The things a new Irish player has to do. Tradition decrees that, prior to a first game for Ireland, the newcomer has to sing a song. Dion O'Cuinneagain was duly put on the spot on the team bus following the squad's visit to the Irish Embassy yesterday evening.

Why Do You Make Those Eyes At Me, was his offering. "It didn't quite come out correctly. I'm not a good singer," he recalls, laughing at the embarrassment of it all as Warren Gatland and Philip Danaher rib him about it as they walk by.

It was a suitably romantic gesture given his circuitous route to wearing the green. His Dublin father and Lancashire mother so fell in love with South Africa on their honeymoon that they stayed put. Given his surname, though, and regular visits to his extended Irish family from the age of "zero", the desire to play for Ireland has been there for a years. So this is no holiday homecoming, that comes later. "I see myself as Irish now. I'm here for four weeks to do a job, and then after this I'll have my holiday here."

Coming from Cape Town, he's been something of a tour guide this week. "I took them to Table Mountain today and I've shown them some of the social life. We went to the waterfront on Tuesday night. And where to go, where to play golf, and where not to go and what not to do." Basically, not anywhere on your own, especially at night, though the hospitality cannot be faulted.

His father, Conal, is part of "a very strong community of Irish dentists here", and Dion and his two brothers had a typically sporty upbringing. He represented Western Province in cricket at schools level, and the South African schools in both athletics and rugby. "I just had a good sports career at school, not so good academically though.

"They call it cross-playing, and I was lucky to be exposed to a lot of sports from an early age. It's compulsory to play at least one sport at school, and you're encouraged to play two; one winter sport and one summer sport. In the winter I also used to play a bit of squash."

Such a background is the essence of growing up in South Africa. "You grow up in a rugby culture whereby you're surrounded by rugby, either on tv or in the newspapers. All the sporting heroes are either rugby or cricket players.

"On a Saturday morning you go and play rugby for your school, and then in the afternoon you're probably taken by your father to Newlands to see Western Province. Then, on Sunday, you have a braai, which is a barbecue, when you talk about the rugby the day before, and then the next week would start and end the same way."

Naturally his parents and immediate family will be in Wellington to see O'Cuinneagain play and to review his performance over a braai the next day.

Always a number eight, O'Cuinneagain steadily came through the Western province system, representing from under-16 to under-21 levels before playing 75 times for the senior provincial side, as well as for South Africa Universities. "It was a great rugby education really. I was very lucky," says the pleasant, surprisingly softly-spoken O'Cuinneagain.

He also captained the South African Sevens in 1993 and 1994, testimony to his footballing skills and the greater importance attached to the abbreviated game in the Southern Hemisphere.

"They see it as a good way to develop skills. To play sevens you've got to be able to pass the ball long distances, you've got to have sidesteps, you've obviously got to have a very high fitness level and you've got to be fairly quick. Most of the top South African backs have come through sevens."

Given he had so much going for him, why then did he up and leave for Sale? "I always had an ambition to play international rugby and I got a good offer from Sale at the same time. I wanted to go and play for Ireland. Syd Millar had been in touch with me, and also I'd met some Irish guys in `93 at the World Cup sevens, as well as Hong Kong, and I was always keen to explore that route."

O'Cuinneagain loves playing with Sale, and the style of play encouraged there by John Mitchell. He doesn't count his first outing for another Waikato man, namely Gatland, in the A international between Ireland and England "as my best game of the season. It was a steady game. We struggled in the forwards."

He had an inkling that he might have been in contention for a place in the tour opener as a flanker, though admits he's never played on the blind side before. Having studied Lawrence Dallaglio's performance for the Lions last summer, O'Cuinneagain concludes: "Once I remind myself to only go half-way across the pitch and give Andy Ward the other half, then we're smiling."

"I don't want to make any predictions. Boland are a big, physical side, a typical South African side. They will try and grind us down in the forwards and smash us up the fringes. We'll be playing on a fairly hard surface, and also it could be a fairly hot day, so conditions will probably be in their favour. They're a good side, a top five side in the Currie Cup."

A tough opener to a tough tour then, according to the tour guide, though O'Cuinneagain believes "the guys are very talented. I think Donal (Lenihan) and Warren have brought a purpose and an intensity to the team."

Allied to that, as O'Cuinneagain well knows, is the inability of South Africans to eat humble pie, despite the events of last summer. "The thing I'm hoping for is that the old South African arrogance will let themselves down. They won't be expecting much from us."

Meanwhile, Jonah Lomu has been sensationally dropped from the Auckland Blues side to play Canterbury Crusaders tomorrow's Super 12 final in Auckland.

And there is growing speculation that the winger may also be dropped by the All Blacks from upcoming series against Australia, South Africa and England.