Stringer not happy to stand still

Rugby/ Six Nations: Even in the aftermath of the weekend party there remains a thread of reality that has become a companion of this Irish team.

It's as if the players are waiting for something more spectacular than beating England by 30 points before they break away from the heads-down-more-work-to-do approach. And you wouldn't blame them.

With Neil Best breathing fire and frustration down the neck of Simon Easterby in the backrow, Issac Boss illustrating what a usefully different type of scrumhalf he is to Peter Stringer and utility back Geordan Murphy now sliding off Eddie O'Sullivan's immediate radar, you can understand why the players might feel that their colleagues' willingness to fill their boots is stronger than ever.

In the Irish squad economy, you are as useful as O'Sullivan thinks you are and for some that can be a pretty precarious position. Even Stringer, whose whippy passing and all-round confrontational approach to matches, which is in itself a cameo of each Irish performance, likes to glance over his shoulder occasionally at the former Kiwi sniffing around at the nine jersey.

"Yeh, he did well. He has always stepped up," says Stringer of his current understudy, Boss. "He's played well when he's come in. I think it was difficult at times in the French game. At ruck time, it wasn't as easy. Ask any scrumhalf . . . if the forwards set a good platform for you and you are going forward it is always easy for a scrumhalf to play well.

"All credit to him. He has come in. He's done well. But I took my opportunity when I went out there the last day and it's something you want to hold on to. You never take it for granted. Competition is good in the whole squad. I think everyone who is in there would admit that competition has grown in the squad and has made it better all round."

For Stringer, his return against England, having missed out in the defeat to France, was never a sure thing. The issue was whether the fractured bone in his hand would allow him deliver the ball, tackle and stand up to an opportunistic stamp in a ruck or maul. At the end of the week, it was a question of confidence as much as medicine.

"On Thursday I went through a fitness test and then came through a full training session after it," he says. "I was fully confident of going out on Saturday. It was hurting early on in the week and there was the risk that you could always do more damage to the fracture. But the more I went through the session the better it felt and that gave me confidence going into Saturday."

As much as anyone Stringer is a go-forward player. He has a go-forward mentality, which is typical of the ruthless attitude that O'Sullivan has instilled into the players. It is always about the next time and even in the euphoria of the last win, the next time is what they are concerned about.

"It's about looking forward to the next two rather than dwelling on this result," says the scrum-half. "It's about looking towards the next game and taking the bits we're happy with and looking at the bits we are not happy with. We try not to look at these games as one-off games but go out there and face the best teams in the world and make people take notice.

"It's about high standards. It is completely. You set yourself these goals. A lot of it comes down to the opposition you are playing against but primarily you set yourself a mark and a target."

The feel good factor will last for some time, although Ireland will be judged not on just a couple of good results but a confirmation that this team are good enough to perform consistently.

Ten years ago a near miss against France may have been good enough and the good vibrations of having hosed down England would have shouldered the team towards this year's World Cup almost delirious with high hope. The "begorrah, sure we beat England" days are finished. Ireland must beat Scotland and Italy, or this campaign will be deemed a failure.

"Because of the way things have gone in the last number of years and because the standards we have set . . . coming that close to France, we would have been satisfied with it years ago. It's not the case any more," says Stringer.

"We've got to be critical and harsh. The extra four or five percent made the difference on this occasion. The guys did the analysis not only on the opposition but on themselves as well.

"You sit down and go through it with a fine tooth comb. We haven't really done it in that much detail (for England). But guys are always looking for improvement. If you go into a game with the mindset of we did enough . . . as soon as you start standing still, you are finished as a player."