Very little point looking back to the future for Heaslip and Co

THE WELSH right wing Alex Cuthbert is 6ft 6ins. Outside centre Jonathan Davies is 6ft 1in. Inside centre Jamie Roberts is 6ft 4ins and George North, who angled in and took three players with him for his try in the 75th minute is 6ft 4ins.

“They’ve got some big buachaills alright but I think we coped with them fairly well. In saying that, they still got three tries. They’re big boys, yeah. Stating the obvious here,” said Jamie Heaslip.

The big boy himself was in stoic mood. No excuses were peddled. There was no glossing over. There were no ifs or buts or what might have been. The Irish number eight was not interested. The two-point win hung over him unchanging and irreversible. It was 21-23. For Heaslip that was all there was to it. Referees and spear tackles . . . please.

“Sometimes those calls go with you. Sometimes those calls go against you. You know. I can’t really . . . There’s no point in saying ‘is it a penalty?’, ‘isn’t it a penalty?’ He gave a penalty. It’s done. It’s a bit disappointing leaking three tries. We don’t often do that. We did give them a lot of ball so we did give them a lot of chances to attack,” said Heaslip.

In defeat Heaslip looks forward. Thoughts of victory in the next outing is generally an easier place to go to – Paris, France.

“The way the games are now . . . we’re all big boys. We’ve lost big games, we’ve won big games. You take it on the chin, dust yourself off and go training tomorrow,” said the backrower, one of Ireland’s better players on the day.

“This is done now. We can’t turn back the hands of time. We haven’t discovered the Back to the Future car yet so we just get on with it.

“It’s never nice being in a changing-room where we lost, especially a close game like that. The guys are pretty down. Everyone’s big enough and bad enough now to . . . If we keep worrying about this game, France will kick our ass.”

And his colleague Fergus McFadden has never played there. If selected the outside centre will step onto the grass at Stade de France for the first time.

While two of the trophies up for grabs are no longer available, McFadden sees the championship as a viable alternative.

“I dunno how many years it is since we won there (Paris), probably the three tries Drico got over there.

“So yeah, it is the best way to bounce back. I know the Triple Crown and Grand Slam are gone now, but the championship is still very much in the mix and the English lost a match last year and still won it, so we’re just looking forward to next week and just trying to right the wrongs that we made.”

Gordon D’Arcy was more defiant. The centre has been around this block before in Dublin and in Paris. He sees strength of character as one of the team’s defining aspects.

“What are we playing for now? We’re paying for pride in our jersey, for our supporters – who were phenomenal,” said D’Arcy.

“Walking out on that pitch, seeing all those green flags waving . . . it made me proud to be Irish. So we’re playing to restore a bit of pride in the jersey, in the crest, and for our supporters.

“We’re playing for the championship – maybe we’ll come in under the radar now and get a win in Paris. Four more games, maybe we’ll be the ones jumping up and down, but first things first. We have to go to Paris, it’s a very hostile place to play but I think a great characteristic of this team is to come back stronger from adversity.

“The senior players have all come back stronger and shown people what we’re made of. One thing you couldn’t say about this team is that we’re mentally weak.”