FROM HERE ON in, the Rugby World Cup gets real.
Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
After two opening Rugby World Cup warm-up fixtures of low to medium intensity, today’s meeting with a full strength Wales (kick-off 2.30pm) and next weekend’s trip to Twickenham promise to be full on.
Head coach Joe Schmidt has so far been able to avoid making cuts to his squad for September. That will change soon too.
In truth, it has been an impressive use of resources from Schmidt. Rather than risk alienating any player by cutting them loose early, the Kiwi has kept a large group very close to him. Those who appeared to be early casualties were brought back from brief provincial spells, back under the wing of Team Ireland.
Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
This weekend, the time when many would counsel cotton wool for any player not in the last chance saloon, Schmidt has named a blend of certain starters and fringe hopefuls to face Wales. Meanwhile, he has sent two Lions back to their provinces along with a versatile prop and the 2014 Six Nations Player of the Year.
The message from Schmidt is clear: the window of opportunity is still wide open until he sits down to make the hard calls on Saturday night.
“Probably not,” says Paul O’Connell when we asked if he had played in a more competitive squad.
“It’s a great thing to have. We’re all about preparation and how we train and training at a certain level and a certain intensity.
“The competition in the squad adds to that. You regret a mistake in training almost much as a mistake in a match. That’s a great place to be when you’re trying to prepare really well for games.”
Today’s game will be Paul O’Connell’s last international on home soil. Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
The heady combination of that internal competition, Schmidt’s attention to detail and a cycle-defining tournament coming across the horizon must surely bring a burdensome pressure. Perhaps not for O’Connell, but for some of the less experienced, less decorated players around him.
“The way we deal with pressure is we prepare as well as we can, which allows us to play a certain way. Then you deal with the consequences of that performance,” explains O’Connell.
It’s a short-term approach that Schmidt has always pushed upon his players. Worry about today’s job, tomorrow will look after itself.
“It’s very hard to recognise if somebody’s buckling under pressure. I think sometimes you can get your preparation a little bit wrong and maybe that’s easy to recognise and you can help someone from that point of view.
“Particularly from a line-out or set play point of view it’s easy to recognise if someone is missing something, to help him out and vice-versa. So that’s something everyone does across the board.
Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO
“The way we do little things in scrum and line-out change from week to week and it’s important we help and communicate with eachother.”
The focus on the here and now is even more apparent when Irish players are posed the inevitable ‘Can Ireland win the World Cup?‘ question. We are past the period when Ireland players feel they have to publicly declare that they are reaching for the stars lest anyone think they’re settling for second best. Schmidt’s squad have back-to-back Championship medals and an ingrained culture of improving on every facet of the game from one week to the next.