A Grand Slap hits the spot

NOT SO much the Grand Slam, more the Grand Slap. Slams don’t come easily of course, and nothing underlined that more than Ireland’s sequence of hard-earned wins in 2009. But, frankly, Saturday’s 24-8 overturning of the Chariot merely underlined what a travesty it would have been if England had emulated the class of ’03.

What it perhaps also demonstrated is that if any team should have emulated previous Slam winners, it was Ireland. Retaining many of the core elements of their class of ’09, and adding to it, this performance finally showed what this team is capable of.

It was probably the performance of the 2011 Six Nations, and if Ireland had sustained this kind of intensity, focus and heads-up rugby in their previous four performances, they’d have walked it.

It was too late to win the championship, but, on a key day for head coach, management and squad, it came just in the nick of time in terms of this team’s trek to the World Cup. Not alone does it send the players back to their provinces with a feel-good factor, it provides a template for the year.

As the rain teemed down, Ronan O’Gara pinned down a beaten England and The Fields echoed around a throbbing Aviva on a night that had echoes of Croke Park four years ago.

And if the team were the talk of the supporters, apparently the supporters were the talk of the team, They’re not robots, they’re human, and the Irish players responded to the vocal and colourful home crowd in kind.

This being a seventh win in eight over them, maybe team and crowd alike should pretend England are the opposition every week.

What was different about this performance, aside from the reduced error and penalty counts, was the intensity they brought to their game – ferocious tackling, rucking/wrestling and carrying – and a higher tempo and willingness to simply have a go. There were tap penalties, offloads and even counter-attacking.

Ireland had to run at England, and make it less of a structured, set-piece game. Jonny Sexton’s quick tap deep inside his half just two minutes in set that tempo as much as anything, and was carried on by some superb offloading – Jamie Heaslip to the supporting Tommy Bowe being a case in point.

When Sexton is on his game like this there’s a case for hailing him as the best outhalf in Europe: he ticked all the boxes – passing, running, tackling and kicking – and was assured and ambitious in everything he did.

Then to have O’Gara to open his box of tricks as well underlines Declan Kidney’s belief that Ireland really are blessed to have the two of them.

“It was always in there, but it was a balance between trying to get a lid on the fear factor and trying to lower the anxiety levels,” said the coach.

Facing a point of no return, whatever was said in camp, Ireland looked liberated. And whatever buttons Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell pressed in the build-up to the game, they were the right ones.

“There was nothing they did out there that surprised me,” said Kidney. “We had better field position, we were a bit more patient and played with a bit more ball, until the game went to 24-3. Then we got a little bit loose and gave them balls inside our half and let them come back into it.

“It is thin margins. Today went our way; other days didn’t.”

Who’d be a coach?

“We’re learning,” added Kidney when asked about Ireland’s game-plan. “It’s based on trusting the players to make decisions, and we’re getting better all the time at making the decisions so allowing us to vary our play. There is a lot of talk about what is the game-plan; the game-plan is about making the right decisions out on the pitch.

“We’re not physically strong like South Africa, where we can go and motor over teams. We have a different skill set to some of the other teams and I have a belief in Irish lads that they are fairly intelligent. Sometimes there is a growing process in making the right calls. Have we got it wrong in the past? We have. Are we getting better at it? We are. Have we a bit more to go? Yes.”

Although Ireland started 20 players in this championship – only one more than the Slam year – Kidney maintained that they have a “broader base” now. “We can cope with a few bangs and knocks. We need match practice to get us right for the World Cup, and that is where the four matches in August are important.”

It was a non-vintage Six Nations for many, especially compared to the relatively free-flowing Super-15, but Kidney maintained: “It is a tough championship. It’s played in different weather conditions, and each team presents a different type of defensive effort. You have to attack differently from week to week.

“I’d be happy to be involved in my rugby in the Northern Hemisphere, because I think you look at the Heineken Cup matches and you look at the Six Nations: no two of them are alike. Sometimes, alright, you can get the odd dour game, but I’d hate to go to something that looks the same every week.”

And it’s on days like this you are entitled to believe no player in the world game has been more enduringly excellent over the last dozen years than O’Driscoll, defensively superb in tandem with Gordon D’Arcy, and who produced a trademark run as support trailer and left-handed pick-up for his record-breaking, 25th championship try.

“Personally I’d be delighted for him,” said Kidney. “I know he doesn’t feed into the accolade, but he has been a very good captain over some difficult matches in the last 12 months. He has stayed steadfast to the team and he has left them in no doubt what this team means to him. Some of the players have fed off that.”

Magnificent for 80 minutes, O’Driscoll was pitch-perfect to the end, getting the balance right in insisting the team bade farewell from the half-way line when they returned from the dressingroom, rather than conduct an inappropriate lap of honour.

He’s not quite chopped liver yet. And, the two being inextricably linked, neither are Ireland.

My favourite Six Nations try - Brian O'Driscoll

On the weekend he set a Six Nations record with his 25th try the Irish captain names his favourite score

“IF I had to pick one try in terms of a favourite from the 25 I’ve scored in the Six Nations, it would be the one against France at Lansdowne Road in 2005.

“We lost the match, but at the time in the game we really needed a score and so from that perspective there was a certain satisfaction.

“It started with a break in midfield, a hand-off on Freddie Michalak and then getting through the gap.

“Cedric Heymans was covering across and I managed to step inside him and touch down under the posts.

“But generally I’m more concerned about the effect of the score in terms of the game than whether it looks good.

“I suppose that’s why I’d choose the tries against England and Wales in the Grand Slam season as scores which I enjoyed the most. They were important to the team, and while they wouldn’t win any beauty contests their impact means far more to me in the context of any tries I might score.

“You’ve also got to remember that for me to score a try so many other people are doing the groundwork, and that’s something I’m acutely aware of. It’s the effect a try has rather than who scored it that means more to a team.

“When your career is finished you can look back on individual records and maybe take some pleasure, but I hope I have a bit left me in so I won’t dwell on it.

“You win and lose as a team and we’ll very much enjoy this win as a team.”