Horan and scrum earn due respect

RUGBY NEWS ROUND-UP:ONCE AGAIN they were questioned in advance of the game and once again they came through with flying colours. The doubts will perhaps always persist, but it appears that the Irish scrum has improved another notch this season and it assuredly helps that the Munster tight five have packed down together so often for province and club. As a unit, it is the most experienced and settled of any tight five in the Northern Hemisphere.

In the build-up to last Saturday’s game, the former Italian prop Massimo Cuttita had speculated that Martin Castrogiovanni and co were going to do a serious number on the Irish scrum. That kind of stuff is, of course, grist to the mill, and it clearly still rankled with Marcus Horan in the aftermath of the match.

Discussing the way Ireland’s next opponents, England, had been written off, Horan was in a mood to get something off his chest when commenting: “You talk about people being written off – our frontrow was written off today, and that does rise teams. When you write about teams like that, I think it’s just a red rag to a bull.” In this case, literally.

Horan is content with how the Munster and Irish scrum has gone this season generally. “I have been all season, I don’t think it’s an issue. The one thing we always do is respect our opposition, and that’s the key for us. We probably had a little bit of a lack of respect this week, and as I said already, that’s a red rag to a bull. I welcome it.”

Asked if he felt it showed a lack of respect, Horan said: “I don’t know whether it’s coming from Italy or the press itself, but it’s the story of my career, and I just try to use it in a positive manner.”

Horan was one of those sporting the scars of battle as well as his new grizzly bear look, having sustained a bang on the head and he admitted it had been a tough game. “It always is against the Italians, and it was even more so after they lost last week. I suppose they wanted to put things right, and they’re a very physical outfit.

“There were a lot of big hits put in out there, and I think we weathered the storm. Some of the penalties we gave away were disappointing, our discipline let us down a small bit, and even after the score we got to go ahead, we let them back into it again.

“We need to eradicate those things from our game to make sure we’re on the front foot all the time. But you can’t take the credit away from them; they worked extremely hard; they worked very hard right to the end. But the flip side of that is that we did too, you know? We got two late scores, and I think that was credit to the boys, just to keep plugging away, keep going at it, and scores are important.”

Two games, two wins and England in two weeks leaves Horan and co sitting fairly pretty at the top of a formative table. More than anything, they have momentum. “Of course. It goes without saying that when you’re winning there is a good feeling there. There’s a spring in the step of everybody, you’re looking forward to the next game but I don’t think anyone’s looking beyond the next game.

“You have to be professional about it. First things first, guys get good rest and recuperate from the tough two games we’ve had and make sure we’re right to go back training next week and offer something big, get the tactics right and the bodies right for the game coming up.”

Horan watched the Wales-England game from his hotel room in Rome and was impressed by what he saw from the Red Rose. “It was a good game and they’re a good side. They’ve always been a good side, and the game was very exciting, free-flowing and it’s always a huge challenge playing England. Everyone will be looking forward to it.”