Jackman's Slam delight tinged with envy

BERNARD JACKMAN delighted in Ireland’s Grand Slam victory over Wales at the weekend but, as befits a player who was part of the extended national squad, he couldn’t help feeling a little envious. It is a natural sentiment for the Leinster hooker, who took part in training sessions in the build-up to each of Ireland’s five matches.

Any player with an ounce of ambition craves a place on the national team and in that respect Jackman is no different to all those players from the four provinces who came together to help fine-tune Ireland’s preparations during the Six Nations Championship.

He was present at the Ireland squad gathering in Enfield in December, a seminal point on the road to Ireland’s success. Players and management parked the frustration of the November Test series and in a frank series of discussions outlined their views on what was required to be competitive in the Six Nations.

Jackman explained: “The seeds were sown in that pre-Christmas meeting in Enfield. We left that camp believing things are really going to improve here. It wasn’t about assuming we would win the Six Nations, but players felt sure it (the squad) was going to be an enjoyable place to be.

“We had a lot of constructive meetings, a lot of positivity and honesty. Guys said where they felt things were going wrong and basically agreed they would go into the camp with a positive frame of mind; to go in and enjoy one another’s company.

“If you look at that Ireland team, there’s so much experience and so many caps. There hadn’t been a huge amount of change in personnel over five or six years, (so) maybe guys had been taking it for granted how things would go. It was all of a mindset of going in there and saying ‘right – we’re going to be in camp for the next five weeks, we’re going to do stuff off the field and enjoy one another’s company. We’re going to train hard and we’re going to go out to win games.

“ ‘We’re going to make the effort not to go up to the room for the night, maybe do something with the team’. It sounds very basic but, in sport, if guys are enjoying what they’re doing then they’re definitely going to play better.

“The whole idea of giving the players more time off was also very important. The way it was set up was that you would go in and do your work in as confined a time as possible – then you get away to spend time with your family or do whatever you wanted to do in your spare time.

“It was a really good mix, and even for a guy like me, coming in and out of the squad, I found it very productive.

“Just because you do seven days doesn’t mean you’ve done seven days’ good work. If you can do four days and three days at home, whatever, then that can benefit you mentally.

“It was hard not to be involved, but I have plenty of experience of that; I’m just happy to be back playing because I’ve had a disruptive period (from an injury point of view) since November. I’ve been playing with an injury, had to go through an operation, but I’m delighted to be back now and be given the opportunity to play in some big games over the next few weeks.”

What the IRFU will hope is the national team’s success will act as a recruitment drive for youngsters who will now see the sport as something which they’d like to be part of.

Jackman, a native of Coolkenno in Co Carlow, saw it in his own hinterland last weekend. “I’ve been getting phone calls for the last few days from guys who wouldn’t normally have a huge interest in rugby and the reaction has been incredible.

“Because it was a Grand Slam decider, these guys went to the pub to show their support and they were really taken by the whole thing.”

His preoccupation now, though, is Leinster and the next three matches, starting with Sunday’s game against Ulster. He knows how tough it will be but argues there is plenty of experience and quality – even without a handful of Ireland team-mates.

He also contends that the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Harlequins won’t distract Leinster from their quest to retain the Magners League title. “The Magners League remains on our wish list. We got great pleasure from winning it last year and we want to repeat that success.

“The Heineken Cup is, of course, a huge goal, but we’re in with a shout of winning the Magners as well; there’s no reason why we shouldn’t want to win both competitions, and we do. We’ll get these two games (Ulster and Munster) out of the way and then go to ’Quins for the Heineken Cup. I would say there is a huge amount of internal pressure for us to win the Magners League as well.”

That desire will be tested in full over the next two weekends.