Leamy fronting up for onslaught

Six Nations:Denis Leamy, fans like to love. Fetching the high balls Gaelic football style, pacing around the park with intent, sticking his head in where he knows it is not wanted and always "fronting up" is a mark of his game. Leamy is a "front-up" player.

His naturally feral instincts, which had him in so much bother at the beginning of his Munster career, have been tempered to do maximum damage on the pitch but not ship the cards he used to. Leamy has managed to cage his natural temper and energy and use it constructively. For that Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan should be grateful.

Leamy has also become, if we can assume to read O'Sullivan's mind, one of the first picks on the Ireland team and as they face Scotland, the Tipperary player will be one of the pack members the team will look to in the event of a predicted Scottish challenge for supremacy in the opening 20 minutes.

If Scotland are seen to have anything with which to hit Ireland, it is their front eight. "They've a very, very good international backrow," says Leamy. "No matter what unit they pick, they'll have a very tall lineout and decent options from all three (backrowers).

"They are very good at ruck time and like all Scottish sides, good at the break down too as well as individually. As a unit, I think they always play well together. They're big lads and they carry the ball well. They'll definitely take a bit of stopping."

For Ireland the hope is they run out on to the pitch as the team that beat England rather than the one who fell to France and for players like Leamy, who always hope to leave an indelible mark on a match, especially a big one, the performance against France was a debt to be repaid.

"I think the Welsh game went very well but against France, we didn't put in the game we would have liked. Personally, I wasn't happy with my performance," says the number eight.

"We knew going out against England that had to be put right and we did put it right. We rolled up our sleeves. We definitely set a standard there."

In the week of the French match Leamy had to overcome a ruptured abscess on his side. The procedure to get that right had him sidelined from training for the week and he probably went in, as swimmers would say, not tapered. It was a ready-made explanation for the dip.

"You can make all sorts of excuses," he says. "Sickness. Not training. This and that. At the end of the day you are on the pitch and you have a job to do and we probably didn't do it to the best of our ability on that occasion.

"You learn from these things and the nice thing was we responded against the English and it's important we finish our campaign in good fettle."

Ireland are always chasing performance. But the motivation they generated against England is different to the motivation they had going out to face France. The historical context of the England game made losing almost unthinkable. That was enough. But Scotland again is a different pressure.

"I think for a number of reasons we were hungrier against England," says Leamy. "Having lost against the French, we had that little more pressure and bitterness in us after a week of listening to criticism. It can always help to focus the mind. As I've said, we go out there very narrow-minded and determined to put in a good performance."

He acknowledges that Ireland have played themselves into something of a no-win situation with the level of play they showed against England. Expected now to bury Scotland, they know they will probably be vilified in the event of a defeat. The impression seeping back to the squad from outside is people expect them to reach much higher. "It's a dangerous occasion," he says cautiously.

"People have built us up so much. But we have to be professional no matter what people say. The important thing is to win. Anything after that we can cope with."