Citizen Strauss ready to earn his stripes on World Cup duty

The odd inflection or pronunciation mingled with a choice of expression articulates the impact that six years living in Ireland has had upon Richardt Strauss.

Last week, in the company of Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, the pair was awarded Irish citizenship – Australian-born Olly Hodges of the IRFU was also conferred with that status – formally authenticated at a ceremony attended by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald in Dublin.

Strauss, 29, first arrived in Dublin from Bloemfontein in 2009 swapping the colours of the Free State Cheetahs for those of Leinster. Since then he’s played 114 matches for the province, won 10 caps for Ireland, scoring two tries, and recovered from heart surgery; all the while proving hugely popular with teammates and supporters alike.

He arrived as what the IRFU describe as a 'project player', someone of sufficient rugby pedigree, who after three years, qualifies to represent the Ireland team. His first cap came against the country of his birth, South Africa, in 2012 and coincidentally he ended up playing against his first cousin, Adriaan Strauss, that day.

He accepted that last week had been a proud moment. “I was a long time waiting for it and it’s something I always considered coming over. I’m just delighted for it to go through.

“The first time I played for Ireland was a very proud moment for me. I don’t think that’s going to change, that feeling I get every time I put on the green jersey and represent the country. I think the only difference now is that I can really say it’s my country.”

He smiled when asked about sharing the moment of receiving Irish citizenship with Schmidt in particular. “It was a bit awkward, but luckily he (Schmidt) took most of the attention. It was great to have him there to deflect the attention onto him.”

Two victories against Wales in Cardiff and Scotland have been followed by a brace of defeats when Wales paid a visit to Dublin and last weekend at Twickenham as Ireland completed their World Cup warm-up schedule. The Irish management and playing group is focused on addressing the glitches.

Strauss explained: “There’s definitely stuff we have to work on, stuff we aren’t happy with. In general I think we can see the direction we’re going and what we are looking to do. There are positives in that (but) there’s a lot of stuff we looked at this morning that wasn’t nice to see; that’s stuff to be worked on in the next couple of weeks before the Canada game.

“We made a lot of individual errors that we have to work on ourselves. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel; it’s small stuff we have to fix. It’s right across the park but it is fixable. There’s loads of room for improvement for us and I think it will only get better and better the more time we spend together as a group of 31.

“There are some combinations that haven’t played a lot together. We’d rather go into the competition knowing that we have to improve and be sharp than going in complacent and get an awakening in the tournament, when it’s too late. At least we’re going in now knowing that we have to work hard and that we have to be on point in everything we do.”

There has been criticism that Ireland’s attack is misfiring but Strauss feels that any issues are minor ones and that the players both understand and are fully supportive of the patterns devised for the tournament; it’s about a few tweaks here and there.

He added: “If you look at the games where we let ourselves down the most was in defence; we were on the back foot quite a bit. That is something we have been working on and looked at but I think the attack is always going to be there. It gets drilled into us and the lads have a good understanding of what we are trying to do.

“Hopefully we can still pick up on a lot of that. Like I said the individual errors are costing us, simple stuff that we should be able to do . . . maybe it’s a lack of concentration. I don’t know what it is (exactly) but we missed out on a couple of good opportunities.

On a personal level he’s harbouring a mixture of excitement and impatience with regard to the World Cup. It is a strange thing, the last three months everyone was on edge and nervous, wanting to be a part of this tournament. I am very excited about the tournament. Once we get over to England (and Wales) I think just the atmosphere around it and the occasion will get to me then.

“Obviously you are going to enjoy it more the more successful you are. That means you are going to have to go in and work really hard on the pitch, in the gyms and the meeting rooms; I think we have a good understanding of that. (It’s about) being successful and the enjoyment will come after that.

“If you struggle, a tournament like that is never going to be easy, especially because we have a lot of expectations on ourselves to give it a good go and see where we get.”

It’s 10 days and counting for one of Ireland’s newest citizens.