Tommy O’Donnell warns against living on ‘past glories’ in Grand Slam bid

Ireland cannot afford to base their Grand Slam bid on the “past glories” of the 2009 clean sweep, according to Tommy O’Donnell.

O’Donnell watched Ireland’s triumph six years ago from between his fingers in his living room as a raw 21-year-old still emerging with Munster.

The eight-cap backrower admitted willing Ronan O’Gara to drop the winning goal at the death, that secured a 17-15 victory over Wales in Cardiff and Ireland’s first Grand Slam since 1948.

Joe Schmidt’s side must see off Wales in Cardiff on March 14th to keep their Grand Slam tilt alive, but O’Donnell warned his team-mates not to draw too heavily on history.

“I think it’s a bit different: you can’t go over there on past glories, you don’t make a tackle on last year’s game,” said O’Donnell of drawing on the memory of 2009.

“You have to be there in the moment, keep going through it with the next tackle, next ruck and keep working to the best of your ability. That’s what wins games.

“I remember sitting on my couch, screaming, willing the ball to go over from O’Gara (in 2009).

“It was this incredibly tight, tense game and when you thought we were away, the Welsh came back and they nearly had the chance at the end. It’s a fantastic memory.”

O'Donnell has seized his Test chance under head coach Schmidt in this Six Nations, twice slotting in to fine effect after injuries to Seán O'Brien.

The 27-year-old jumped into the starting line-up at the very last minute when O’Brien tweaked a hamstring in the warm-up before the tournament opener in Italy.

Ireland eased to a 26-3 win in Rome to settle O’Donnell to this year’s task as Schmidt’s men seek to retain their 2014 title.

O’Donnell then replaced O’Brien midway through the first-half of last weekend’s 19-9 victory over England, as the Leinster flanker was removed due to concussion.

The Tipperary native has conceded he still faces a big fight to force his way into the match squad to face Wales at the Millennium Stadium but admitted to receiving a big Test-level confidence boost in the last few weeks.

“I suppose if you can come in off the bench straight off the warm-up, it’s not going to get much harder than that,” said O’Donnell, as Ireland got to grips with a training camp in Belfast.

“Coming off the bench after 20 minutes (against England), I was thinking, ‘okay, I’ve done this before’.

“It was just a matter of slotting in and doing what I do, going about it to the best of my ability.

“I found the Italian game incredibly physical, trying to attack them.

“The English lads are big ball carriers. Maybe missing out on that first 20 minutes, that’s where it might have been a lot tighter. It was physical, but it was on a par with the likes of the Italy game.

“Wales are a good attacking side: they went to France and beat France. That’s a fair achievement, so they’ve got very big ball carriers, incredibly physical players and they’re quite mobile and agile.

“They don’t take any prisoners in their pack; they’re great defenders and good at the breakdown. To go over there to Cardiff will make it a small bit tougher.”