The Ireland spoke in an interview in the current edition of Sport magazine
The Rugby World Cup’s great
underachievers: Ireland. Never once in the tournament’s history,
stretching back seven renewals across 28 years, have the men in green
reached the semi-finals. For every glorious failure – taking eventual
winners Australia to the very wire in their 1991 quarter-final – there
has been ignominious defeat. A supposedly golden generation failed to
even make it out of an admittedly nightmare group in 2007, victims to
hosts France and history making Argentina; four years later, in Brian
O’Driscoll’s final World Cup, they beat Australia in the group stages
but were dismantled by Wales in the last eight.
Now, though, Irish rugby seems back in a good spot. The retirement of O’Driscoll was meant to signal the end of an era. Instead, it came right in the middle of a two-year period, since Joe Schmidt’s arrival as head coach, that has seen Ireland win two Six Nations, beat both Australia and South Africa, and fall to New Zealand courtesy only of an injury-time try. France and Italy are their chief opponents in Pool D – a group they should navigate. But full-back Rob Kearney knows not to take anything for granted...
How has Joe Schmidt changed the side?
“He has been the huge reason, maybe even the catalyst, for why we’re back-to-back winners of the Six Nations. We will say we’ve had a bit of luck along the way – but he has made us into a really strong team who we believe, on our day, can beat anyone else in the world.”
Has he come with a similar set of ideals to when he was in charge of Leinster?
“Yeah, he’s the exact same coach now he was when he first came into Leinster a few years ago. He does have a lot of silverware behind him now, though, so he’s a lot more sure of himself. There’s a lot more confidence, and the players from the other provinces have immediately bought in to his style of coaching.”
Now, though, Irish rugby seems back in a good spot. The retirement of O’Driscoll was meant to signal the end of an era. Instead, it came right in the middle of a two-year period, since Joe Schmidt’s arrival as head coach, that has seen Ireland win two Six Nations, beat both Australia and South Africa, and fall to New Zealand courtesy only of an injury-time try. France and Italy are their chief opponents in Pool D – a group they should navigate. But full-back Rob Kearney knows not to take anything for granted...
How has Joe Schmidt changed the side?
“He has been the huge reason, maybe even the catalyst, for why we’re back-to-back winners of the Six Nations. We will say we’ve had a bit of luck along the way – but he has made us into a really strong team who we believe, on our day, can beat anyone else in the world.”
Has he come with a similar set of ideals to when he was in charge of Leinster?
“Yeah, he’s the exact same coach now he was when he first came into Leinster a few years ago. He does have a lot of silverware behind him now, though, so he’s a lot more sure of himself. There’s a lot more confidence, and the players from the other provinces have immediately bought in to his style of coaching.”
How has it worked so well?
“It’s his attention to detail, his ability to get the best out of guys and to construct a game plan for each different opposition. He has an innate ability to highlight weaknesses, and he puts players in a really good place to enforce our game plan. Ultimately, on a Saturday, that is his biggest strength. I know exactly what he wants in his full-back, and I play my game around what he’s looking for. If he asks you to do something for the benefit of the team, you do it.”
Your World Cup pool is a bit odd, isn’t it? No southern hemisphere giants.
“It is a pain, because people will put us down as favourites. But listen – we realise that expectation is there. We realise how good France can be at a World Cup, and notoriously so. The Italians always pick up one win in a Six Nations, and they enjoy coming after the Irish a little bit because they know we’re the one team they can get their hands on and beat. At the outset, you look at the group and think it doesn’t look as difficult as one with Australia, England and Wales, for example. But it does bring its own challenges within it.”
The previous World Cup brought the high of the Australia win, and then the low of the Wales defeat. Can you look back and learn anything from that?
“You can look at what you did and learn from it, but winning the pool and beating one of the southern hemisphere teams didn’t count for a huge amount, as it turned out. Beating Australia at Eden Park was one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played in – but then losing to Wales was probably one of the most disappointing. We had a chance to do something no other Irish team had ever done before, and we played poorly on the day. Credit where it’s due – the Welsh were very strong and played superbly that day, but the margins between the teams are so small now that you genuinely have seven or eight sides who can win the World Cup. I guess that’s what you learn – that you can never take your foot off the pedal for one moment.”
“It’s his attention to detail, his ability to get the best out of guys and to construct a game plan for each different opposition. He has an innate ability to highlight weaknesses, and he puts players in a really good place to enforce our game plan. Ultimately, on a Saturday, that is his biggest strength. I know exactly what he wants in his full-back, and I play my game around what he’s looking for. If he asks you to do something for the benefit of the team, you do it.”
Your World Cup pool is a bit odd, isn’t it? No southern hemisphere giants.
“It is a pain, because people will put us down as favourites. But listen – we realise that expectation is there. We realise how good France can be at a World Cup, and notoriously so. The Italians always pick up one win in a Six Nations, and they enjoy coming after the Irish a little bit because they know we’re the one team they can get their hands on and beat. At the outset, you look at the group and think it doesn’t look as difficult as one with Australia, England and Wales, for example. But it does bring its own challenges within it.”
The previous World Cup brought the high of the Australia win, and then the low of the Wales defeat. Can you look back and learn anything from that?
“You can look at what you did and learn from it, but winning the pool and beating one of the southern hemisphere teams didn’t count for a huge amount, as it turned out. Beating Australia at Eden Park was one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played in – but then losing to Wales was probably one of the most disappointing. We had a chance to do something no other Irish team had ever done before, and we played poorly on the day. Credit where it’s due – the Welsh were very strong and played superbly that day, but the margins between the teams are so small now that you genuinely have seven or eight sides who can win the World Cup. I guess that’s what you learn – that you can never take your foot off the pedal for one moment.”
How have Ireland changed since then?
“I’d like to think we’re much stronger mentally. You look at that game against the All Blacks two years ago, when we were 19-0 up after 20 minutes and yet managed to lose. I’d like to think if we were put back in that scenario at this moment, we would be a lot stronger at closing out the game.”
It’s a ‘home’ World Cup for the northern hemisphere sides. Does that make a big difference?
“It will be nice for the home nations to have huge support. And, yes – effectively it will be like a home World Cup for us all. But I think we’ve seen over the years that the southern hemisphere teams have no problem coming up here and bashing us.”
It’s like a home World Cup everywhere for Ireland... [Laughs]
“It kind of is, yeah. Even in New Zealand, on the other side of the world, we were the second-best supported team after the All Blacks. There are Paddies all over the world – one of the more enjoyable things about a World Cup is knowing we’ll have so much support.”
A big question to end with: can this Ireland squad do something special?
“Yes. I genuinely believe that, on our day, if we perform to our best, we can beat any team in the world. You need a lot to fall into place for it to happen. But, if you prepare as best as possible, and keep improving every week, anything can happen.”
“I’d like to think we’re much stronger mentally. You look at that game against the All Blacks two years ago, when we were 19-0 up after 20 minutes and yet managed to lose. I’d like to think if we were put back in that scenario at this moment, we would be a lot stronger at closing out the game.”
It’s a ‘home’ World Cup for the northern hemisphere sides. Does that make a big difference?
“It will be nice for the home nations to have huge support. And, yes – effectively it will be like a home World Cup for us all. But I think we’ve seen over the years that the southern hemisphere teams have no problem coming up here and bashing us.”
It’s like a home World Cup everywhere for Ireland... [Laughs]
“It kind of is, yeah. Even in New Zealand, on the other side of the world, we were the second-best supported team after the All Blacks. There are Paddies all over the world – one of the more enjoyable things about a World Cup is knowing we’ll have so much support.”
A big question to end with: can this Ireland squad do something special?
“Yes. I genuinely believe that, on our day, if we perform to our best, we can beat any team in the world. You need a lot to fall into place for it to happen. But, if you prepare as best as possible, and keep improving every week, anything can happen.”
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