Flannery expected to recover

THE Irish management team is confident hooker Jerry Flannery will have recovered from a bruised shoulder injury in time to be considered for selection for Ireland’s RBS Six Nations Championship opener against Italy at Croke Park on Saturday week.
Thirty-one-year-old Flannery made his comeback from an Achilles injury when playing 40 minutes for Shannon in their AIL Division 1A clash with UL-Bohemian at Thomond Park on Saturday.


However, as a result of his bruised shoulder injury Flannery is not included in the Ireland A squad to face the England Saxons in Bath on Sunday.
There was good news for Flannery’s Munster colleague Marcus Horan who is included in the A squad to face the Saxons this weekend. Horan, who played the final 10 minutes of Munster’s Heineken Cup game with Northampton on Friday night, played the entire 80 minutes for Shannon in that AIL clash with UL-Bohemian the following day.
Horan is joined in the 22-strong Ireland A squad by Munster colleagues, Tony Buckley, Mick O’Driscoll, Niall Ronan, Ian Dowling, Denis Hurley and Peter Stringer.
Limerick-born centre Keith Matthews, currently playing with Connacht, is also named in the squad.
Speaking at the Irish training camp in Limerick this week, manager Paul McNaughton said: “Marcus Horan played 10 minutes with Munster on Friday night and has been involved with his club side in their two most recent AIL games.
“He is definitely going across to England this weekend to get some game time against the Saxons.
“Jerry Flannery got 40 minutes of game time on Saturday. He has a bit of a bruised shoulder and we will not risk him on Sunday against the Saxons. Jerry should be eligible for selection for the Italy match.”
A number of players sat out the Irish squad training session in Limerick this Tuesday. Donncha O’Callaghan (knee), Sean Cronin (sprained ankle) and Stephen Ferris (shin) did not train, but none of the players have been ruled out of contention for the first weekend the RBS Six Nations Championship. Keith earls has not yet joined the Ireland training camp due to illness.
The team and replacements for the Ireland ‘A’ team’s clash with the England Saxons at the Recreation Ground, Bath at 2pm on Sunday is named this Thursday.
Prior to Saturday’s AIL match at Thomond Park when her lined out for Shannon, hooker Flannery had not seen competitive action since helping Ireland secure a precious Test win over World Champions South Africa in November.
Afterwards Flannery, who was making his first appearance for the AIL holders since a 2007 appearance against UCD when he was coming back from a shoulder reconstruction, said: “This is my first time to get any game time since the South Africa match and it was good to get through 40 minutes. For the team to get a win was the main thing.
“One half was all they wanting me to play. This is my first week back with rugby. They wanted to limit my game time to 40 to see how the injury reacts. But I came through it ok.
“It was good to come back and play for the club. You see some things haven’t changed with the club. Andrew Thompson is still around and a lot of the other guys are too.
“Marcus was playing and Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) was also in the dressing room after the match. There was a real good family feel about the club, especially after the hard week it has had.
While he has been able to do running exercises while injured, 34-time capped Flannery was relieved to be able to play a competitive game at the end of the week.
“It is the same no matter what level you play rugby, you want to get a game at the end of the week,” Flannery explained.
“For me, it was just a normal week. For seven weeks previously, I was just running all the time and icing the leg and see how it reacts. It was like a seven-day week. Instead of taking the weekend off and playing a game you were giving the injury as much time to recover as you can. It is good to be able to train towards playing.”

Ireland A Squad v England Saxons, Recreation Groud, Sunday January 31, 2pm:
Rory Best (Ulster), Isaac Boss (Ulster), Tony Buckley (Munster), Darren Cave (Ulster), Ryan Caldwell (Ulster), Ian Dowling (Munster), John Fogarty (Leinster), Marcus Horan (Munster), Ian Humphreys (Ulster), Denis Hurley (Munster), Shane Jennings (Leinster), Keith Matthews (Connacht), John Muldoon (Connacht), Fergus McFadden (Leinster), Johne Murphy (Leicester), Mick O’Driscoll (Munster) , Sean O’Brien (Leinster), Niall Ronan (Munster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Peter Stringer (Munster), Devin Toner (Leinster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster).

Colm Kinsella

‘I have loved Munster all my career and now I really love this team’

“I HAVE loved Munster all my career and now I really love this team. It is a special dressing room at the minute." Frank, compelling and ecstatic, Ronan O’Gara is wearing a smile as broad as Cardiff’s River Taff.
Fly half O’Gara has known some wonderful days at the Millennium Stadium with Munster. Now he has scaled the dizzy heights in the green of Ireland. The 32-year-old has a Grand Slam, RBS Six Nations Championship and another Triple Crown to go with his two Heineken Cup medals. Having come close to securing a ‘Slam’ on several occasions in recent years, O’Gara could now savour the magnitude of the team’s achievements.
“It was fantastic. It was bloody difficult. We made it difficult at times and we also played great rugby,” Ronan O’Gara stressed.
“We could have ripped them apart. We had them on the rack. They came back and I think the penalty count was something like 17-4 which was unbelievable.
“To win a game with a penalty count like that against us proves the bottle in the team. That is what counted. We stuck at it away from home. We had fantastic support. I think half of Ireland must be here.
“There is great belief in this team now and it is a happy team.”
So what did O’Gara remember of the drop goal which ultimately secured Ireland’s first Grand Slam title in 61 years?
“That drop goal came about 90 seconds too early!,” O’Gara insisted.
“I remember Clive Woodward saying that it took 30 seconds to win a World Cup and it is the same with winning a Test match.
“That is all you need. The forwards did fantastic and then Rory Best got lost a little bit. I was hoping he would get out of the way. They (Wales) definitely cheated on the charge, so I had to get the ball up as opposed to kick through it. That meant I had to break my technique. I spiralled it through which shouldn’t happen for a drop goal, but it went straight.
“But as you saw there was a lot more drama left after that. I think when you score two tries you deserve to win two finals. They never looked like scoring a try and that was the key point. There is massive support for this team.
“This morning I had three fellows, David Humphries, Nicky English and Barry McGuigan from three different sports, sending me powerful texts. And that gets through to you.
“It shows what you represent when you see the President on the pitch.
“I thought Brian (O’Driscoll) was exceptional. I thought we came good in the second half. We probably had a quiet first half, made a few errors, but then we came good when the pressure came on. That is all we need. We had key men in the key positions. There is real belief in this team. We were not going to lose this game. Mistakes happen when you are put under pressure. People forget sometimes that your heart rate is up around 200. It is easy looking at it from a seat and commenting on it.
“We don’t intend making mistakes. I don’t intend making a mistake, but they happen. You just keep at it and keep going, giving the forwards direction. I think we scored two fantastic tries. We were the side which put them under pressure more. But the whole thing today was about belief and this team has belief now.”
O’Gara’s Munster colleague Donncha O’Callaghan had the inkling that Wales were going to ‘target’ the Irish out-half from the moment their captain Ryan Jones stuck out a leg to trip him in the opening minutes.
So O’Callaghan let Jones and the Welsh know that Ireland would not be intimidated, even if his chastising of the Welsh captain resulted in the visitors conceding the first of a whopping 15 penalties.
“They definitely targeted Rog. When you see a buddy being treated like that, you want to look out for him,” Donncha O’Callaghan said.
“Granted, it is probably not ideal to get into the game like I did. I always pride myself on my discipline. Sometimes you cannot be bullied either. If you look at the video I am sure you will see plenty of incidents where Rog (Ronan O’Gara) got cheap shots. When you have a player of his quality and you go out to play against other teams, they are going to target him. When it is your friend, you are going to row in behind him.
“Rog showed what an incredible pro he is with that drop goal late on. Another fellow would have kept his head down and ran out the gate.
“But Ronan thrives on pressure like that. I know that when our front five or front eight saw that ball coming back to him in the dying minutes of the game, it could not be coming into safer hands.
O’Callaghan found the hours leading up to Saturday’s 5.30pm kick-off long.
“The time before kick-off was hell. The day crawled,” Donncha O’Callaghan revealed.
“A 5.30pm kick-off for an international is a disaster, to be honest.
“The only comfort you can take is that David Wallace is worse that everyone. He comes down ash-faced, looking like a Goth. That’s it. Once you know there is one person worse than you, you know you will survive.
“People say you should enjoy that, but I don’t personally enjoy it. It’s the aftermath of a game you win that you enjoy. It is not just about this team. There are the fellows who have gone before. You like at the effort the likes of Earlsie (Keith Earls) and Quinny (Alan Quinlan) made. You feel sorry for these guys who didn’t make it into the 22. There is a great togetherness in the squad.”
O’Callaghan said it was great that a bunch of players who had endured a hugely frustrating World Cup less than two years ago had bounced back in such style.
“We had some really tough days at the World Cup. To have a special day like that with the group of lads is great,” O’Callaghan said.
“There is a different feeling around the team as well. Everyone has rowed in behind us as well. The support we have received has been incredible.”

Colm Kinsella

John Hayes is an example to us all

ALL eyes will be on John Hayes this week. Normally you might expect an international prop to embody the brooding demeanour of an off-duty assassin, but in person Cappamore’s favourite son is quiet, friendly and all the talk of Ireland’s most capped player will probably bring the hint of an embarrassed blush to the face of the 35-year-old.


Fuss isn’t John Hayes’ thing; he takes the art of self-effacement to new levels - when Munster won the Heineken Cup in 2006 he dodged the celebrations and watched Declan Kidney’s players tour around Limerick from the comfort of his sitting room.
But Hayes will find fuss hard to avoid this week. Against England he equaled Malcolm O’Kelly’s Irish caps record (92) and he will surpass it against Scotland to become Ireland’s most-capped player in international rugby history.
Hayes has only missed 11 of Ireland’s last 103 international tests, if he plays against Wales in Cardiff he will surpass Fabien Pelous’ all-time record of 48 appearances in the Six Nations and he will draw level with Anthony Foley as the joint-record holder for most appearances in the Heineken Cup if he plays a part in the quarter-final clash with the Ospreys.
Then there’s the career highlights: helping Munster to Heineken Cup glory (twice), the Triple Crowns and Shannon’s string of All-Ireland League titles.

Only tells half the story
Such highlights however only tell half of the John Hayes story.
John was intrigued by rugby after watching the 1991 World Cup and a year later, at the age of 19 in September 1992, he played his first game in the back-row for Bruff against Newcastle West - a 0-0 draw.
Hayes had gingerly stepped onto a rugby field like a man easing himself into a canoe, but found he liked it.
Hayes played a handful of games for Bruff in ’92 before moving to the Shannon under-20s and under the nose of Niall O’Donovan who played a critical part in his development.
His next move was to play for Marist in Invercargill, New Zealand. The Kiwis transformed Hayes from a welder who played rugby into a rugby player who welded. Marist also moved him from the second row to prop forward - when the RFU decided to permit lifting in the line-out everything changed for the Cappamore man.
When he returned to Ireland Hayes slotted into the Shannon front-row and was soon packing down in the colours of Munster.
He helped the Parish to the 1998 AIL title and next thing he knew he was called into the Irish squad for the summer tour to South Africa, he was too green for the ’99 World Cup, but he made his debut for Ireland against Scotland the following year.

Unfair criticism
Like a gopher in the garden, the notion that John Hayes isn’t good at what he does, keeps popping its nose up out of the dirt. It’s a pesky rodent which requires a whack in the skull.
His critics suggest he is too tall to be a prop and that he can’t scrummage. To ask a player of John Hayes’ size to play at number three is asking for trouble and he has had his off days in rugby’s most demanding and most technical position - indeed the true horror of the scrum cannot be grasped by those who have never faced one. But a bulldozer wouldn’t budge John Hayes in a scrum now; you could take a lump hammer onto the field and not get anything off him. If, in May 2006, Hayes had not held his ground in a vital scrum against Biarritz in the Heineken Cup final Peter Stringer could not have stolen in to score his crucial try.
John Hayes can also run forever, he’s an awesome rucker, one of the best defensive props in the game and the best lineout lifter in the world - remember the 2008 Six Nations: against Italy at Lansdowne Road Paul O’Connell stole an Italian throw which led to Jerry Flannery’s try. The remarkable thing about that score is that John Hayes lifted O’Connell all by his lonesome.

Looking everyone in the eye
Questions used to follow John Hayes around, but now he can look everyone in the eye. He has been through the mill and come out with a high polish. If there’s one man Ireland can’t do without it’s John Hayes, he’s indispensable - God help Ireland if John Hayes twists a ankle out herding his 150 acres some evening.
A question is often asked about sporting prowess: how much is success down to perseverance as opposed to natural talent?
Since the same question can be asked of life in general, the answers might provide some clues as to how much of our destinies are in our own hands. More profound is the whole issue of whether we could have achieved more, if only we had tried harder. When you watch someone like Brian O’Driscoll perform brilliantly it’s actually reassuring to think that we could never have competed with them, but the argument doesn’t follow that we could not have competed at a high level.
Natural talent is just one ingredient of success and not always the most important one. In fact most sports feature notable examples of people like John Hayes whose hard work has enabled them to overachieve.
If effort and determination can separate the very good and exceptional, can it also make the difference between being mediocre and being able to compete at a high level?
It’s peculiar that some people often seem to rejoice (at least a little) when an average player fails to make the grade. It’s as if it confirms what perhaps many secretly fear: that our own failures are not down to what life has presented us with in terms of talent, but instead our inability to make the most of it.
At the launch of his rugby career John Hayes was known as the calf, then the bullock and now the bull.
That progression is a sporting example to us all.

Brian McDonnell

The best Irish athletes are of Saxon stock?

Seldom has a newspaper article written in praise of a rugby team gained such a diverse response.
In the wake of Ireland’s victory over Italy The Guardian recently carried a piece entitled the ‘Long wait could be over for resurgent Ireland’, which was also posted on the newspaper website.
Comment on the piece was encouraged and a deluge of it followed.
Contributors had a field day and while there were many who wrote agreeing with the contents of the piece one contributor ‘FrederickChicester’ took grave exception.
Part of his contribution read: “The Irish have no chance whatever of winning the Grand Slam. I expect them to lose to England and lose to Wales.
“The optimism about their chances is risible.
“To read the Irish press, one would think it was they, and not Wales, who had won two Grand Slams in the previous three years. . .
“I expect England to be faster and stronger than the Irish.
“The days of Ireland taking advantage of England teams battered by a Premiership game the week before (as they did two years ago) are gone. . .”
In a second contribution ‘Frederick’ wrote: “It is disappointing that the board’s resident Irish posters cannot engage in reasoned debate rather than respond vituperatively in a fit of pique.
“Emotion does not aid the search for truth. . .
“Let us consider a few facts pertinent to any analysis of the Irish team: [1] They have never, in their entire history, beaten the All Blacks. [2] The best team in Irish rugby history (apparently) failed abjectly at the World Cup, and was beaten up in contact not just by the French and Argentines, but even by the Georgians and Namibians.
“[3] Every time an Irish player is asked to make the step up to true world class, he fails abjectly. [4] The Irish, genetically, are not large men, as any Irish under-age or forwards coach would be happy to inform you. It is interesting that the best Irish athletes are of Saxon stock.
“[5] There are certain individuals in the Irish team who, contrary to myth, would not get anywhere near the English or French or Welsh teams.
“It is my contention that the Irish are simply not that good. They over-achieve to a startling extent with Munster because of their superb team spirit and family atmosphere.”
I wonder if ‘Frederick’ will make the trip across to Dublin this weekend for the big Six Nations clash at Croke Park on Saturday.
His contribution to the Guardian website next week are awaited with interest.

Colm Kinsella