Remember how we rejoiced after a 1-1 draw with England at Italia 90? Ah, those were the days. Anything that remotely resembled success for Ireland was worth celebrating.
And in rugby of course we had the Grand Slam in 09. Decades of drought banished forever.
But in egg-chasing in particular it has become necessary for that mindset to be removed from our psyche. Once you reach the top table you can either swipe what scraps you can and bolt or you can claim your seat and stay there.
Sadly, at senior test level anyway, it would appear we went the scraps route. But something different appears to be happening with our Under 20s, if the evidence from Vannes yesterday evening is to be believed.
Mike Ruddock’s charges put their Australian counterparts to the sword by a scoreline of 19-15 that definitely flattered the baby Wallabies (Joeys?).
The key element of their approach seemed to be their amazing confidence in their own ability, particularly when bringing the ball into the tackle. The most impressive contributions seemed to come from positions 11-14 – Rory Scholes, Tom Daly, Tom Farrell & Adam Byrne all fronted up brilliantly and showed no signs of fear towards their southern hemisphere opposition.
Now in some ways, that confidence can be harmful, as was evidenced by the unnecessary offloading towards the end that gave away possession and led to a try that brought Australia to within a point. But an added string to the young Irish squad’s bow has been an unwillingness to let those mistakes prey on their minds and they were able to find the composure to win back the restart and stretch the lead once more with a penalty.
But while the victory was an amazing achievement and fully deserves the plaudits of our Thursday morning headlines, you can be sure Mike Ruddock is banishing any laurels from his camp for fear of anyone resting on them.
Rugby players generally need at very least a 6-day turnaround time between matches, but this particular tournament demands 5 contests in just 18 days.
And almost a year ago to the day, we were hailing an amazing opening victory over the then-host South Africans…sure, it truly was amazing, but those same Baby Boks went on to win the competition while we fell short against England in our next match. Although we fought back to beat them in the playoffs on the way to finishing 5th, a semifinal berth was there for the taking.
So 12 months on, a final four spot has to be the goal of this squad. Which means the focus now has to be a bonus point against the Fijians next Sunday and this victory needs to be forgotten.
The Baby Blacks hammered Fiji 59-6 yesterday so it has to be doable, but we have to remember that with the short turnaround Ruddock will need to tweak his squad and it’s possible the Fijians could have held back a first-choice player or two in the hope of getting something from us.
All of which means the Wolfpuppies need our full support next Sunday, and it’s live on TG4. Exciting times ahead. JLP
