Grand Slam Review

As the dust settles on the greatest season in the history of Irish rugby and the enormity of the Grand Slam begins to sink in, Mark Jones canvasses views from on and off the pitch as to how and why the 61-year wait was finally ended

Jerry Flannery

Mervyn Murphy

Luke Fitzgerald

Les Kiss

Jerry Flannery, Front Row Seat, Age 30, Lion in waiting

ROG spoke, and a few of the other lads spoke of how it mightn't hit us straight away just how big this was going to be. But you don't want to be sitting there in two or three weeks time when you're back with your province just going, 'Jesus, if we'd dug that little bit deeper, or applied ourselves a little bit more that week, we could've done something absolutely huge for Irish rugby.' We were lucky that some of the lads had perspective and said those things.

It's a huge thing, but I'm still finding it difficult to get my head around it. When you get to a Heineken Cup final, you've been looking at it from eight or nine months out. You win the semi and then you've got three or four weeks of a build-up to it.

But you couldn't look past the Scotland game, so you weren't thinking about a Grand Slam. You finish with the Scots, you relax a bit, and there it is suddenly, you're into a Grand Slam game and you haven't really had time to consider the size of it.

Every year there has been talk of Munster winning the Heineken Cup, but there's never always been talk of winning the Grand Slam with Ireland. It's not something that was beaten into us. Nearly every day I'm meeting people who are raving about it, but in truth, it hasn't really sunk in.

We won it because we have a very basic game plan that we knew would work. Of course, we had plays, but we didn't have to rely on them. A try like Tommy's against Wales from a kick, that's a bonus. It was as if the forwards didn't even have to work to get it. But then getting into position for the drop goal, everyone was really confident we could do it.

It was hard to watch those last few minutes from the sideline. Time drags, it's a horrible feeling. You're much better off being on the pitch. I was confident that we'd win because I know what we do well. If we get possession, we'll eke out a few yards and we've got Rog on the team. I'd have put my mortgage on him to drop that goal.

I thought we were sound, and then they got the penalty. I thought, 'Oh my God, I didn't see this coming.'

Mervyn Murphy, Tales of the Tape

Age 36, Video analyst and former Ireland A centre

For weeks we'd been studying Wales in terms of what we might do in certain positions on the pitch. We had one eye on them all the time. They employ the blitz defence used by Shaun Edwards at Wasps with the wingers up, and playing in. So if you can get over the top of that, then there's precious little they can do about it. They're leaving only one man in the backfield.

It wasn't that at half time we suddenly said we should try to exploit the way Shane Williams was defending. We'd reckoned that a scrum in midfield would be most effective against the blitz, and we were literally biting our nails wondering if there'd be an opportunity to run that play. The fact that Gavin Henson had moved to full-back wasn't a factor at all. Lee Byrne would've defended in exactly the same way.

Those kicks by Rog and Tomás were spot on, they couldn't have placed the ball better. Wales rely on the possibility that you wouldn't have a player with enough skill to make that chip, so they're saying, if you dare go for the space behind, you'd better be bloody accurate. And a lot of teams will end up kicking the ball away, but it's probably the play they fear most.

The fact that Tommy has a height advantage over Shane Williams is an added bonus, but it doesn't really matter because the play is about getting in behind the defence. And once you do that, there are wide open spaces.

Tommy's try wasn't Shane Williams' fault. He was staying within their system. A defence covers X and Y, but it mightn't always cover Z, but then Z can be an incredibly hard play. You kick a ball an inch too far and everyone starts howling at you from the stands. One inch on the right side and it's a try under the sticks, but some players just don't have the balls for that.

Rog is one of the few players in the world who can make that kick. Some players are afraid, they're not accurate enough, but Rog and Tomás chose their moments to get it right. That's how a defence gets broken.

In 2007, the players were the proverbial bounce of the ball away from the winning the Grand Slam. This time Rog's kick, and the bounce, went our way.

Luke Fitzgerald, Cool Hand Luke

Age 21, first full Six Nations

I have to say I was extremely nervous last Saturday morning. I had this lower back problem and I hadn't really been able to run flat out during the week. I knew I was going to be okay as regards starting the game, but I was worried because I hadn't trained that much. I suppose I was a little apprehensive that I wouldn't be able to perform to the best of my ability.

It wasn't easy as well to separate yourself from the importance of the occasion, but nearer kick-off I was able to focus better. Rog felt before the game that the forwards had been taking an awful lot of pressure off the backs, and that we had a big responsibility to the team. It was time for us to take the reins, and he certainly stayed true to his word and came through.

At half-time, there was a sense that we couldn't sit back and hope for them to make mistakes. They were making it very difficult for us, they weren't giving away penalties, and we knew we had to go out and win it. I hurt my shoulder towards the end and they were trying to get me off the pitch, but then I couldn't believe it when Mike Phillips came running down my channel.

I feel I benefited greatly from the meetings we had during December. We came out of them with a real clarity of purpose. I tried to get involved in the discussions, and maybe some of the players would say they were sick of hearing me talking, but I jumped in as it seemed to be a great chance for the younger guys to get across how we felt we should play and what our strengths were. I suppose I reckoned that we should play a bit more expansively and trust ourselves a bit more.

My main memory will probably be after the game when I had a bit of a moment to myself. My parents Des and Andrea weren't in Cardiff because my brother Aaron was making his confirmation, so I got them on the phone, and normally, they don't get over-excited, they'd just be happy that I'd done well or the team had done well, but this time, they were so delighted.

They could hardly contain themselves, and that moment was probably the most special for me.

Les Kiss, Defence fo the Realm

Age 44, defence coach and former Australia rugby league wing

There's a lot of pride among the players that we ended up conceding the fewest tries [three] in the Six Nations. Okay, we have the best defensive record, but I truly believe that the number of missed tackles you count at the end of a game is not that important. In fact, I hardly ever count them.

What is important is to defend the scoreline you have on the board. We defended five scorelines in this championship, and we won five games. You don't have to have a 90 per cent success rate in the tackle to win a game. Sometimes, you might miss 15 tackles, but you'll scramble well. Shit happens, and you prepare players to find a way to deal with it.

We're not perfect, but then no one should be locked into perfection. If you kick a goal, you don't have to get it over the black spot.

When you train, it should never be a case of, now the defence bit is over, let's concentrate on attack. The two should integrate pretty seamlessly and Gert Smal and I worked together a lot on first-phase defence.

There's a lot more to it than tackle, stand up, and get back in a line. I can't really go into the specifics about the system because right now you have a group of players who feel that they've gained an edge and they want to keep it that way. I can say that it's related to decision-making, trust and using the laws to the maximum.

We did feel there was a lack of confidence during the autumn tests. Strange when you've got the Heineken Cup and the Magners League winners there in front of you. I think it had to do with the collateral damage following the World Cup, there was a bit of a hangover. And that's not a slight on the previous management because momentum can slip away. Look, if the previous management had destroyed that team, the Heineken Cup and the Magners League wouldn't have been won.

The players wanted to redefine what the jersey meant to them as a group, and how they wanted to go forward, and you can't underestimate Declan Kidney's management in that area. When new coaches come in, there are usually two ways it can go. I think it went the right way.

March 29, 2009