Sean Farrell reports from Celtic Manor
TEARS, EUPHORIA, CATHARTIC fist-pumps and laughter, Ireland’s Pool Finale win over France at the Millennium Stadium had it all.
This morning as the cold light of day hit an Ireland squad after their second successive top-placing in a World Cup Pool (which is also their second ever) there was more good humour and gentle – very gentle! – ribbing. Target number one, the replacement who was caught by the post-match cameras with a face drenched in salty sweat and tears.
“The boys are calling him Gazza,” Rob Kearney joked about the viral video of Ian Madigan when he eased himself in to media duty this morning.
“I think it was a day where he really stood up. We needed him to come on and really take control of things and he did.”
It was one of those days. Players fell down, replacements stepped in and stepped up.
Kearney’s breakthrough try, when he took a short-side Conor Murray pass before picking out Freddy Michalak as the weak link between him and the try-line, helped Ireland on their way to a 15-point win.
That kind of margin over France in a crucial World Cup encounter is a famous win for Ireland that will live long in the memory, but the celebrations have certainly been tempered by the loss of Peter O’Mahony to knee ligament injury and the anxious wait on what the scans reveal about Paul O’Connell’s “significant” hamstring injury and Johnny Sexton’s groin problem.
“It probably does (take the gloss off),” admits Kearney.
“You never like to lose players through injury, especially ones of the caliber that we have and the captain as well. But when you are in tournaments like this and the physicality is so great, you can see other teams suffering from it too.
Forward
“You don’t have a huge amount of time to sit around and think about it. We have got another massive Test match in six days time. We have got to keep looking forward and get on with it, as cruel as it might sound.”
It’s a cruel game, but it was testament to both O’Connell and O’Mahony that they remained tightly embedded in the squad for as long as they could. O’Mahony joined his team-mates for breakfast in Celtic Manor this morning before flying to Dublin to see a specialist. And, before O’Connell was admitted to hospital last night, he hung around the Millennium dressing room to congratulate his men.
“I felt awful for him. But it was great to see the sheer delight after the game in terms of what we had achieved as oppose to feeling sorry for himself. That was brilliant to see and a great sign of the man that he was able to put his own woes behind him and was able to think of the team first.
“He was just delighted and beaming from ear to ear. When you consider that he was so happy and ecstatic and happy after the game and the pain he had been in at half time. It’s little moments like that make changing rooms after games so very special.
“I think at half time there were probably mixed emotions. You are seeing your captain injured heavily and losing your out-half and your star man. But you are filled with a huge amount of confidence when you see the likes of Ian Madigan and Iain Henderson coming on and their contribution to the game.”
In a game that had everything, that’s exactly what was required from every last man.
