THE FIRST TIME Richie Gray came across Peter O’Mahony, the Ireland backrower left a lasting impression.
Speaking at Scotland’s team hotel on the outskirts of Paris this week, Gray took us back to 2009 when asked about his memories of playing against O’Mahony, who is set to win his 100th Ireland cap in tonight’s World Cup pool B clash in Paris.
The venue was McDiarmid Park in Perth, the occasion an U20s Six Nations encounter which Scotland went on to win 35-20. “I remember because he ran around the corner and he belted me!” Gray explains.
I remember looking around thinking ‘that was a decent hit’ and I remember it being him. And we’ve had a few tussles since.
“But I remember that was the first time and back then, I knew he would go on to have a long and decent career.
“I’ve had a good few battles with him. Really abrasive character, gives it his all and I’m sure it will be the same this weekend. A very good lineout operator. Very clever, very athletic.
“He’s an abrasive character, you talk about the dark arts around the breakdown, very good, very smart, good in defence. If I look at my main area, the lineout, very athletic and a good ball-winning option, he causes defences a lot of issues because he’s very good in that defensive role whether jumping or lifting. So a very smart operator and trying to pick up what he’s doing can be difficult. So I think there’s a lot to his game.”
Gray speaks about tonight’s challenge in a calm, confident manner. Scotland’s recent record against Ireland is woeful – they’ve lost their last eight games against Ireland, and 12 of the last 13 – yet there is a belief in their camp that if they deliver on the day, they can pull of what would be a significant shock and end Ireland’s World Cup ambitions.
“Ireland are the No 1 team in the world and they’re strong across the board, there are no player weaknesses,” Gray continues.
“We just have to play as well as we’ve ever done, it’s as simple as that. We need to go out and be physical and abrasive but play to our DNA as well and hopefully we can put in the performance of the tournament and hopefully we can get the win.
“We’re under no illusions as to how difficult it will be but we’ll certainly do our best to put that performance in. “The training has been great this week. On Wednesday there was a nice edge, nothing too crazy, no major bust-ups or shouting or anything like that but a nice determination to put in a good performance.”
The 34-year-old lock be tasked with disrupting an Ireland lineout which has struggled throughout this World Cup. Andy Farrell’s side lost their first four lineouts against the Springboks and on another day, they might have paid a heavier price for such wastefulness.
Ireland don’t have many obvious weaknesses but Scotland, who had their own lineout woes against the Boks, know that going after their setpiece might offer them a route into the contest.
“It’s a massive part of the game, it’s a big source of possession and teams score a lot of their points off lineouts. With South Africa, they are a fantastic defensive lineout team and they managed to put a lot of pressure on you, not just in the game but leading up to the game because you know how good they are.
“What we were unhappy about was that we caused a lot of our own problems (against South Africa). It wasn’t so much the pressure that South Africa caused. I know Ireland had a few issues at the start of the game but what I look at the most was to lose your first four and then come out and rectify that and the way they did it was pretty ballsy, by throwing it to the tail. You’ve got so say fair play for getting yourself back in the game.
That’s why they’re the number one team. That would have rattled a lot of sides but they managed to get back into it and win the game.”
Ireland’s ability to stick the task when under extreme pressure was also highlighted by Gregor Townsend. Scotland are approaching the game with the mindset that if they are to topple the world’s top-ranked side, it’s going to take an 80-minute performance, something they’ve struggled to piece together in their previous battles with Ireland.
“There’s a lot of fight there. In the Six Nations we had a really good period 20 minutes before half-time, South Africa had a very good period [against them] and they managed to get a turnover on the line but we also have a lot of resilience.
“Both teams will have purple patches and play well in different times and it is [about] how we can hold each other out.
“I’m sure there will be many travelling supporters looking to have a good night and enjoy the occasion, and is there anything better? You get to play against the number one team in the world with an atmosphere, plenty of noise, plenty of buzz, it’s what you train for and why you put in all the hard work. Nights like this are why we do what we do as rugby players.”
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