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Tuesday, February 27, 2007 :
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All about progression, says Dempsey
THE feel-good factor following Ireland’s record win over England on Saturday hasn’t washed away despite a dip by the entire squad in the Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire on Sunday afternoon and a well merited lie-in and swimming pool recovery session in the Killiney Castle Hotel yesterday.
The entire Irish camp might have woken up feeling even chirpier with stories that they are being seriously spoken of in the same awed tones as the mighty All Blacks — and it appears the ‘World Cup Champions-elect’ are worried about the Irish.
Ireland could possibly face the ABs in a World Cup quarter-final if they finish second in their ‘Pool of Death’ behind France and ahead of Argentina. But, according to reports emanating from the Land of the Long White Cloud, Graham Henry’s side would prefer a last eight meeting with the French, admitting Ireland are a better team than the host nation.
One of many candidates for man-of-the-match on Saturday, Girvan Dempsey, says there’s no chance Ireland will get carried away by their record 43-13 win over England at Croke Park.
“I don’t think we’re going to get carried away with this win (over England). I think the squad is experienced enough and we’ve been around long enough to know not to get ahead of ourselves.
“From an Irish point of view what we’ve always been trying to do is build on performances and build consistency.”
The win over England was all about progression, feels Dempsey, and learning to put teams to the sword is a code of combat they are learning to adjust to. “We haven’t had the killer touch at stages but I think we showed that on Saturday,” said Dempsey.
“Looking back as far as the summer tour down to Australia and New Zealand, we put in some good performances, but unfortunately didn’t have that killer punch. We learnt and gained confidence from playing sides like that, and that feeds into big games like Saturday.”
Progression rather than regression will be the buzz word in camp in the build up to the Scotland game in Murrayfield on March 10. The squad break up today before reassembling at base camp on Sunday evening. According to Dempsey, he feels that once the build up to the Scots game begins in earnest, Ireland won’t be wallowing any more in the afterglow of a record win over the “auld enemy”.
“We have two big games to come. Scotland are going to be looking for a bit of backlash after the game.
‘‘Then we’ll have a big test against the Italians in Rome and they are a much improving side. They (Italy) played some superb rugby in the first match against France but the French got away from them in the second half. They went to Twickenham and played some superb rugby and we know what they did against Scotland.”
Dempsey’s try against England had Leinster blue written all over it, in its build-up and execution. Sliding over in front of Hill 16 was, he says, “an incredible feeling.” According to one GAA historian, the Leinster man touched down on the exact spot where Tipperary footballer Michael Hogan was shot dead by the Black and Tans on Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920.
A surprised Dempsey wasn’t aware of the historical significance of his try, but did admit it reminded him of his try against England in Twickenham in 2004 when Ireland won 19-13.
“I just remember the ball coming across. It was a looping pass from Brian (O’Driscoll), and it was hanging in the air a bit. The main thought in my head was ‘don’t drop it!’ Shane Horgan was outside me, we had a two man over lap, and I made sure to catch and run over the line and score.”
Dempsey recognises that there will be some disappointment around, that, after beating the English, Ireland didn’t defeat France in their quest for a first Grand Slam since 1948.
“Realistically there is obviously going to be a bit of that — that’s history now. We’re not going to look back on that.’’
Dempsey said that on weekends as joyous as last weekend’s he felt for Geordan Murphy, a player unlucky lose out on a place on the match 22.
“I regularly room with Geordan and have been for the last number of weeks. It’s obviously a tough one to take. Eddie O’Sullivan has had a number of big calls to make and that was obviously one of the bigger ones. I’ve spoken to Geordan. I’ve watched him play for Leicester and he’s playing exceptionally well and it must be hard to take.”
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