“We didn’t know how loud to sing or what to do.”
The first time Greg O’Shea had the honour of wearing the green jersey and singing the anthem(s), it did not go exactly as planned.
Back in 2012, then with Crescent College and Munster, O’Shea was selected for an Ireland U18 Schools team to take part in the European Championship.
Players like Gael Fickou [France] and Maro Itoje [England] were taking part, while Ireland had future internationals Dan Leavy and Rory O’Loughlin in their squad.
They faced Portugal and France in the knock-out stages before taking on an England side that would feature a host of future Test stars, including now-Ireland outhalf Billy Burns.
On House of Rugby URC [LISTEN from 24:o0 below] Greg O’Shea recalled the experience of representing Ireland for the first time, and how the squad were roasted by their coach for a tepid version of the pre-game anthems.
Greg O’Shea is congratulated after scoring for Ireland against Scotland in an U18 Schools International, in 2012. (Credit: Paul Mohan/SPORTSFILE)Scolded for unpatriotic rendition of Ireland anthem.
Greg O’Shea – listed as Gregory O’Shea in the 2012 reports – was on the bench for the Portugal game then started on the left-wing for Ireland in the semi-final and final.
Also in the side, as well as himself, Leavy and O’Loughlin, were current provincial stars Shane Delahunt and Ross Molony, and former Leinster and Connacht winger Cian Kelleher.
“I was nervous about knowing the words properly,” O’Shea recalls. “I remember being over with Ireland Under 18s in Spain, and we were playing Portugal.
“We were standing there and it was all our first time singing our national anthem for our country. A massive moment. We didn’t know how loud to sing or what to do…
“We went out and beat Portugal, but we don’t beat them that convincingly or by as much as we should have [34-24]. But we come back in and instead of having a review of the game, we got absolutely murdered by Terry McMaster, the head coach, about how unpatriotic we were for not singing the anthem with pride. We all took that really personally.
“The next game, we were playing France and we all BELTED out the national anthem, sung our hearts out and ended up getting into the final.”
In that final, Ireland faced that imperious England side. While they made a good fist of it – the anthem and the match itself – they went on to lose 25-13.
Ireland rallied after falling 12-0 behind, but a Scott Wilson try ended their comeback hopes. Ireland captain Daniel Leavy, at the time, said, “We probably gave them too big a start and as a team we dropped our concentration that cost us two tries… I was proud of how we kept playing, but unfortunately we just came up short.”
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