Luke Fitzgerald gave us hope with a superb appearance off the bench in our World Cup quarter-final loss to Argentina. We’ll never know if his presence from the start would have made a bigger difference.
By the time Fitzgerald entered the fray, at the Millennium Stadium, Tommy Bowe was heading off on a stretcher and Ireland were 17-0 down. He bloodied Argentina’s nose with a superb try, set up Jordi Murphy’s second half score and was a handful all game.
Joe Schmidt went with Bowe and Keith Earls as his wingers for the knockout tie. Fitzgerald paid for his versatility – appearing at left wing, outside, inside and outside centre in his four games before Argentina.
Speaking on Newstalk’s Off The Ball, last night, Fitzgerald revealed he backed himself to do something big in that game and was disappointed to be left on the bench. He said:
“That was a real bug-bear because I was playing really well.
“But the Argentina game, I knew I was playing well and I’d got five minutes here and there. I was thinking ‘If you actually just pick me here, I’m going to do something special here’.”
Fitzgerald revealed he approached Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, whom he had played under for five years, and argued his corner. He continued:
“I just said ‘I disagree, I think I’m the right man for the job.
“‘From a defensive point of view and from an attack point of view, I think you’re making a mistake’ and it proved to be right. Without cutting anyone, you can take from that what you will.
“I told him after he selected the team for Argentina that I thought it was a mistake. He was saying that he obviously didn’t think it was a mistake.”
As for Schmidt’s response – “Hard luck mate, I make the last call”.
Fitzgerald did reveal that Schmidt was one of the most approachable coaches he played under. The Kiwis always offered his reasons for his selection decisions so ‘you better be prepared’ if you were to knock on his door.
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