‘I want to be able to look back on my career and be able to say “I’ve achieved something”.’
The words Grand and Slam were uttered in Joe Schmidt’s presence, last Sunday, in the afterglow of Ireland’s 19-9 win over England.
After cracking a joke about Brian O’Driscoll tweeting about it, to up the ante, Schmidt commented, ‘Grand Slams don’t happen that often… it is pretty hard to get them and it will be very hard in the Millennium Stadium.’
Now that the coach is talking openly about the possibility of going five-from-five, rugby reporters are posing the same questions to the Irish players. Here are the Grand Slam thoughts, and memories of Ireland’s 2009 achievement, of Simon Zebo and Tommy O’Donnell.
Simon Zebo
No [we have not spoken about in], not at all We won’t even go there…. It doesn’t really [cross my mind], to be honest. I think about the next game and how I am going to get some ball and help the team. It’s not in my nature to think that far ahead. I don’t really like that.
2009: No, I wasn’t there [in Cardiff]. I was after playing a game with Cork Con actually. We were on the road back from Dublin*. We had just beaten a Dublin side in an AIL game and stopped off in a pub for a few beers and watched it there. Very good memories.
Tommy O’Donnell
2009: I remember sitting on my couch, screaming, willing the ball to go over from Ronan O’Gara. It was this incredibly tight, tense game and when you thought we were away, the Welsh came back and they nearly had the chance at the end. It’s a fantastic memory.
Inspiration: Absolutely. I think I was in the same place in 2008 watching Munster win their Heineken Cup final, you want to be there. Especially then the following years when you see lads who you’ve played with and who’ve played with you at Under-18s, 19, 20s and they are breaking into the squad. You’re thinking ‘I want to be there, I want to win a significant trophy in my career. I want to be able to look back on my career and be able to say, ‘I’ve achieved something.’ Hopefully we can do that.
I think its a bit different. You can’t go over there on past glories, you have to be in the moment and you don’t make a tackle on last year’s game, you know? You have to be there in the moment, keep going through it with the next tackle, next ruck and keep working to the best of your ability. That’s what wins games.
*Cork Constitution’s senior team beat Young Munster 27-16 at Rosbrien, Limerick on March 21, 2009 [the same day Ireland beat Wales to claim the Grand Slam]
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