Hickie focused on team affairs
Record-breaker Denis Hickie will not let his newly-achieved status as Ireland’s most-capped winger disturb his World Cup dream.
Hickie will eclipse Keith Crossan’s 41-cap mark when he steps out at Aussie Stadium to take on African minnows Namibia tomorrow.
Having scored two tries against Romania last weekend to celebrate equalling the achievement of a man he regarded as a hero, more is expected of Hickie in Sydney as Ireland look to grab their second successive bonus-point win.
And that is the sole focus of the 27-year-old wingman, regardless of the personal accolades coming his way.
“Records are things to look back on at the end of your career,” he said.
“I didn’t know I was approaching Keith’s record until someone told me before the Romania game last week and I don’t really know how many tries I have got either.
“While you are playing, you should be concentrating exclusively on performance – both your own and the team’s – so I don’t spend too much time thinking about what has happened in the past.”
Just for the record, Hickie’s brace at Gosford took his international touchdown tally to 22, which puts him four ahead of brilliant centre Brian O’Driscoll.
Though the Irish camp have been keen to emphasise the competitiveness of tomorrow’s opponents, it would be a major surprise if neither Hickie nor O’Driscoll found themselves on the scoresheet.
Namibia suffered a 60-point midweek mauling by Argentina in their opening game and though Ireland’s pack isn’t capable of inflicting quite the same damage as the Pumas’ did, their backs have a far sharper cutting edge.
In addition, they should also have the backing of a vocal majority of the 40,000 crowd, even if Namibia are the team the Australian public have taken to their hearts.
“Crowd support can make or break a performance and it’s something we are lucky to have benefited from over the years,” said Hickie.
“Obviously, there are other factors involved but our supporters are definitely capable of lifting the team when we hit a flat spot or things aren’t going our way.”
Coach Eddie O’Sullivan reported no new injury concerns on the eve of the match and also delivered some good news about lock Gary Longwell and prop Reggie Corrigan, who were both ruled out of tomorrow’s game with fitness problems.
“Reggie’s shoulder is much improved, while Gary trained this morning and didn’t suffer any reaction to his damaged calf muscle,” said O’Sullivan. “We expect both to be fit for the Argentina game next week.”
While victory tomorrow is almost taken for granted, O’Sullivan will be looking for vital pointers ahead of the Pumas confrontation in Adelaide next weekend which will determine who accompanies hosts Australia into the last eight.
A completely new back-row is on show tomorrow, while Ronan O’Gara needs a big performance at fly-half to wrest the first-choice spot from David Humphreys.
There are also tactical moves to work on, which Hickie feels need to be fine-tuned after a stuttering overall display against Romania.
“We have spoken about how we approach this game,” he said.
“It is important we improve on our last performance because there were things we should have done against Romania which we didn’t.
“We will set ourselves a few tactical goals and if we can achieve them, we will take something from the game no matter what the result.
“If you can’t do things correctly against Namibia, it is going to be difficult against the better sides.”
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