Leamy at ’em, says Ireland’s hard man
Ireland hard man Denis Leamy will never forget the wall of noise which greeted the team’s arrival onto the Croke Park pitch for the historic game with France.
The majority of the 82,000-strong crowd roared their heads off in honouring the occasion of the first rugby match to be played at GAA headquarters.
The 25-year-old number eight, who wins his 20th cap against England on Saturday, is bracing himself for an even greater reception in the RBS Six Nations Championship tie, which kicks off at 5.30pm.
“The adrenaline was definitely flowing the last day,” he said. “The roar that hit us when we ran out was a real energiser.
“You feed off that and you just get so pumped up. It’s great to have that sort of atmosphere for you,” he said.
Leamy and his family have been regular visitors to Croker to cheer on their beloved Tipperary hurlers, but no family members ever expected to be watching their famous son or brother playing there.
“It was a proud moment indeed, especially when it came to the anthem, which was special, really brilliant.
“I think the fact there was no singer didn’t drown out crowd, who felt they had to get right in behind the team and sing to the top of their voices.
“I was surprised to hear so many French supporters at the game. They’ve a great anthem and we had to match it.”
The anti-climactic finish proved a right downer, something the players are still coming to terms with, according to the 6’ 2”, 17-stone granite rock.
“We were in camp, so it was hard to get the game out of your system and take your mind off it.
“We broke up on Tuesday, which was great.
“I went back to Cork, and did things like housework and pay a few bills just to get your mind off the game.
“I was at home in Tipp on Friday and just walked around the farm.
“It helps to get away from a hotel atmosphere, but I reckon it will take a win this weekend to eventually get over the loss.”
Ah yes! England at Croke Park. You would want to have been on a different planet these past decades to realise the significance of such a fixture.
For Leamy, the players and indeed the rest of the country the sense of occasion will be even more pronounced than the France encounter.
“For Irish sports people and Irish people in general there’s always a bit of rivalry with England and everything that goes with it.
“Traditionally we’ve hadn’t that many victories against them in the past 20 years, but we’ve changed that in the last few years.
“Indeed they’ve not beaten us since winning the World Cup, so they will be very hungry to redress that.
“England will view this as a must-win game, especially the way we won the Triple Crown at Twickenham last year.
“But we must start well and match their intensity.
“We will be doing everything possible to make sure we get one win at Croke Park.
“England are a decent side and that’s something you can’t rule out. It will be very disappointing if we don’t win a game there.”
The popular view is that Ireland must be quicker out of the blocks to have any chance of stretching their winning sequence to four, though their spectacular triumph at Twickenham 12 months ago also coincided with a poor opening.
“It has been a problem, definitely. We’ve left ourselves with a lot of work to do in these games.
“Sometimes it hasn’t always worked out for us. We started very slowly against England last year and just about caught them at the end.
“In other games we haven’t and we’ve been beaten because of our slow starts.
“We’ve had to kick-start our games by scoring a try out of nothing.
“I don’t know exactly why it is or what it is, but we’ve been looking at it. Maybe it’s something to do with the warm-up.
“It could even be a mental thing.
“I think the last day you couldn’t help but be affected by the sense of occasion and everything associated with it.
“We were a part of history and no matter how hard you try, with the best will in the world, it’s difficult to block it out.
“I think, subconsciously, we were affected by it in the first 20 minutes.”
Leamy’s maximising his enormous potential first noticed during his Rockwell College days and continuing with his Ireland U-21 innings.
It was here the guy with size 14 hands and the power of an ox first came to international attention, most shrewd observers believing Leamy to be the best in his position in the world at the time.
Last summer All Blacks forwards’ coach, Steve Hansen, became another admirer during Ireland’s tour, but Leamy isn’t swayed.
“I still say I’ve an awful lot to learn. My game has come on in the last year.
“Little things have improved an awful lot and I’m happy with the progress.
“Yet, there’s always room for improvement. I suppose you’re never the finished article.
“I look forward to playing against the big names like Chabal for France and Corry for England.
“I’ve played against them four or five times now and I always see it as a challenge.
“You only have to look at all the other number eights in the six nations and they’re all excellent players.
“This is what rugby is all about, going out there and testing yourself against the best, physically and mentally.”
Saturday can’t come quickly enough, though England’s shrewd new management and the wealth of experience in key positions makes it a difficult game to call.
“You name it they’ve done it. They bring a huge amount of experience and they know what’s needed coming over here.
“It won’t daunt them having to play at Croke Park as much as it might if they had younger players in their team.
“They’ll see this as a great opportunity.
“However I think this Ireland team is experienced enough to cope with any opportunity that’s presented in front of us.”
