Harinordoquy to raise the bar
Abrasive French loose forward Imanol Harinordoquy is not content with his performances so far in the Six Nations and is determined to return to his top level against Ireland at the Stade de France on Sunday.
The 32-year-old – one of France’s most decorated players with three Grand Slams one World Cup Final and two domestic titles with Biarritz – said there was much for him to improve upon after the 23-17 win over Scotland last Sunday.
Harinordoquy, a proud Basque son of a cattle trader who is no shrinking violet himself having stormed onto the pitch earlier this season to take on a Bayonne player who was having a go at Imanol, said his teammates too needed to move up a gear if they are to make it three wins from three.
“Defensively we saw what was good and what was less so,” said Harinordoquy, who had an outstanding World Cup with back row partners captain Thierry Dusautoir and Julien Bonnaire.
“Offensively, we were a bit all over the place launching solo raids without taking into account a more orderly approach to counter-attacking and we were a bit disorganised.
“The players, including myself, sometimes took too long to follow the man with the ball and provide some impetus behind him. It is imperative we correct that,” he added.
Harinordoquy, though, reserved the most criticism for himself.
“I can and almost certainly must play better (against the Irish),” said the 79-times capped two-time European Cup finalist.
“In the first-half in particular I had the impression that I spent most of the time defending. With regard to defending I was active whereas with regard to the offence I think I was too passive. In the second-half it was a little better.”
Harinordoquy, who made his international debut 10 years ago, blamed himself in particular for the poor French line-out, and explained that he was not flexible enough on the field.
“I take responsibility for that because I was captain of the line-out,” said Harinordoquy, who had to give up sports altogether for a year as a teenager because of difficulties in his growth.
“I was too focused on the patterns and calls we had made during the week leading up to the match and I was unable to adapt when they played a different pattern at some line-outs.
“We came under a lot of pressure in this area. We had already done a lot of work in the lead-up to the Irish game (the one called-off last month) as to their line-out habits but perhaps it is best to leave it more to intuition on the day,” he added.
Harinordoquy, who slammed former coach Marc Lievremont on returning from the World Cup in New Zealand saying it was in spite of him rather than because of him they got to the World Cup Final, said reaching the World Cup had not prompted him to think about retirement.
“I have not even posed that question to myself,” he said. “For the past couple of years I have taken things as they have come.
“As long as I am in form and taking pleasure from my play, I don’t ask myself questions. When I was 23, I did say to myself that I would stop if we won the 2003 World Cup in Australia.
“We weren’t crowned world champions so therefore I carried on playing,” he added with a smile. “The fact that we reached this final and to realise that was possible in fact made me think of anything but retiring – it made me hungrier to carry on.”
AFP
