Fear inspires Ireland's O'Callaghan
Ireland lock Donncha O’Callaghan has said the “fear of being sent home” will drive the team when they face Italy in their decisive World Cup clash.
The result of Sunday’s match at Dunedin’s Otago Stadium will determine which of the Six Nations rivals goes through to the quarter-finals from Pool C and which bows out of the World Cup.
“For me personally you have to play with that fear of being sent home, that horrible feeling when you wake up and realise it’s all over,” said Munster second-row O’Callaghan.
“That’s what drives me,” added the 32-year-old, capped 78 times by Ireland.
For O’Callaghan the memory of what happened in four years ago, when a highly-fancied Ireland team failed to reach the last eight after pool losses to then hosts France and eventual third-place finishers Argentina, is still vivid.
“Some lads will say they love the challenge and all that, but in 2007 my head was still spinning two weeks after we came home,” explained O’Callaghan, who has also played four Tests for the British and Irish Lions.
“I was thinking ‘what’s just happened?’. It’s hard to put the feeling into words,” he recalled.
Ireland have created the upset of the tournament so far with a 15-6 win over Australia but they are still not assured of a place in the knockout stages.
“This tour has been great fun, but this is the business end of it now,” O’Callaghan said.
“This is where we want to separate ourselves from other Irish teams.”
O’Callaghan said Ireland coach Declan Kidney had told the team they were “bred” on cup rugby and the double European Cup winner, who last year helped his country complete a Six Nations ‘grand slam’, said: “It’s mad, we’re into cup final stuff with 80 minutes giving us the chance to have 80 more.
“If we win, we progress. If we lose we go home. It’s massive pressure, but that’s what we’re here for. Before this tournament we’d have given anything to be in this position.”
Ireland may have won 15 Tests in a row against Italy but last time out they only scraped a 13-11 Six Nations victory in Rome in February courtesy of fly-half Ronan O’Gara’s late drop-goal.
“When you look at the last game against Italy and how close that was, you never play them expecting to win,” O’Callaghan said.
Italy coach Nick Mallett has insisted his team have a superior scrum to that of Ireland and O’Callaghan was expecting a ferocious contest up front for what he labelled a “work-rate” Irish pack.
“Italy have an incredible scrum and we’ll have to play out of our skin to live with it.”
But fellow lock Paul O’Connell, who insisted he was fit following a hamstring problem, said Italy now posed a threat behind the scrum too, citing the World Cup form of Azzurri half-backs Fabio Semenzato and Luciano Orquera.
And Ireland hooker Rory Best added: “You could see a few years ago if they got quality half-backs they’d be a very dangerous team.”
AFP
