Never mind the typhoon, a storm of former Leinster coaches is about to hit Tokyo. Beware the wounded Wallabies. Same goes for Ireland.
When faced with a crisis people tend to divide into separate categories; those who are ready and those who cannot cope. Some stand up to the fight, despite overwhelming odds as their deepest darkest fears become reality, and then there are those who turn tail and run for shelter.
Rubbing shoulders with Michael Cheika during the summer, I asked him about losing Israel Folau (shades of the Raiders and Antonio Brown, right?).
“Aw, I think we’ll be ‘right.”
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Cheika smiled and changed the subject. I understood. Australia will be just fine without Folau because crisis scenarios is their coach's specialty. Cheika guided Leinster from the doldrums of 2008 – when we failed to escape our European Pool – to the Promised Land a year later.
He works best when outsiders are writing his team off. The man loves that bottom rung of the ladder. He devours pressure by focusing on the talent inside the group. Michael gathers his players around him and plans for what feels like the last stand in the film 300.
Misguided perspective
Folau is suing the Australian rugby union – because of what I believe is a deeply misguided perspective on how religion works – but he has quite possibly handed the Aussies a key component for a successful World Cup.
Nobody moulds adversity into a positive force better than Cheika. The man knows how to build a team, brick by brick, something Folau will possibly never feel part of ever again. All the money in the world cannot replace that sense of belonging, of striving towards a collective goal.
A real team does not concentrate on winning or losing, rather the shared effort and validation that come from incremental progress. So, regardless of how Folau v ARU turns out, this great athlete will be poorer for it and I suspect this period of time will haunt him forever. I’ve been to three World Cups. These are the greatest days in a rugby player’s life.
Folau’s Instagram post represented the bottom rung of Australia’s World Cup campaign.
Cheika would have gathered his leaders around him, he would have empowered people like James O’Connor to rebuild their very existence, “Now, let’s start the climb”.
Truly a World Cup is about four months’ preparation not four years.
At Leinster in 2008/09 Cheika incorporated plenty of symbolism into our bid to capture that first European trophy. The motivational tool that stays with me is “touch the white fence”.
My old team-mates will know what I am on about. As will everyone who reads this column. Dr Jack Groppel, whose bio comes with the tagline “pioneer in the science of human performance”, tells a story about four NFL guys, “monstrous men”, being given a simple mission: “Run a nine-minute mile on a wilderness trail. At the one-mile marker there is a white fence. Touch it and run back.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it, touch the white fence.”
As they were putting on their gear, Dr Groppel adds some rules of engagement: “Gentlemen, the trail is a swamp with a joining canal. Alligators migrate in and out of the swamp via the canal so keep your eyes open.”
“Oh yeah, there are poisonous snakes along the trail so if you see them coiled up, beware.
Razor-sharp tusks
“And one more thing, watch out for wild boar with razor-sharp tusks that will attack unprovoked.
“Above all else, you must touch the white fence. Ready? Go!”
The wary linebackers take off. Dr Groppel shows his audience a recording of the four men reacting to the fake sound of wild boar in the bushes. They scream like children and instantly spin on their heels, sprinting back to camp.
Dr Groppel: “Did you touch the white fence?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“We heard something.”
Dr Groppel shows them the tape.
“You are looking at what happens to a human being who is confronted by a storm they are not prepared for.”
Attacks by alligators, poisonous snakes and wild boar with tusks sounds a lot like the week leading into Ireland’s 2015 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina.
Next up on the trail is a posse of FBI agents. When they hear growls in the bushes they crouch in defensive positions but do not retreat.
“This tells us two things,” says Dr Groppel. “You will respond to any storm the way you have been trained and if you access the wrong emotion even the simplest goal is impossible to reach.”
The difference between the big football players and FBI agents was just that – training. It’s a metaphor about staying the course. After so many years of underachievement, everyone in the Leinster team room could easily buy into the idea. There followed a simple pact: “We will touch the white fence or the wild animals will have us for lunch.
Injuries, the opposition and referees will not derail us. We won’t beat ourselves. External noise won’t become a distraction.”
Leinster became mentally prepared for every scenario, be it playing down in France or Munster in the Croke Park semi-final. “Nobody, not even the Red Army, will climb into our heads.”
The white fence was Nigel Owens’ whistle at full-time in Murrayfield.
I feel that similar elements are growing inside the Ireland squad.
They were unable to cope with England's onslaught in Twickenham after a tortuous warm weather training week in Portugal but better to fail that litmus test than what is to follow; the humidity in Japan coupled with wild boar (Springboks) or alligators (All Blacks) and coiled snakes (Scotland).
The Wales warm-up games have shown a marked change in body language, with players seeking out contact – Iain Henderson, Rory Best and James Ryan set the standards – along with an encouraging sprinkle of offloads.
Stunning impact
Late changes to the team have worked. CJ Stander at blindside appears free from his struggles at number eight. There is genuine faith now in Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw. Perhaps the former Connacht duo have staked their claim to face the Springboks with Garry Ringrose to have a stunning impact off the bench.
I’m not predicting the team here, because I firmly believe we could see anything up to 26, 27 players used in the opening two matches against Scotland and Japan. Rugby is no longer about keeping your best 15 or even 23 players in the mix. I’d suggest only Jack Carty won’t start a pool game but he’ll finish at least two of them.
It’s all about the squad in Japan.
Climbing up to number one in the world doesn't interest me at this point. It's more than a little ridiculous after the Six Nations and Twickenham. The only ranking that matters is where Ireland stand come November.
Saturday’s performance against Wales was far from perfect but perfection is not needed until the World Cup quarter-final.
Warren Gatland’s comment after the match about Ireland reverting to basics – “playing off nine, off nine, off nine” – told me more about him than us. Reading between the lines, Gatland was annoyed with his own team. He wanted a win in Dublin with a mixed Welsh side to fire his squad into the tournament. Instead they gave their coach a flat performance.
Gatty loves to stir the pot during the week but cutting words, like he delivered on Saturday, are unusual as he’s normally gracious in victory or defeat.
It's a ploy. Perhaps he believes Ireland are coming for Wales in the semi-final. The treatment of Johnny Sexton by Aaron Wainwright for Rob Kearney's try reinforces this theory.
The late nudge by flankers on Sexton must be anticipated by officials, and duly punished, especially against Scotland on September 22nd.
The referee and TMO must not allow a creator of Sexton’s calibre to be removed from the tournament by illegal contact. Even the NFL have stamped out late shots, of any kind, on their quarterbacks.
Rugby must not be reactionary. We are seeing the late hits pre-tournament. We saw them during the Six Nations. We know it’s part of the Scottish plan. Wainwright’s late shoulder tells me that Wales have discussed a semi-final against Sexton. Roughing him up remains a tactic.
How does World Rugby want to showcase their major event?
Anyway, Gatland’s mind games have started earlier than usual. He is gathering ammunition. Joe and Warren are different coaches but they possess very similar attributes when it comes to preparation but throwing a curve ball at the opposition ahead of big games is Warren 101.
Doing it post-match was unnecessary. The man who first selected me for Ireland has let himself down. He is Irish baiting, that’s all.
There’ll be plenty more of war of words and similar shenanigans in the coming weeks. You know how this game works; are we seeing shades of Ireland 2007 from these Welsh grand slammers?
We’ll all be at it.
“Failure is not an option,” adds Groppel.
Not when preparations have been done to handle all the alligators, poisonous snakes, wild boar with tusks and other unseen creatures lurking in the swamp.
Stay frosty. Touch the white fence.
