I remember waking up the morning after the 2009 Grand Slam with an unexpected feeling in my gut.
We did it.
What’s next?
That Sunday was a blur. Come Monday morning we gathered for a few pints in Dublin. We had great fun but that same feeling lingered. It’s very hard to savour those moments, to really enjoy them if you want to keep achieving at the highest level.
Saracens and Toulon are already in the Leinster and Munster players’ minds - 10 days to reset and go again at a similar intensity.
So it’s important after scaling the mountain top to relax your mind for the way back down because there’s always another peak on the horizon – with Everest in 18 months.
That’s a lot of climbing.
We know Ireland can be this good again, I think they can still improve, but I imagine England will also figure a way to halt this losing streak.
The Eddie Jones attack is built upon go forward ball – so when Mako Vunipola struggled to get over the gain line everything stalled. They need his brother Billy at number eight. Nathan Hughes wasn't good enough and when he got injured Sam Simmonds was next.
You have to wonder about the amount of foreign players in the Premiership, are they starting to hurt the English national team in key positions?
They also need to rest their flogged Lions. As authors Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr have explained, the more time you spend in the performance zone the more time you need in the recovery zone.
Some of these players (English and Irish) have been performing for a long time now.
Now, the IRFU player management programme deserves enormous credit for the success of this campaign. From Joe Schmidt across the board to head of athletic performance and science Nick Winkelman we are, clearly, reaping rewards from a scientific, cutting edge approach. That's the benefit of having total control over our international players.
I don't see the point in comparing the 2009 Grand Slam to 2018. There are too many different variables
But new questions need to be asked for a new era. What’s the real value of the three-Test Australia tour this summer? Is a series win important or creating a unique scenario for the squad to perform with some essential parts missing.
This, ideally, will put pressure (at least in their heads) on Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong or Rob Kearney to regain their positions before the All Blacks game on November 17th.
Fringe players
In the 2015 World Cup, we were derailed as we were shorn of our top players in the quarter-final and didn’t have enough strength in depth. This tour can give more fringe players exposure to Test rugby. Experience like this is invaluable this close to Japan, while also giving our key players time to recharge properly.
Winning a World Cup is a combination of collective brilliance (outstanding play makers and dominant set piece), squad depth and luck.
I don’t see the point in comparing the 2009 Grand Slam to 2018. There are too many different variables, but we did not evolve post ’09 like we needed to – for many reasons – and like the current team has the potential to do.
I’m talking about personnel and styles of play. It helps that Schmidt, Best, Kearney and Sexton all have the benefit of so much hindsight and experience.
It’s Wednesday, so Schmidt has already switched focus to the summer tour and November internationals. Plans have already been activated.
Presuming Joe aims to create scenarios like Cian Healy against Jack McGrath in almost every position, the wider squad must be tested and challenged.
What next?
The group themselves are very clear on this. I keep going back to what Johnny said on the pitch after beating France in Paris. Defeat would have ruined all our plans. These plans are built upon winning, yes, but where does motivation come from after completing a Grand Slam away to England?
That is incredibly difficult. What is next becomes about going where no Irish team has been before, ever.
The '09 Grand Slam did help Leinster to win our first Heineken Cup two months later. It also laid a platform for other titles in 2014 and 2015.
A winning streak, as we have learned from England and New Zealand, becomes a psychological barrier that can have unravelling consequences once broken. England and Jones have so much ground to regain now. You can see players trying to overcome the malaise but energy levels needed to overcome their current state only exasperates the exhaustion they feel. A vicious downwards spiral. I’ve been there.
Ireland will never plan or expect to lose Test matches but we should prepare for every scenario. That’s the major benefit of the Wallaby tour.
New mindset
Schmidt's legacy is already secured in this country. The long established mentality of the brave Irish was being eradicated before he arrived, by professionalism, but Schmidt has cemented a new, process driven mindset.
But we were on the right track. When Trevor Brennan first went to Toulouse he couldn't get over their acceptance of an overriding principle in the Top 14 – win your home games because you are going to lose on the road. It drove Trev nuts. But this was the French way.
Now we are here. On the mountain top having just witnessed Murray and Sexton toying with the English on their own patch
A weaker team was sent away – they’d target a few weak clubs – get into the play-offs and only then it became about winning at all cost. Ronan O’Gara was still talking about this mentality at Racing 92.
Trev’s point was clear: we are Toulouse, let’s win every time we go on the field.
To alter that state of consciousness takes time.
I always felt we could win in Twickenham but that’s because I won there the first two times I played there. Those who came before me had to experience an awful amount of suffering to get Irish rugby back to the Triple Crown days.
Then came 2009 and that fed into Leinster's greatest victories and on to Paul O'Connell leading Ireland to Six Nations titles in 2014 and 2015.
The mindset is radically changed – fear is no longer the ultimate motivator because all teams respect us now. Winning when the opposition knows what is coming is bloody hard but the current young players – James Ryan, Andrew Porter, Jacob Stockdale – just play their game, they are damn good rugby players, they have beaten New Zealand at under-20s.
They expect a certain standard of themselves.
Now we are here. On the mountain top having just witnessed Murray and Sexton toying with the English on their own patch. It felt like the pair of them could do anything they wanted on Saturday, controlling the tempo of the game as they wished against England at Twickenham. We watched the second best team in the world control the team ranked third in almost every phase of play. It was incredible to be there.
After a successful Six Nations I always wanted to prove to my Leinster team-mates that I cared about the blue jersey as much as the green
That’s new ground; Ireland winning because they believe in what they are doing is really powerful.
It’s not about proving people wrong anymore. We are in a new era and the players seem comfortable to talk about a common goal – like the Grand Slam.
What next?
Protect themselves
Win a Test series in the southern hemisphere or learn valuable lessons from the experience, but do it without key personnel. Everyone cannot be left at home but there will be injuries – the opportunity to further expand the squad will not be by choice alone.
After a successful Six Nations I always wanted to prove to my Leinster team-mates that I cared about the blue jersey as much as the green. This week the players must decompress. Leo Cullen, Johann van Graan and Kieran Keane do not want to see them until Monday. They have to be protected from themselves. They need to enjoy being champions for a few days, and do it together, then go home and see family or friends or your dog. Doing nothing on your own is another important day.
Otherwise the provinces get their best players in dribs and drabs and some of them will be mentally exhausted. Next week, while everything is on the line again, will look after itself.
Some people only go to sports psychologists when things are going badly, but I liked to check in when we were going well to try and understand why the good times were happening.
Come down the mountain as slow as you can because there’s another to climb the weekend after next.
The biggest challenge for the next 18 months is the top two inches. Some new form of motivation will be needed.
Schmidt will not be long finding ways to challenge for the entire group. I expect it to be something along the lines of: Now, repeat those standards without Conor and Johnny.
