Ireland rugby coach Declan Kidney has moved to dampen talk of a Grand Slam after Saturday’s Six Nations win in Wales.
Irish fans are dreaming of the big one after the 30-22 victory in Cardiff in the opening match of the new season.
But Kidney told the post-game press conference that Ireland must keep their feet on the ground ahead of Sunday’s mouth watering clash with England, winners over Scotland in their first game.
Kidney said: “People think that because we have England and France at home this year it is a big advantage but that’s only a myth. Does that mean we shouldn’t compete every second year because we have no chance?
“That’s something will tag on to but look at how well England and France are going and we still have to go to Murrayfield. I know how we did last time we were there, we lost a World Cup warm-up game.
“We have to recover from this first. Wales were formidable opposition. I’m glad it’s not home and away in this competition. I wouldn’t like them having another go at us.”
Ireland, 30-3 up early in the second-half after tries from Brian O’Driscoll, Simon Zebo and Cian Healy, had to withstand a ferocious Welsh rally in Cardiff.
New captain Jamie Heaslip admitted: “They are a class side, Grand Slam champions and they asked serious questions of us in the second half. They certainly weren’t sluggish then.
“That 20 minutes when we had only 14 men they really put it up to us. Because there is no better team exploit the extra space that’s available when you have an extra man.
“It’s the first game in a long time when I walked off, like a lot of the lads, with literally nothing left in the tank.
“We had faith in ourselves, it was heroic stuff from one to 23. We know if we execute we are a hard team to stop but our character was really tested.”
Man of the match Brian O’Driscoll told the Irish Sun: “It’s hugely important to win the first game. If you lose you are left chasing your tail. We started well, Wales did a job on us the last three times, so we came out of blocks and built a lead, before we sat back and defended it. Wales put it up to us.”
2 Comments
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.liammurf | Feb 04, 2013, 12:31 PM EST
As my sainted father would say, a journey starts with one step. A great start but
Seanmor | Feb 04, 2013, 09:20 AM EST
When any team representing all of Ireland (my beloved homeland) wins a match antwhere, it is cause for me to celebrate. The name of the team that beat Wales in the Six Nations Contest is IRELAND and it is one of the 6 ntions that participates in that ompetion. I wonder how many Partitionist T.D.s supoport a team that represents the Whole Irish Nation, not merely the part of Ireland formerly known as the Free State.