Italy V Ireland (9 – 38) 14th February 2009
Hard earned win on the road

Congratulations on great win and an excellent personal performance Jerry, what is the feeling in the Irish camp.
 It was very important that we backed up the performance in the French game with another strong game and keep the continuity going. There is no room for slip ups and we knew this was going to be a difficult game.

How did you expect Italy to play?
Two years ago when we played Italy it was at the end of the championship and they had nothing to play for having come of a few heavy defeats. We knew they would be different this time. It’s early in the Championship and they had point to prove after getting things so wrong against England last week.

What’s different about playing Italy to playing one the other home nations?
The level of physicality up front is always different. The French typically use the ball quicker and move it whereas the Italians are happy to keep using the ball in tight. We had spoken about this before the game and knew it was important to take them on up front before trying to play it wider. It is was important to keep picking up and going round corners at rucks until gaps started opening up. We know it would be like that for 50 minutes and that after that we might see some opportunities.

There is a lot going on in and international game. What level of communication occurs during the game between players ?
We are very conscious of communication and it’s important that it’s not just Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan and Paul calling all the shots but its 15 guys communicating throughout the game. That does not mean there are 15 people making decisions but it means the responsibly is on everyone to stay in the game mentally and know what’s going on.

Is that communication between players about general encouragement to each other or are you talking to each other about specifics, who goes into a ruck, who doesn’t etc.
We have plays that cover how many people are committed to a ruck. Generally its 4 people including the ball carrier. If you are the third person there you know you are going in. If you are the fifth there then you know you will stand back. So those sort of rules cover most of the plays. The communication is more around keeping each other in the game. It’s easy to slip out of the game mentally and you think you are flat out until you hear somebody’s voice telling you to pick up the legs or keep pumping. There is always more in the tank than you think and talking to each other keeps us all going. 

What preparation is involved now for the English game.
We are in a mini camp from Wednesday night starting with a review of the Italian game followed by a full squad session on Thursday. Guys will do weights on Friday and then it’s a break for the weekend before resuming next week into camp for the game. Declan tends to run intensive training camps and then let players go home. Means we are fresh and focussed for the time in camp.

Jerry Flannery in conversation with USN