Johnny O’Connor: Ospreys, Richie McCaw and the curious case of Michael Swift

This week, Johnny talks about a heartbreaking defeat to the Ospreys, Richie McCaw, Argentina and the curious case of Michael Swift.

 

It’s fair to say that I’m still hurting from the Ospreys defeat on Friday night, it’s a game that you can say we threw away, we just didn’t settle in the last couple of minutes. It was unfortunate how it happened, one of the lads put in a big hit and the ball popped out. Unfortunately for us, it happened to fall to the scrum half under the posts for the try and then they kicked the goal to go a point ahead. It was terribly disappointing the way it panned out.

Performance wise, we played OK – at times, we were good but we probably weren’t consistent enough. Were we the better side? Yes we were, but we didn’t get a result and that’s what counts. I wouldn’t mind if we played terribly and got a result, it’s all about putting points on the board. I suppose one positive to take out of the game was the performance of Michael Swift; as I was saying in the podcast with the lads, it seems to be like the Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Swifty, he’s getting better with age.

The curious case of Michael Swift

He’s been fantastic, he seems to have gotten better the last couple of years, he’s been outstanding in every game and you start wondering that if he was playing like that a couple of years ago, there could have been a possibility he could have played international rugby. He’s playing well every weekend, he carries ball, he’s not massive in terms of the lineout but he does a job in there and he seems to have gotten quicker. I don’t know what’s happened to him that he’s going so well, whether it’s a case of the young love he has in his life or not I’m not so sure!

Personally, it was my first game in three weeks and although it was nice to have a break, it’s not something you notice that much. We had four days off prior to the Samoa game and then there was a lot of preparation in terms of getting ready for the next few games.

I don’t know what’s happened to him (Michael Swift) that he’s going so well, whether it’s a case of the young love he has in his life or not I’m not so sure!

You have one big week getting your conditioning right, stuff like weights in the gym and a small bit on the pitch; you can load yourself while you have time to recover. The conditioning element of it goes a bit in the background once the season’s on. There’s still quite a bit of work to be done, but I suppose I do feel very rested, which is important because we’ve got a run of nine games coming up now so it’s going to be tough, particularly with the squad we have, it’s quite small.

I was watching the Ireland v New Zealand game on Saturday and there was a definite improvement in the Irish performance. It’s a step forward and they’ve moved up a level. They’re probably not where they need to be yet, but it was a big improvement and it was encouraging to see.

Richie McCaw: The best in the business

There’s been a lot of talk about Richie McCaw lately, but I doubt he cares too much to be honest, or I doubt he’ll care in a few years time when he’ll be remembered as one of the greatest players to have ever played the game. Yeah, he’s cute, but everyone talks about him every weekend saying he’s always offside and always giving away penalties, but at the end of the day he’s never carded. Sure, he might give away a penalty or two, but it’s never anything crazy.

He’s very good at what he does; yes, there’s a touch of illegality to it but so what, that’s his game. You do whatever you can whatever way you can do it. He’s good at it, but he’s not blatant and he doesn’t do stupid things, you know, it’s a skill and he’s very good at it.

Johnny believes criticism of Richie McCaw is unjustified

It’s a shame people keep harping on about that, though, because that’s not the biggest part of his game, he’s pretty much good at everything. I don’t think he really cares, every weekend people will say: ‘Richie McCaw is a cheat’, but at the end of the day, Richie McCaw is on the field for 80 minutes every week, so I rest my case.

Getting back to the game, Declan Kidney underplayed the performance and rightly so. We’re playing Argentina this weekend and Argentina are capable of turning over any side. They ran France close at the weekend, it was a dour game from what I’ve heard, it finished 15-9 in the end.

Argentina: No soft touches

They’re tough, they’re dangerous, you know, they’re just so physical and you become so frustrated playing against them. I played against them years ago, once for Ireland ‘A’ and once with the senior side and they were both tough, physical games. They make it very hard for you and they’re very good at what they do. It’s not a case of them dragging you down to their level either, because they can turn it on when they want to and they have some serious players as well.

There seems to have been an edge between the two teams over the last few years, but I can’t really comment on the reasons behind it because I haven’t been involved. To be honest, you don’t have that many enemies in rugby, there’s nobody I have planned to go out and get before a game, but obviously some players don’t like each other and there’s different ways of motivating yourself and maybe some players channel that anger to get up for the game.

There’s a lot of injuries in the Irish camp and because of that, the likes of Seán Cronin and Gavin Duffy might get a crack at it. With Rory Best out, I imagine Seán will definitely start, with Damien Varley coming in on the bench. It’s going to be a difficult game, I’m sure they’ll try and put out a similar team that they did for New Zealand because they’ll really want to win it. Two wins from four in November, although it’s not brilliant, it’s not bad either, so I’m sure they’ll put out as strong a side as they possibly can; I don’t think there’ll be too much experimentation.

Putting it right against Edinburgh

Looking ahead, we’ve got Edinburgh in the Magners League on Friday and we need to go away and get a win. We’re not far off in fairness, the only time we left a point behind us in a game this year was against Leinster; we’ve got something out of every other game. If we had closed off the game against the Ospreys, it might have been different, but we didn’t and then you find yourself down the table. It’s not desperation stakes yet, but we need to show a desperation and a desire to go and win for ourselves this weekend.

It’s going to be hard, it’s a difficult place to go and a lot of teams have come undone over there. In fairness to them, Edinburgh play a really enjoyable brand of rugby; they like to throw it around and get it wide and what they do, they do it well. We just have to try and shut them down. We need a win, it’s not a case of needing it badly, we need something badly every weekend but you need to want it badly and want it more than the opposition and that will have to be the case on Friday night.

To listen to Johnny, Malcolm O’Kelly and Rob Murphy discuss the latest rugby issues in the weekly maul podcast, click here for part one and here for part two.

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