This week, Johnny talks about South Africa and Samoa and pays tribute to former team-mate John Fogarty, who retired from rugby last weekend.
Â
I wasn’t involved in the squad for the Samoa game on Tuesday night, but I really enjoyed being there. There was a great crowd there considering it was midweek and it was a really good, entertaining encounter.
From our point of view, I think we held our shape pretty well; some of our attacking play was very good. I don’t know if it looked entertaining on TV, but it felt like that being at the game and a lot of the younger lads, particularly Eoin Griffin and Eoin McKeon did very, very well. They came in and took their chance and I imagine that Eoin Griffin, particularly, has really put himself in the frame to start the next couple games, especially with Niva (Ta’auso) out injured.
Academy system coming good
Considering we made so many changes to the side it was really encouraging to see how the lads performed, it’s great to see guys coming through the academy system. It’s a credit to Nigel Carolan and his work with the academy players. All the lads coming through have an extremely high skill set and it’s something you notice straight away. I would still say that we need a bigger squad, but it’s good to know we’re getting there.
As far as Samoa were concerned, they can be really dangerous because almost everyone on their team is well able to carry the ball and carry the ball effectively. Still though, there was a kind of predictability about their attack because they didn’t really have any decoy runners which made it easier for us to make tackles. In fairness to them though, they scored two tries, but they lacked a bit of structure, a lot of their play was broken play and I’m sure when they play against Ireland next week they’ll have a lot more shape to their side.
John (Fogarty) is a great lad, a really sound man and to be honest, he’s one of funniest guys I’ve ever come across.
The Samoan lads in our squad, Niva Ta’uso and Ray Ofisa were both injured and it was a shame they didn’t get to play. I’m sure they’re delighted we got a win, but they were really looking forward to the game and would have seen it as an opportunity to get a place on the Samoan World Cup squad, but hopefully they’ll get a chance again before the tournament next year.
As far as the Ireland game this weekend is concerned, it’s hard to know what Samoa will be like because they left a lot of their squad in Dublin during the week and I imagine the quality of the team will be a lot higher on Saturday.
They do have some electric runners that Ireland will have to be aware of. One of the wingers that played against us, Sinoti Sinoti, had unbelievable feet on him, while there’s a second rower that plays for Castres in the Top 14, Joe Tekori, who is very highly rated. A friend of mine that plays for Brive, Damien Browne, has told me that he’s an unbelievable player.
A good game for Ireland to get back on the horse
Despite that though, Ireland should still win and it’s a good time to have this game for Ireland, to get back on the horse and hopefully to get that winning feeling again. The South Africa game was really disappointing. I’d imagine that the lads are pretty disappointed; there were a lot of unforced errors and a lot of mistakes they normally wouldn’t make.
It was all a bit disjointed, but they have enough experience there to come back around from it. When you’re on a run like Ireland are on, it can be difficult to get out of and you start doubting yourself, but the timing of this game is good for them, it’s one they’re very capable of winning, it could change things around for them and hopefully it does.
In fairness to the management, they admitted themselves that they tried to play a bit too much rugby, but when you have talent in the back line like Ireland do, you tend to want to use it. Each one of the players is top class in the back line and maybe they did try to over play a little bit and should have played it a bit more simple, but in fairness, South Africa are quite strong and they deserved to win on the day.
The small crowd at the game was disappointing, but it’s just a sign of the times really, that’s just it. At Connacht, as a small club we are really appreciative of all the people who make an effort to come to our games, especially these days when things are tight. We had great support at the Samoa game, especially considering it was a Tuesday night. A couple of years ago, people in Ireland might have paid the IRFU the money they were looking for the tickets, but on this occasion they got it wrong and it’s unfortunate.
John Fogarty
Lastly for this week, I’d like to mention John Fogarty (above), who retired at the weekend. John is a great lad, a really sound man and to be honest, he’s one of funniest guys I’ve ever come across.
His decision to retire was out of his hands, really. It’s terrible, but it’s the reality for some rugby players who have to retire early. Personally, I was only ever concussed once and only mildly concussed against Cardiff last year. It’s the first time it ever happened to me, I’ve been lucky enough, touch wood, but it’s a contact sport and it’s going to happen.
There’s not a mass amount of cases of people retiring from concussions and it’s a shame it happened to someone like John. I know he’s 32, but he would have probably had another two or three years at Leinster and would have loved it because he’s in great shape. He only made his debut for Ireland during the summer and it’s possible that he would have won a few more caps.
If he wanted it, he definitely has a career as a stand-up comedian ahead of him. He’s said he doesn’t know what he wants to do with himself, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. I was only with him in Connacht for a year, but he was a big character in squad while he was around and I’ve heard it was the same up in Leinster. He’s a real likable guy; he was the joker in the squad while he was here, very witty and just good craic. He’s always a good person to be around, always positive and he always loved playing rugby.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
