MELLOW McGRATH ADJUSTING HIS FOCUS

ONE look at the history book would even convince a staunch non-gambler that Ireland can beat whatever handicap odds the bookmakers are offering on tomorrow’s Aviva Stadium result. Eighteen Ireland-Italy championship meetings, 17 Ireland wins, the last two by massive margins with successive nine-try hauls. Yet despite all this backstory suggesting the latest encounter will be similarly all too easy, Jack McGrath is insisting nothing can be taken for granted. Not when places are up for grabs, McGrath chosen to start this weekend at loosehead ahead of Cian Healy, his friend and rival who was in pole position at No1 in Paris six days ago. ‘The way we are coached and the way we train, I don’t think we are ever complacent,’ insisted the 2017 Lion whose slow start to this season, allied to Healy rolling back the years and hitting top form, at one stage in November saw McGrath (right) slip to third in the Test pecking behind Munster’s Dave Kilcoyne. ‘The guys in the group and our coaching staff — it is never a case of being complacent. Guys know how important it is. There is no point in us coming up on Saturday after working so hard for that whole game [in France] and for the last five minutes, for those 41 phases, just to throw it away. ‘We know how good Italy can be. They are coming into Dublin fresh. It’s the start of the Six Nations for them as well, so there is a lot of quality players there and under Conor [O’Shea] they are playing some great rugby. We are going to have to be on the ball and be very sharp. ‘We are going there to win, that is all there is to it. There is no complacency. We can’t be complacent if we want to win the Grand Slam.’ McGrath’s lack of form when picking up the thread after the Lions in New Zealand hasn’t generated the stress it once would have been when he was younger and uptight about so much in his life. Now 28 and with 43 Ireland caps to his credit since a November 2013 debut in Joe Schmidt’s first match in charge, he is a far mellower character who has learned how to separate the strain of the game from a family life which will take on a new dimension when he gets married next summer. ‘For a long time, I probably worried about stuff that was uncontrollable,’ he continued. ‘For me now, when I make a mistake, I just get on with it. You are never going to play the perfect game. ‘You want to try and play the best game of your life every time you go out, but it does not always happen. What you can do is try and control things to make you try and play the best game. ‘Prepare well, just go into games with a confidence and enjoy it because people would give their left arm to be where you are and sometimes you forget that. ‘Everyone goes through peaks and troughs. Sometimes it’s not to be worrying all the time because if you are worrying the whole time, it is mentally draining. ‘From my experience of playing at a high level now, I know you don’t have to be worrying all of the time.’