Why not think big?

T’S one little word with three little syllables and it tells you all you know to know about the mindset of the modern Irish rugby player: expected.

Speaking with former Munster and Irish player Alan Quinlan last weekend, Irish prop Cian Healy revealed that Ireland had expected to beat the All Blacks last Saturday evening. Not hoped, not dreamed, expected.

Ten years ago if you’d heard such a thing, or five years ago even, you’d have worried about hubris. Over a century of subservience to New Zealand had thought us our place and probably it was a lesson we learned all too well, holding us back for longer that it should have done.

This generation of player doesn’t carry any of that kind of baggage and it makes for a glorious change. These players have seemingly boundless self-confidence. Take the try-scorer Jacob Stockdale as an example.

Less than ten minutes before his brilliant try he very nearly handed the game to New Zealand on a plate when an attempted chip very nearly backfired spectacularly. Kieran Read claimed it over his head and made straight for the Irish line, with little by way of resistance in his path. Were it not for Read fumbling the ball – the All Blacks, they’re human after all – Ireland’s dreams of a first ever victory over New Zealand on home soil would have died on the spot. You would have thought a mistake of that magnitude might have turned the young Ulster man into a bundle of nerves for the rest of the match. You would have thought it would have made him risk adverse. Instead of shrinking from the game he grew into it. Instead of shirking his responsibilities when presented with another opportunity to chip, he leaned into it, because he believed, because he expected.

Some of that belief is generational, more of it is down to who’s coaching Ireland right now. Having the best coach in the world will give any bunch of players the confidence they need to go out and be the best of the best and that’s exactly where Ireland’s ambitions must now lie. That’s not to say Ireland will win the World Cup or that we should demand it of them, but that’s got to be the aim. After last weekend it’s the next logical step. If not now, when?

It’s time we got over our hang-ups. It’s not immodest to expect the best of the best. Just ask Cian Healy.