HEALYING THE HURT

Prop Cian determined to wipe memories of painful defeats with victory in Edinburgh

CIAN HEALY is praying Murrayfield will be the scene of an Irish exorcism this afternoon.

There are a couple of ghosts Joe Schmidt’s side are intent on banishing when they take to the field in Edinburgh.

On Thursday, the coach revisited the loss to Scotland of two years ago when he blamed a fatally slow start on the Ireland team bus arriving at the stadium only 46 minutes before kick-off.

And then there was the loss seven days ago to England – Ireland’s first at home in the championship after six years under Schmidt’s guidance.

Healy is thankful there is the chance to put things right just a week later.

“A hundred per cent,” he said. “Nobody wants demons hanging around for a long time like that. The best change is to get out the following week, exorcise that and put right what we got wrong.”

Ireland must do so with a third of their team changed from last week’s 32-20 defeat – a setback that puts their title defence on the line today.

But Healy warns that despite their hurt and anger, the squad cannot just rock up and expect a response.

He insisted: “You assume nothing, that’s why people lose games. If you assume it’s going to happen, it’s not. You have to work on it and make it happen. Now you’re in a place where you can make that happen and you can go above where you’re normally at.

“There’s been a lot of player stuff, a lot of players meeting individually and going over roles and making sure everything is bang on. That’s always happening but I suppose there’s been a little bit of a spike in it now. Lads are hurting a bit.”

Schmidt spoke about barely sleeping a wink as he digested England dominating his side on a pitch they had made a fortress in recent times.

“You never get past that,” said Healy, who has endured bad days in green before over the course of his 85 caps.

“You’re representing a lot of people when you play for Ireland and that hurts.

“I’d struggle to sleep after a game, win or lose. I suppose it’s just the thoughts that go through your head are a little bit worse when you’re staring at the ceiling.”

It has become a bit of a routine for the 31-yearold to go for a dip at Clontarf Baths on the morning after a game but, having felt “a bit chesty” last week, he declined to take an icy plunge.

Instead, he used Wednesday to clear the mind.

Healy smiled: “I cleaned up my shed, that was about the height of it. That was a good hour and a half spent to myself.

“But we’ve been here before and we’ve come out of it. We play everything as a must-win and that’s why they can sting when you lose them.

“People in here care about what we’re doing so we go full-out for every game. Unfortunately that one last week was a must-win that we lost.”