Ireland aim to fulfil grand ambition at Twickenham
ENGLAND
V IRELAND
Slam-clinching try against the Welsh in Belfast in 1948.
“The big memories from ’09 were how the key players conducted themselves with confidence,” said Best yesterday, “and maybe it is a little bit the same this time. But, for me, it feels different because there is more pressure as captain. To be here starting this time you know what your role will be and you can prepare a plan. Quarter to three is not the time to go into your shell.”
The Grand Slam is much praised and prized for its rarity. England have brought it off just once since 2003 so, in that sense, the shamrock can edge ahead of the red rose today. And Best would join the 2009 captain Brian O’driscoll and the 21-year-old hookerskipper of 1948, Karl Mullen, among the immortals.
When the current Championship kicked off, it was a few days after Best visited Belfast Crown Court in a private capacityasacharacterwitness for Ulster and Ireland teammates involved in a rape trial; a disconcerting backdrop, some might say. On the field in Paris on 3 February, O’gara’s brilliant stand-off successor Johnny Sexton showed incredible skill and nerve to kick Ireland’s winning points against France in the last minute.
Eddie O’sullivan, the former Ireland coach, is one of many to have tried and failed to win an Irish Slam – his team were beaten 42-6 by Martin Johnson’s England in a winnertakes-all contest in Dublin in 2003 – and O’sullivan said yesterday: “Grand Slam opportunities are like hen’s teeth and this one would be huge for Ireland for many reasons; one of them because they’d have won in Paris and at Twickenham.
“Consider as well Ireland have had injury problems right throughout the Championship. They have been through four outside centres [Robbie Henshaw, Jordan Larmour, Chris Farrell and Garry Ringrose] and still managed to keep the show on the road.”
Other Ireland teams fell at the final hurdle in Wales in 1926, 1951 and 1969, and in France in 1982. As O’sullivan put it: “If Ireland lose, it’s the Championship – but without the Grand Slam it doesn’t taste the same, that’s for sure.”