Ireland ‘frothing at the mouth’ to tackle Scotland in crunch clash
PROP Dave Kilcoyne believes Ireland’s players are “frothing at the mouth” to face Scotland and insists there is no sense of self-satisfaction following a euphoric win over South Africa. Andy Farrell’s men underlined their status as Test rugby’s top-ranked nation by defeating the reigning champions 13- 8 last weekend in Paris.
But progression to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals is not yet assured moving towards Saturday’s return to Stade de France for a pivotal showdown with the Scots.
Munster loosehead Kilcoyne believes a memorable evening against the Springboks was “parked” during some well-earned time off as attention quickly shifted to the team’s final Pool B fixture.
“Lads went away and spent a bit of downtime and were itching to get back in, bouncing, and it’s all eyes on Scotland now,” he said.
“That game is parked, we’ve a couple of massive learnings from it and we definitely won’t be falling in love with ourselves.
“Paulie [ forwards coach Paul O’Connell] had a few tips for us in areas we were deficient in and we were out there [in training] making sure we had them right for Scotland.
“In a competition like this you’ve got to keep learning with every game and you’ve got to keep getting better.
“Next week poses a massive challenge to us again so we’ve got to prepare as best we can for that.
“Everyone’s frothing at the mouth to be involved.”
Kilcoyne is enjoying his second World Cup, having overcome the scare of suffering a hamstring tear during last month’s training camp in Portugal.
The 34-year-old remained in the French capital with other members of the squad to enjoy a couple of days off after the South Africa match before travelling back to camp in Tours ahead of schedule.
Kilcoyne feels the current Ireland set-up is the best he has been involved in and praised the impact of head coach Andy Farrell.
“I’m loving it over here, you read people writing about the incredible environment Faz [Farrell] has created for the players,” said Kilcoyne. “And I don’t say it for the sake of saying it, but I think his emotional intelligence is through the roof.
“You look at that South Africa game, such a big occasion physically and mentally fatiguing and to have the foresight to give the lads two days’ break, he probably knew how mentally and physically fatiguing that game was going to be for the whole country.
“I’m not going to be saying about other coaching environments but this is definitely the best Ireland environment I ’ ve ever been involved in since I’ve been playing, 100 per cent. When there’s great camaraderie in the squad, you love being around it.”
Meanwhile, Ireland are continuing to monitor the fitness of absent prop Cian Healy following encouraging progress in his recovery from the injury which caused him to be left out of Farrell’s World Cup squad.
Healy was certain to be included in Farrell’s 33-man selection for France before suffering a calf problem against Samoa on August 26 in his country’s final warm-up match.
The vastly-experienced Leinster loosehead, who will turn 36 on Saturday, posted a positive update on social media, saying his rehabilitation was “ahead of schedule”.
Ireland team manager Mick Kearney believes Healy “would be a great addition” for later in the tournament, although he could only be called up if another player departed injured.
“The medics and S and C [strength and conditioning] would be in reg-ular contact with Cian and I’m sure other players back home to see how their fitness levels are,” said Kearney. “It’s great to see Cian back training and training well. Possibly later in the tournament, if we get an injury, Cian would be a great addition, if he was fully fit.”
Head coach Farrell has been fortunate with injuries and had a full complement of players training yesterday.
In a competition like this you’ve got to keep learning with every game and you’ve got to keep getting better. Next week poses a massive challenge