Professional athletes are like amps in a rock band: either revved up to the max or so quiet they create only a disconcerting hum. Ireland’s rugby players, who go into their final World Cup group match against France in Cardiff on Sunday without Jared Payne, who will miss the rest of the tournament with a foot injury, are very much on the bottom register.
There is much at stake. The winners of Pool D play Argentina in the quarter-finals in the same stadium next Sunday; the losers get New Zealand there on Saturday. Tommy Bowe described it as “a massive blow” when the news of Payne’s withdrawal broke on Saturday morning.
“You always know there are going to be injuries,” Bowe said. “We have been very fortunate so far in losing only one player. Compare that to some of the other teams.
“We didn’t think this was going to happen. Chatting to him, he felt very positive about it. However, he went for a scan yesterday and that was the final nail in the coffin. It was a bit of a shock to everyone when we heard this morning.”
Greg Feek, the scrum coach, said selectors would decide on a squad replacement for Payne after the France game. “There are a few guys who have been on the standby squad and we have enough in that at the moment,” Feek said. Andrew Trimble and Noel Reid are in the frame.
Keith Earls was unsure what Payne’s absence would mean for selection in the rest of the tournament. “Who knows?” he said. “I’m taking it one step at a time. I’m in tomorrow, which is great, and I am really looking forward to it. It’s going to be an unbelievable match.”
Earls, who will start at outside-centre at the Millennium Stadium, has had injury problems of his own over the years, but reckons he is as fit as he has ever been, which is reflected in a renewed confidence. “I’ve changed,” he said. “I have more positive thinking about my body and I’m not waiting on when my next injury is going to be, which I’ve been known for for a long time.”
Earls revealed that tackling now ranks higher in his enjoyment than attack – which will be tested to the full against this most physical of French sides – and the inspiration comes from his father, Ger Earls, a feared and respected member of the Munster pack in the 1990s.
“For me, a better defensive tackle gives me more confidence than scoring a try,” Earls Jr said. “I was growing up in a household where my father was known as a defensive player. That’s something I want to show, to make him proud of me defensively. Scoring tries is great, but a lot of that has come from others’ great work, like Robbie’s [Kearney] great lines and the turnover against Italy. I’ll take them, but I prefer defensive stuff.
“There’s big talk of [Mathieu] Bastareaud – obviously he’s a massive, physical guy and we’ll just back our system. They’ve been close games between us the last couple of years and it will come down to defence. We’ll back each other and stay connected.
“It’s not only Bastareaud. [Wesley] Fofana is one of the best centres in the world. He’s a great balanced runner and they have threats out wide and out the back.”
Ireland should be on a high, having beaten France four times in a row, dominance they have not enjoyed since the early 1970s, but Paul O’Connell – one of life’s cautious souls – reads nothing into that.
“It’s always tough against France,” the Ireland captain, who will win his 108th cap on Sunday, said. “I’ve been on the wrong side of the percentages in the last few years. We went through a bad period towards the end of Eddie’s [O’Sullivan, the former coach] time where we were probably a good side but were struggling. We’ve come through that.”
