Jamie Heaslip was talking to Devin Toner this week and Toner asked the Ireland number eight how many times he had played against the All Blacks. "Four or five times," said Heaslip. The two players were talking about the New Zealand squad and as Heaslip stoically put it "the challenge ahead of us."
Heaslip is no stranger to Kieran Read and has played against him "twice if not three times."
While rugby is not Gaelic football, where a close marking personal duel takes place, parallels will be drawn between the two backrows on Sunday, Read representing rugby industry benchmark.
The number eight arrives from England having created the first New Zealand try and scored the second in match where he also had one linebreak, one linebreak assist, run 64 metres, two offloads and a team high of 10 ball carries.
In defence, he made 14 tackles with no misses and forced one penalty. He has scored a try in five of his past six Tests.
“We were talking to the Aussies last week at the dinner and they were just like, ‘just mark Kieran Read,’ says Heaslip. “That is how much of an influence he can have.”
From the nuggety Australians that view is borderline reverential and sets Heaslip on a road to enrich himself after the poverty of the Australian match. But his own praise of the All Black is no less full blown than the Wallabies.
“In my book, I would put him and Sergio [Parisse] as the best eights out there and he is showing some incredible form right now,” says Heaslip.
“Kieran’s pretty much a full package, you know. He has got great distribution skills. He has got great carrying skills. He is a serious athlete. He has got all the attributes.
“He has been playing some fantastic rugby over the last year-and-a-half, two years, even longer. He sets very high standards for himself. As an eight looking at him as an eight, he is an incredible player.”
It’s a chunky pill to swallow when Richie McCaw is added to the All Black backrow team and in the sense that two world class players beside each other make a side exponentially stronger, the bruised Seán O’Brien also hones into view to line up some delicious battle lines.
'Deserve that respect'
"You've got to give them the respect they deserve and they do deserve that respect. Their whole back row unit is a pretty substantial unit," says Heaslip. "But, you've got to focus on the big picture as well. It is a dangerous, dangerous thing if you start focusing in on one player on any team that you go against."
But Read like Dan Carter, McCaw, O'Driscoll in his pomp or Aussies Quade Cooper and Israel Faulau put out particular examinations for the opposition and while Heaslip is wise to it and will go into the match with "belief" he's also best placed to understand the threat.
“That will be a massive challenge because he gets out into those wide channels,” he says. “He’s got great distribution skills out in those channels to play with the backs in that way they play on the edges with the wide-to-wide pattern.
“He is a big challenge for whoever is in front of him at that time on the field. You’ve got to respect that. Like any other good players, you can’t just focus in one Kieran or Richie or whoever it is . . . ”
'Fixable'
This week's mantra is "fixable". A simmering Paul O'Connell said it in Aviva after the defeat to Australia. The word was filtered through Joe Schmidt when he also offered "fixable" and four days later Heaslip is saying it again. "Fixable."
There is a burning truth and John Plumtree, the Irish forwards coach, uttered it yesterday, when he said there has to be "belief" and without it there is nothing. "Fixable" is Ireland's "belief" and as much as it may sound like it is not a Hail Mary.
“They are not untouchable,” says Heaslip defiantly. “They are like any other top side. They are very smart. They are very accurate and they have very good players as well. It’s a really good mix. There are a lot of strengths but there are a couple of chinks too.
“We have to come up with a game-plan to exploit those small chinks, however small they might be against a team like the All Blacks. Like I said before, have that belief to carry it out. Belief and motivation go hand in hand.
“Belief in your team-mates the guys either side of you . . . belief in that action in that moment and then belief in the next one and the next one and the next one and the next thing you know it’s 80 minutes. And hopefully you get the right outcome from all those actions.”
A bounce for Ireland, a proud performance and a win for New Zealand seems irresistible. Then again, glorious defeat for this Irish team is a false God.
