Kilcoyne: I thought we lacked hunger and physicality
Dave Kilcoyne hopes Ireland can use their record loss to England as a World Cup cautionary tale.
Ireland climbed to the top of the world rankings for the first time with Saturday’s 19-10 victory over Wales to toast boss Joe Schmidt’s final match in Dublin.
Head coach Schmidt’s men have hit back from their 57-15 humbling at Twickenham in August by beating Wales home and away, leaving Munster prop Kilcoyne boosted by that return to form.
And now the 30-year-old front-rower has insisted Ireland must keep on using that hefty London loss to fuel their drive at the World Cup, with their Pool A opener against Scotland fast approaching on September 22.
“I thought we were poor against England, there’s no point denying it, I thought we lacked hunger and physicality which was the most disappointing thing,” said Kilcoyne.
“We’ve an incredible defence coach in Andy Farrell, we all knew our defence was off that day, but thankfully that’s really picked up in the last two weeks.
“And hopefully we can bring that into the World Cup, and really bring that impressive defence into the World Cup.
“You have to be equipped to turn negatives into positives. You can’t dwell on it.
“If you keep looking back you’ll never go forward and you get lost back there.
“So after the England game it was about looking at where and why we were short, and putting a plan in place to remedy that.
“I thought we did that well, and it feels we’re building nicely now.”
A winning send off. An emotional farewell. Take a look at our exclusive behind the scenes tunnel cam in @AvivaStadium#ShoulderToShoulder #IREvWAL pic.twitter.com/Df0kASNR7s
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 7, 2019
Rob Kearney, Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan all crossed as Ireland subdued Wales for the second time in as many weeks at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Schmidt has carried Ireland from eighth to first in the world rankings in his six years at the helm, transforming the national team into a genuine world threat.
Former schoolteacher Schmidt will return to his native New Zealand after the World Cup, stepping down from his Ireland role to spend more time with his family.
The 53-year-old will leave with every Irish plaudit already in the bag, and Leinster wing Jordan Larmour believes that all boils down to his fiercely intense attention to detail.
Larmour was still a schoolboy the first time he met Schmidt, the Ireland boss turning up unannounced to watch the pacy wing feature in a Blackrock College President’s XV clash against touring Kiwi side Hamilton Boys High School.
St Andrew’s College student Larmour guested for Blackrock that day, and had the honour of meeting Schmidt too.
Fast forward less than two years and Larmour was being invited to train with Ireland’s senior side having already stood out for the country’s Under-20s.
When Schmidt wants a player to emerge quickly, he leaves no stone unturned in helping accelerate that process.
“The first contact I had with him was when I was playing in that club match,” said the 22-year-old Larmour, of Schmidt.
How the winning Ireland players rated in beating Wales in Dublin https://t.co/4aTyv3LblV
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 7, 2019
“Then I went into the Ireland camp when I was in the Under-20s.
“It’s hard to put into words what he’s given to Irish rugby. His attention to detail, his man management, it’s incredible.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. So we’re pleased with how we went against Wales.
“Going into camp, the attention to detail he has, going through the video and things, he’s been amazing.
“We wanted to put in a performance for Joe (Schmidt) and Rory Best, they’ve given so much for Irish rugby. So we’re pleased with how it went.
“We’re certainly pleased with the performance but we’ve still got a lot to work on.
“We’ve got to keep on building. I wouldn’t say it’s our best performance of 2019, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Brian O’Driscoll on Devin Toner omission
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments