Amid the platitudes and buzz words, there was a message: We are the top dogs.
It is easy to revert to our default mode, of old, when it comes to Irish rugby: We had a good run, won a couple of titles but reality has checked us in our stride. We are in for a rude awakening.
It is understandable. Paul O’Connell has retired and, going into the Six Nations, there is no Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy, Mike Ross, Tommy Bowe, Iain Henderson, Luke Fitzgerald or Marty Moore.
Added to that, Ireland have a start that would vie for the dictionary definition of tricky. Wales at home followed by France and England away.
The defence coach [Les Kiss] has moved on and Ireland’s last game against Argentina saw them shredded, in close and out wide.
All of that means little to Sean O’Brien, who was on hand, today, to remind us just who the Six Nations champions are. Ten minutes in The Tullow Tank’s company will have you begging the first game to arrive.
“Confidence is very good. I don’t think we should be having anything other than confidence coming into this.
“There’s a lot of excitement around the group, there’s a freshness about it. And, y’know, it’s a Six Nations – something to get excited about.
“Everyone’s looking forward to it and we can’t wait to get on the field at the weekend.”
Many believe that Ireland need to show a bit more when it comes to an attacking gameplan in the championship. While no-one is expecting a loose, fast, Rugby Championship style development, showing more than set plays off set-pieces and unending box-kicks would be a start.
O’Brien insists that Schmidt gives his players freedom to express themselves:
“I don’t think there’ll be major changes, as players we have license to go out and play what’s ahead of us and that won’t change this weekend. We’ll run through our gameplan this week, get our roles and responsibilities right, but on the day anything can happen and we have the right to play.
“I don’t think there’s anything majorly being changed, so it should be seamless enough for lads to go out and play.”
The question of Ireland’s three-in-a-row title quest arose and O’Brien was not coy about admitting it is on the wishlist:
“If [three in a row] happens, it happens, but there is a lot that has to go on before you get to that place. As I said, there are no easy games in the Six Nations. If you take your eye off the ball, you might get caught. It is about taking every opportunity that comes to us, working hard as a group and trying to stay focused.
“It shows how good a tournament it is and how tough it is to win. Obviously, we would love to do it but there is a way of doing it so that is what we’ll be concentrating on.”
We are the champions. Let’s go into this game with some swagger.
