John Hayes vomiting before more than 100 Test appearances for Ireland, and 200-odd for Munster, is part of rugby folklore now. ‘The Bull’ got pre-match butterflies but he certainly wasn’t the worst.
Ahead of Munster’s Guinness PRO12 final against Scarlets, Jerry Flannery spoke on The Hard Yards rugby podcast about how the Irish province are preparing for the season finalé at the Aviva Stadium.
The Munster assistant coach also chatted with former Ireland scrum-half Isaac Boss [from 1:30 below ]about how some players coped with pre-match nerves on the day of big games. A couple of familiar names cropped up, and one surprise.
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-17-donnacha-ryans-character-irelands-2006-tour-of-nz-and-munsters-pro12-final
“I was pretty relaxed ahead of games,” said Flannery. “You tried to keep your preparations as close as possible to what a normal week was. You have to take into account that there will be more media attention but you try not to do anything differently.”
Asked who the nervous ones in the Munster and Ireland dressing rooms used to be, Flannery first thought of openside legend David Wallace. He said:
“It was kind of weird because when you played with him, he was one of the strongest, fastest, most powerful guys in the side. You were always more confident having him in your side.”
Flannery continued:
“You’d look at him before every game and Wally would be white as a ghost. He’d be struggling to get food into him.
“Wally stood out for me but everyone feels pressure heading into a game but you have to understand that that is part and parcel of rugby and you have to embrace that if you want to play big games. It’s going to come and if you’re not feeling a bit of excitement or nervousness you’re probably being complacent.”
Hayes would never come across as anxious on the day of a game, says Flannery, but he would always head for one of the toilet stalls in the changing room. Paul O’Connell, meanwhile, would be the man walking around the dressing room getting mental ‘cues’ into the head’s of his teammates.
“Paul was always a leader,” said Boss, “so it’s guys like him that you wanted chatting.
“It’s the other guys that might worry you. You’d be in a huddle when some guy starts piping up that never normally does and every else is thinking, ‘Shit, this guy is pretty nervous. It might be worth looking after him today’.”
