Foot In Mouth !

If Jake White does nothing else before he returns home he should ask someone to explain eaxctly the meaning of the old adage that “a shut mouth catches no flies.”

It has happend before of course. People mouthing off and then spending some time after the event wishing they’d stuck a foot in mouth. The most famous recent case centered around the visit of Gloucester to Limerick and one of their players saying how they were looking forward to playing there. That irked, as did some other loose remarks and the record books have recorded the response.

So Jake what were you thinking about when you poured scorn on the merits of the Irish players ahead of a Test match on their own patch. It was a tactic taken straight out of the “How to Motivate The Opposition” manual and to say it back-fired is a gross understatement.

But that aside what sort of absurd notion did these Springboks arrive here with ?

Before they’d kicked a ball it was being termed the Grand Slam tour and if we can believe what Neil Francis wrote in The Sunday Tribune, then the Boks themselves bought into the idea of their own greatness hook line and sinker.

Francis went down to watch the South Africans warming up and he was surprised by their demeanour. “They were all laughing and chatting to each other, it was very loose.” He reports. “The balls were being dropped, everything was casual. Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield were telling jokes to each other. Was this a side who were here for business.”

Well as it transpired they were not. Or maybe they were but with White’s words still stinging their ears this Ireland side gave as good a display as any that has been seen at this venue or beyond. It would be fair to say that each and every one of the 17 Irish players used went out on the pitch prepared to lay their bodies on the line. It was a fabulous team performance led – as a captain should do – from the front by Brian O’Driscoll with massive games also from Ronan O’Gara, Shane Horgan, Paul O’Connell and Anthony Foley.

At one stage late in the game the TV cameras panned to the VIP box where we were given a glimpse of a rather pale looking Jake White and one could almost see him wondering, “Why did I have to open my big mouth.” He probably couldn’t believe what he was seeing unfold in front of him. And maybe it was hard to blame him. But then again there is clear evidence that Mr White has some difficulty believing what he sees in front of him.

In the summer, his Boks side were lucky to win both tests against Ireland but White obviously gave the Irish no credit and saw no merit whatsoever in the Irish performance.

In preparation for the game on Saturday you’ll possibly find that he spent more time looking at videos of England’s games than the ones of Ireland because that’s the game he’ll have identified as the one that might deny his side this Grand Slam they were after.

Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan has oft been quoted saying that you must never look beyond what is directly in front of you. And that’s another lesson Mr White might learn.

But when it comes to preparing for matches, particularly against a side that contains the Foleys, Hickies, Byrnes, O’s et al of this world, it is the height of stupidity to insult them, not to show respect. That is something O’Sulivan would never countenance. In preparing for this one it was a case of game, set, match, O’Sullivan.