October 4th - Final Entry

I suppose my overwhelming feeling is one of massive disappointment. There's the initial pain after the final match when you realise you're on your way home but after a couple of days it really kicks in. You start to feel every ache and pain in your body that if we were playing a quarter-final this week wouldn't surface mentally.

You'd just be training and getting on with the preparation but now that we're out those niggles just remind you that for Ireland, there's nothing. I can fully appreciate the supporters' disappointment but I just want to make it clear, the players are gutted.

I don't think there is a single individual within the squad that could say he played up to the requisite standard. We needed everyone firing and that didn't happen; not even close. We set ourselves high standards as a team but individually we didn't meet them and therefore we underachieved hugely.

In terms of the support we have received from the Irish fans, I couldn't be more complimentary. They endured their disappointments and to a person we're appreciative of that support and would like to have acquitted ourselves better. We didn't and have to deal with that as players.

I'm supposed to be off for a couple of weeks but at this point I think I'll go back training early. I just want to get back our there and start playing again. It'll help take my mind of the World Cup. 

September 28th

Simon Best's problems tend to put everything into perspective. It was scary because it came out of the blue. There were no tell tale signs and that was very frightening. Thankfully he's starting to make a recovery but it looks like being a long road and obviously our thoughts and best wishes are with him.

It's almost been a case of filling in time this week. The game can't come soon enough. We can't afford to dwell on what's now in the past and that's something that's been reinforced this week.

I know this is getting repetitive but for us it's about finding that performance, delivering on the hard work. We know we owe it to the supporters to ourselves. We don't want to be remembered for what's gone before in the tournament. At this stage Sunday's can't come quickly enough.  

September 25th

Monday was a hard physical training session and the usual knocks surfaced in those circumstances. I've been carrying a leg for a couple of weeks but I can assure you that it's nothing life threatening and I'll be there on Sunday to do my best.

It's important that Irish supporters realise that our poor results is not down to a lack of effort. We had a meeting on Monday and spoke about how important it was for us and everyone who supports Irish rugby that we can't simply bow our heads because things haven't gone right to date. We still have an opportunity to qualify for the playoffs and that's got to be our sole focus.

This is the last World Cup for some players and for others another four years is a long time to have to wait around. We've been given one final chance and that's how we are going to be remembered. We either find something within ourselves, and as a team, or suffer the consequences.

September 23rd

Twelve hours after we kicked off in Paris we were back in the team room at the ungodly hour of 8.20am preparing to return to Bordeaux . Some of the wives and girlfriends had arrived so that lightened the mood , or at least offered the opportunity to stop looking at one another. We had a chance to go out for a meal and a few drinks on Sunday and be honest it was a welcome tonic.

September 19th

The performances to date

The team to play France

It was tough fielding questions about the decision to drop Peter Stringer and Denis Hickie. I think I've played over 70 times with Strings and both he and Denis are good friends. I wanted to strike the right balance because I have every faith in Eoin Reddan and Trims (Andrew Timble) who are coming into the team.

"Disharmony" in the camp?

The speculation about disharmony within the Irish camp has reached the team and it's nonsense. Every player in this squad wants to play and if they didn't then they have no right to be here. I'll give you an example of the morale. Denis spoke at a team meeting about his thoughts on France and made some very pertinent points just hours after being informed that he had been left out of the team.   We're all pulling together here despite what some sections of the media may suggest. We're not going to let the criticism affect us, the same way as we didn't get carried away when bouquets were being tossed around after good performances.

Building for the French Game

September 14th

We trained very hard all day on the Tuesday and there was enough niggle and tetchiness to suggest that the squad is back on track. You need that sometimes because it shows a positive reaction from players, first and foremost that they care and it also underlines a commitment to getting things right.

Outside of the training paddock it's been a question of trying to relax and for some that means breaking out the baby oil. Mike McGurn, Graham Steadman and Peter Stringer have been soaking up the rays while Donncha O'Callaghan is the same colour as the teak furniture.

The entertainment committee have been working overtime, organising beach trips and clay pigeon shooting, although they probably didn't appreciate Shane Horgan's input in asking them to find out about the circus having seen posters, especially as he has no intention of going.

Finally, we know our performance was unacceptable and having seen the Georgians against Argentina are aware that unless to we raise the levels appreciably we won't get the result we want. The talking stops now. It is deeds that the players are now concerned about. 

September 12th

The dressing room resembled a morgue in the wake of the Namibia match. It was a horrible, horrible game where the longer it went on the more jittery people got on the pitch. One error borrowed another and no one was impervious.

You have to give credit to Namibia. They realised we were going through the horrors and gave them confidence and basically invited them back into the game. The preparation for the match had been good, we certainly wanted to lay down a marker but it ended up being like a slow motion nightmare; one from which you couldn't escape.

This will be a measure of us as a squad and the reaction was immediately obvious in training. We know that we let ourselves down but are equally aware that we haven't become a bad team overnight, something we'll aim to prove against Georgia.   

September 7th

It's good to be back, although I have to confess that despite all the media speculation about my injury and likely comeback date, I was pretty confident that I would be ready in time for the Namibia match. It was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to be there for this match and happily that's proved to be the case.   Thursday's team announcement and press conference in Bordeaux was thronged with media. I'm not sure of the collective term for press people. There is huge hype surrounding our first game in the World Cup and while the media have been divided in the strength of the team that Eddie (O'Sullivan) would opt for, the players knew early in the week because of the work undertaken at training who would be in the team.

Now though it's down to business and I can't wait.   

August 31st

"The Scotland and Bayonne games were all about getting match hardness so was frustrating to miss out on the Italian fixture. I would have liked to have played in Belfast, especially given the historical aspect to the match. It made for frustrating viewing and those that were in action that night would have shared that sentiment.

Everyone is looking forward to going to France on Wednesday because from that moment you start to switch on mentally to the tournament. We know it'll be tough but we're not going to make up the numbers. It sounds simplistic but we're a determined group and we have our own exacting expectations before we start thinkiing of fulfilling other peoples."