KEEPING HIS HEAD DOWN Ireland’s Gavin Duffy kicks a penalty during the First Test at the Colon Stadium, Santa Fe in Argentina. Pic: Sportsfile
Steaks, snoring and Argy-bargy Gavin Duffy IT’S Monday afternoon and I’m just back in Galway after a day and a half travelling at the end of Ireland’s tour to Argentina. We got into London earlier this morning, then flew onto Dublin, and then I headed onto Galway.
I’m disappointed that we failed to win a game. Obviously, we went out there with the intention of winning both Tests, but unfortunately, even though we put ourselves in a position to win the first one, we came away empty-handed. The manner of the defeat in the second one, where we didn’t even register a point, was particularly disappointing.
With the World Cup coming up it was a very important tour to get on and I was delighted to have the opportunity to get on it, given the way my season had started. Things have gone a lot better for me since getting back to Connacht and getting regular game time. Around January and February, I was getting a bit frustrated being on the bench at Harlequins, so I’m just delighted to have got on the tour and had the opportunity to play in the two games. Peter Bracken unfortunately didn’t even get a game and some lads only got one game, so I was delighted to get two opportunities.
Hopefully I’ve put myself in the frame for the World Cup, although that’s obviously up to the management. No doubt, they’ll scrutinise the video, and hopefully I’ll come out of it okay! I went out with the intention of just being very solid – getting all the basics right and keeping my game very simple. I was at full back the first day and had to deal with a few high bombs, so I just had to concentrate and catch those. I also needed to get my defensive side of the game right, the tackle count especially, and the same when I was playing at number 12. I just knew I had to make sure there was no one coming down my channel – I was putting in tackles and hoping then that the attacking side of my game would look after itself.
Off the field, the tour was good craic. That said, my dad was out there as well with a few of his buddies from Ballina and Enniskillen, and they seemed to get to see a lot more of the country than we did! They even went across to Uruguay for a day. We don’t really get a chance to do as much. You’re trying to strike a balance, making sure you do relax and enjoy yourself while you’re there, but also focus on the fact that you’re there to do a job.
It’s hard, because you want to go out and do the tourist thing, and then at the same time, you have to get your rest when you need your rest in the afternoons – sometimes you end up playing scrabble in the team room! We’d wander the streets in the evenings or go somewhere for coffee or hot chocolate. Then you realise ‘I have to go back early and have an early night’ – you can’t be staying out til the early hours!
I found the Argentinean people very friendly, especially up in Santa Fe, where we played the first game. It took us the best part of eight or nine hours including the stops to get up from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe on the bus, but the people there were very friendly. There was more of a country feel to it.
Back in Buenos Aires, in the restaurants and shops, once they heard you were Irish, they were always very friendly. I knew two of their players: Pablo Cardinalli (a prop) and Pablo Bouza (a second row) both played at Harlequins when I was there, so it was great to meet them and have a bit of craic with them after the game. Pablo Bouza was on the bench last Saturday and we met up afterwards. We swapped a bit of gear and had a chat in the dressing room.
I was rooming with Geordan Murphy. I’ve shared with Geordan now on a few occasions so we’ve got used to each other. I don’t feel bad anymore about the fact that I might have to wake him every now and again when he’s snoring!
Steaks are the big thing in Argentina. We’d have dinner around 6.30pm, but afterwards, we’d often decide to get out of the hotel just for a change of scenery. A couple of evenings we went to nice restaurants and you went with the intention of not having another steak, but when we looked at the menu and saw the steaks and the way they were cooked, we always ended up saying: ‘Yeah, I think I’ll go for another steak tonight!’ That’s the main speciality and the minute you opened the door, once they heard we were Irish rugby lads, they were saying: ‘Big steaks for you guys!’
We’ve three weeks off now but we have our own programmes to be doing in the meantime. I’ve got a niggly groin injury at the moment, so I have physio and rehab to be working away on to get that right, so that I can fly straight into pre-season when the time comes. It’s important that I get that right over the next couple of weeks.
We’re back with our provinces then for a couple of weeks before there’s a squad of 45 going to Poland for a week’s training at the beginning of July. Then it’s back to our provinces and after that come the warm-up games leading into the World Cup. I presume the World Cup squad will be announced around the end of July or the beginning of August.
There’s a squad of 30 going to the World Cup. Thirteen of those might be backs, judging by this tour, and three of those seem to go to scrum-halves. So that brings it down to 10, and then when you factor in the guys who didn’t go on tour, like Hickey, Horgan, Dempsey, Darcy and O’Driscoll, suddenly, it’s whittled down to three or four places up for grabs. So hopefully when it comes to selection, the fact that I’m versatile and have a few strings to my bow, that’ll stand in my favour.
Hopefully, I’ve pushed my case a bit further now. It was important that we just focused on the task ahead, although obviously the lads knew there was a carrot dangling at the end of it.
In conversation with Daniel Carey
