NOTHING IS hidden from the prying eye of the television camera. It lurks in the dressingrooms and the coaches’ box, and the latter, especially, seems like an invasion of privacy.
Les Kiss was very animated during half-time in last Saturday’s second Test, but at full-time he looked particularly devastated by the way the game had been snatched away, with both Gert Smal and Declan Kidney talking consolingly into either ear.
“In the box you need that moment just to take it in, suck it in, maybe to blow a few expletives out,” says Kiss. “They are your little private moments, I guess. Well, not private since you were looking at me.
“Even though the first Test was a bit shabby there was something you knew was , at half-time the way they spoke and what they put in. They prepared superbly as a group, and it would have been nice to get a couple of calls.
“But I thought they did enough to get the money and personally, I was pretty shattered about the whole thing, but more than anything the players just didn’t get what they deserved.”
He admits he’s not the best at controlling his frustration about refereeing decisions but acknowledges you have to move on quickly. Kiss speaks passionately of the need to put “another layer of strength and purpose and organisation around the things that we do really well.”
Excited and re-energised by the prospect of a third successive meeting with the All Blacks as much as the recuperative powers of Queenstown, Kiss admits: “We were just saying the other day, we’d love another five games in a row here. That would just be heaven as a coach, because we know we would keep improving.”
Ireland reduced their unforced errors and also adapted to the higher tempo of the game, in “speed of thought, speed of action and got a little bit more savvy in our contact work, so we could put the game in a flow that we were in control of a little bit. Then our line speed was a bit more in sync; the previous week it was a bit haphazard.
“A game will always show up where you could have done things better. It was still there for the winning, wasn’t it? If we can make a little bit more of the restarts, it will be handy and, maybe take away one area where they really do thrive.”
Ireland made 197 tackles in the first Test, and 182 on Saturday. “It is a lot of tackles,” admits Kiss. “It always takes a little bit from you physically, I guess, but it seemed like it energised us.
“It’s a funny way to put it. When you’ve got that, and you’re in that world – which is a unique part of this team that I haven’t had with any other team – when they get there it’s something special. And they were there.”
Can they go there again? “It’s a valid question. The answer is yes. To me that’s what it’s about this week. Putting ourselves in a place where we can get out there again. You don’t make promises, but I know the hard commitment is there by the guys to make sure they do what they have to do to get there. And again we haven’t left a stone unturned in terms of coaching. Anything and everything is possible and I think we’ll be fine by what they’ve done so far this week.”
Declan Kidney has likened this novel three-Test series to a game of chess, which is an analogy Kiss likes. “I love the game of chess. Without a doubt they would have been a little surprised by [us],” says Kiss, who stresses Saturday’s Irish performance was as much about the players’ tactical application as their passion.
He’s curious as to how the All Blacks will cope with injuries and handing their players back to their provinces for Super derbies next week. “We operate in that realm all the time and this is the first time they’ve had to do it. So there’s other areas where they’re learning things as well.
“On the footie front, they’ll come up with something, I guess. They’ll focus on a couple of areas that they know are strengths and go for it. We’ve got an eye on that for sure,” says Kiss, who was making his main defensive presentation to the squad today.
“Touch wood, we can get another big performance, because these guys deserve it. Everything and anything is possible.”
