Daire O’Brien welcomed us to the Aviva by noting that it was 30 degrees in Buenos Aires and you could buy a cup of coffee there for 50 cents. Other than that, though, he had no complaints, the cockles of his heart having been so warmed by Ireland’s November performances thus far, they’d have felt like they were basking under the Buenos Aires sun.
“If New Zealand was the cake, today Ireland can put the cherry on top,” he said, although his panel of Jerry Flannery, Niamh Briggs and Jamie Heaslip all conceded, in so many words, that the cake was so scrumptious, it would want to be a helluva a cherry to make it any tastier.
And that’s kind of how it worked out, not even Ireland leading 24-7 at half-time leaving the panel tingling. “We’re a tough crowd to please,” said Daire, Jerry confirming as much by conceding that “it’s not been quite as dramatic a game as last week”.
That, of course, would be akin to suggesting that ascending the MacGillycuddy Reeks a week after reaching the summit of Everest would be a damp-ish squib - it kind of went without saying - although Argentina would be more than entitled to remind us that they proved unscalable in that 2015 World Cup quarter-final when our boys never got out of base camp.
That was six years ago, though, even if the scars have yet to heal, this is November 2021, and by full-time, Ireland had beaten Japan/New Zealand/Argentina 142-22 over three games, an aggregate score you’d be happy enough with.
“I love where they are, what they’re building,” said Briggs, although she couldn’t say the same when she was on duty the day before for the women’s international against Japan, having no clue where the team is and what, if anything, is being built.
The day was, of course, all about captain Ciara Griffin, this being her final international appearance after she announced her retirement at the age of just twenty-seven.
“It seems a bit mad, but I totally get it,” said Briggs, revealing that Griffin just wanted time for her passions away from the game, “farming, fencing and milking cows”.
Indeed, she told us, Griffin refused to marry her fiancé until he agreed that they would have a milking parlour at their home, a pre-nuptial of the most unique kind.
Come full-time, you couldn’t but conclude that the best thing the IRFU could do would be to provide Griffin with a full-time cow-milker, maybe assign someone from their Department of Strategic Development Planning for Learnings on PR for the Rugby Ladies, because they’re in need of re-assigning. That way, Griffin might reverse her retirement decision.
She’ll be some loss. Not just as player, but as a leader too, the evident affection and love her teammates have for her, not least when they comforted her when the tears flowed during the anthem, a sight to leave you more than a bit tearful yourself.
And then she hauled Ireland to victory with two tries, after they’d calamitously gone a player and 12-3 down after 38 minutes.
Daire told us that he bumped in to her during the summer when she was camping with some buddies, “it was burnt sausages and tea bags at the side of the road”. He noted the absence of glamour.
Griffin doesn’t strike you, though, as someone who craves glamour, you’d guess the cockles of her heart were never so warmed than they were by the sight of all those young girls roaring their high-pitched salutes to her as she did her lap of honour at the RDS. Legacy, and all that.
Briggs and Louise Galvin paid the loveliest of tributes to her when she joined the RTÉ team at the side of the pitch, she welled up again when she thanked her family for all their support and sacrifices through the years to help her get to the level she reached. It struck you that we don’t know the half of what these players, and their families, give up.
More time now for farming, fencing, milking cows, burnt sausages and tea bags at the side of the road. Enjoy every moment of it, Ciara Griffin, you couldn’t have given more.
