Lansdowne crowd crucial for Ireland, says Fitzgerald

It's very much a case of different time and different circumstances as Ciaran Fitzgerald reflects on the last occasion Ireland went into their last Championship game with the Grand Slam on the line. That was in 1982. Under Fitzgerald's captaincy, Ireland had beaten Scotland at Lansdowne Road to win the Triple Crown for the first time since 1949. Ireland seemed in with a decent chance of adding the Grand Slam against a French side which had lost all three matches. But, in reality, the four-week gap between the two matches was always likely to tell against them.

"There was a difficulty in that we were driven to distraction in those four weeks." Fitzgerald said. "Too much time with too much hype. It was very difficult to mentally get the focus right. Unlike now, you were at your work environment until lunchtime on Thursday. Therefore, you couldn't avoid meeting people and talking to them about it. People who were genuinely wishing you well. But it can be really overpowering, particularly before a big crunch match. Today's professional squad, by comparison, are in a camp and it's much easier for them to stay focused."

Another factor was that Ireland had, in a sense, already climbed their Everest by winning the Triple Crown. It was even questionable, Fitzgerald agrees, if people actually minded very much if Ireland went on to add the Grand Slam. In the event, they lost Willie Duggan on the eve of the game and lost 22-9 at Parc des Princes.

"France picked a team to do a job, they brought back all the old hatchet boys," Fitzgerald said. "We still had chances to win and we didn't take them. It's water under the bridge really but, on the preparation side, definitely a month was too long a break whereas a week is probably too short for the current side."

That said, Fitzgerald believes the current side can repeat the achievement of the Irish side he captained to beat England at Lansdowne Road in their final match in 1985. On that occasion, Ireland secured a second Triple Crown, an earlier draw with France denying them the Grand Slam.

"If you were to go by Ireland's performance in beating Wales last Saturday, you would have to fancy England on Sunday. But I don't think they will play as poorly again.

"A lot of players will, I believe, be critical of aspects of their own play. For me, the killing point was that they didn't avail themselves of some great positions after establishing a lead of 19-7 early in the second half. In the remaining time, all they got was a penalty and a dropped goal, that's not the standard of this team." Fitzgerald also argues that Sunday's encounter could be similar in one way to the 1985 Triple Crown encounter with England in that it could be a battle of nerves.

"To win in 1985 was incredible really because we were being ground down by a strong England team," he said. "We'd taken a hammering for 20 minutes before we got back up into their territory and Michael Kiernan got that winning drop goal. England should have won really. That was a 50-50 game similar to Sunday. And I'd say home advantage and the home crowd can again sway it Ireland's way. There are moments when they get to you and Lansdowne Road has probably one of the best crowds around."