The Aviva? What's that, a night club?

My devotions lie with GAA & Soccer, but have always kept a strong interest in the Irish Rugby as far back as the 1997 Five Nations. I played for a brief time back in the day, but was unable to convert my explosive pace and trickery I once displayed in a Tag Rugby into a consistent threat in the real thing. These views represent a fan on the edge of his seat, beside the fire, watching Ryle Nugent wax lyrical over the sport of rugby, the fortunes of the Irish Rugby team, and almost certainly the Aviva Stadium this Six Nations season.

A month into every year, you can expect the certain things to arise; A brief 2 day spell of good weather followed by weeks of the vintage Irish rain, the inevitable failure to keep up our New Years resolutions, and various other stuff specific to individual people. In the past, for Irish Rugby fans, we’ve come known to experience a giddy excitement overcome us. The formation of a hope, a hope that would see the Irish Rugby team can do well in the upcoming Six Nations.

This year is different. Although I look out the window, and see that the weather is still as vicious as any other year, it mirrors the state of this country. And maybe even for those who follow the Irish religiously, it is hard to source that giddy excitement once more.

Of course there will be many who might say you’re just a sunshine supporter, us loyal fans are well up for it! Well the term sunshine supporter is harsh, I may never have spent a euro on Irish rugby in my life but any Six Nations or World Cup that rolls around can mean as much to me as the GAA Championship or Champions League. I’ve watched the days we were beaten senseless by France year in, year out, and still have the TV on when David Humphreys lines up a penalty to put us 27-25 ahead in Paris. I can vaguely remember the images of a terrible day in 98, at Lansdowne Road, seeing us lose to Wales, resulting in the Wooden Spoon. And yet in 2009, in the Millenium Stadium, I was shouting for joy as we secured the elusive Grand Slam.

But it is not just the state of the country that has me so passive on the eve of the Ireland v Italy encounter. I mentioned the formation of a hope earlier on. That hope was hope. In the subsequent years after 2000, we started to form a decent team, and had managed to beat all our opponents at some stage in some year. We could perform, but could we possibly win the Six Nations. Those days, we were always underdogs; it was a tag that sat well with us. How many pundits gave us a chance when we pushed Australia all the way in both the 1991 & 2003 World Cups?

And the days when Ireland are touted as favourites, sure-fire contenders? They haven’t gone so well. Examples of those would be the 2007 World Cup and the subsequent Six Nations; to name a few. We’re a small country, and such expectation can be our own downfall. Last year we went in as reigning champions and came out with only 2 wins.

I don’t know what to expect at the end. We always beat Italy, and should beat Wales, Scotland did very well last Autumn and I’d be less confident about our trip to Murrayfield. As for France & England, they’re coming to Ireland, and even if it’s a new stadium, and that lousy sponsorship, it is still the same plot of land we called Lansdowne Road. We’ll be in front of our fans, we won’t want to disappoint. If we play well against them, then I’d be confident of victory.

In 2009, we were in recession, we had an indifferent autumn series but we had a solid team and we had decent opposition in front of us. That was the year we won the Grand Slam, when we finally delivered. I don’t see anything that can stop us delivering again. I hope we can!

Francis Creaven

(A special thanks to Francis for being my first guest blogger here on Ruck-That. It makes for some great reading)