The week of the Scotland game was very positive, we had a lot of focus on what we could put together and how as a team we all had the one goal. This brought us very tight as a squad during the week.

I did a lot of work on my scrum and how to deal with the Scottish tight head double study as I didn’t know which No 3 they would use.

The game went well, we managed to put together a lot of what we had planned and as a forward unit we functioned quite well… it’s left us with something to build on going into the final week.  a positive environment around the team  is a nice place to be now.

We finally got to play the game, a great build up, buzzing atmosphere and we were really fired up! The first half Is something good to look back at and be happy but a sub standard second 40 has left an awful feeling of underachievement.

With the score well in our favour at half time it was the usual case of, get out there and win this half, get the first score and continue to apply pressure.

France however had different ideas and they came out in the second half with a very different attitude. They had upped the intensity of their play and were really putting the heat on us. The penalty count wasn’t exactly in our favour  either in the second half.

The draw in Paris aside, we have some very positive things to take from this game and work on in the lead up to Scotland game. The areas of weakness were only small and this will allow for us to easily correct. Training has been good so far and as the week builds so does the atmosphere around the city. I love games in Dublin as being a local boy I really get to see the build up and how people get so involved.

So counting down the hours and passing time is gonna be hard but come Saturday I will be ready and focused for a big performance!

After the upset of a cancelled game and a few weeks of training the build up to the Italian game was great. Everyone had a real thirst to get out and play some good rugby.

It may have taken us a while to get into our stride and break down the Italian defence but that was expected. They are strong tacklers and very committed to the breakdown, an area that is being strongly focused on of late. We said it all along though, we stick to our tactics and game plan and we will break down the strongest of defences.

Personally it was a tough game, a good challenge in the scrum, some hard running and tackling. My lapse in concentration in the defensive wall however did lead to me taking a pretty hard knee to the jaw, a sore snack to get over but I am just thankful it wasn’t a few inches up as it would then have been the temple and could have caused serious damage. I’m happy I just had to shake off a bit of pain, get on with the game. I love it like that!

A modified training week for me lets the bruises settle and the body recover. Exactly what I need going into the next few encounters.

With Italy parked up, a good win in the bag, team Ireland can now progress in this competition with the task of a second trip to Paris ahead. Heads screwed tightly on and eyes on what we can achieve this is going to be a big week and a very big game.

After such a strange weekend it’s good to see a final decision made on the game.  4th March is the most reasonable choice for the rematch along with the 3pm  kick off it’s hard to see anything getting in the way of this battle again!
For the meantime the focus has shifted to Italy and how we can get the better of them.. hopefully we can bring the same week of intensity as we had last to the future games.  Such an unbelievable feeling of goodness in camp Ireland at the moment I hope it continues through the future tests.
4 in a row… compare it to each end of the scale, a schools senior cup, win four games and you win the lot, the world cup, week in week out of top level rugby, tough, yes. But if winning was easy everyone would be doing it.!

I never like to sit down and think over a loss, especially one that was so close. As most of the game showed, we were not in possession of the ball for any substantial amount of time.. this was one of the main points reviewed this week. Why didn’t we have the ball? Why so much time defending?
The week leading up to the game was as normal as any in terms of preparation and knowing what we wanted to do. We spent time on defence, attack and all other important areas such as set piece and starter plays. The scrum and line out were both very solid in training and I feel this passed on to how we played. They were two very strong areas of our game on Sunday.
In terms of how we attacked the Welsh defence I felt we were only effective in some areas, these however provided us with good platforms to score off. The only problem was we did not create enough of these good platforms throughout the 80minutes. Its widely agreed we should not have been in a position to lose the game therefore cannot pass on blame to a final penalty or any issue in the last few minutes of the game.
We have picked ourselves up, dusted off and are now planning our assault on the French in Paris. This is a game known to be one of the hardest to win but we have the right mindset and ability going forward and I think we can reap reward from our hard work and leave Paris with a victory.
After all, what better place to be than Paris on Valentines weekend? I certainly won’t be kissing Nicholas Mas…!

The training week started well. I could feel the excitement from early on. We were training well and really enjoying what we were putting together. I was delighted to be selected again and really wanted to finish this tournament on a high.

When we moved into the Shelbourne hotel the feeling of how big this game was started to sink in even more. Be it walking to the shops or going for a coffee, there were people wishing well. It was a great feeling knowing how much it meant to so many people. On Friday night Jamie, Sean O’Brien and myself met with a good friend for coffee, the real music man, Damien O’Donohoe and he brought along his good friend Marcus Mumford. We had a great evening chatting and unwinding, sometimes it is underestimated how much these things mean to a persons preparation. All of us being keen supporters of the band Mumford and Sons we were gutted we could not attend the concert that night, but first priority as always, we had a job of our own to do.

Game day was emotional for me. Just the whole thing was so big and I was so prepared, I didn’t have to think of moves or opposition threats, I knew them all… to a tee! So my head wandered to other things. Why I play ball, who I play for. What am I trying to represent. So many people who have inspired me to work hard and achieve who are alive and passed on. It was a good feeling and one I will never forget.

After lunch and the team meeting I cleared my head of everything. No rugby, no emotion, no fear. Nothing. The headphones went on and that was my world..indestructible by any measure! All I had to do was enjoy my tunes and get ready to play ball.. a big day simplified.

After the game the feeling of pride was so evident in every player, staff member and Irish man woman and child in the stadium. It was an uncontrollable energy that just put smiles on peoples faces. The physical pain of the games hard hits and energy sapping scrums couldn’t even enter my body. It was three days until I noticed aches and pains, tired muscles, but it just didn’t matter.. this win will last a lot longer than the immediate aftermath of the game! I’m holding this one as a reminder.. and continually striving to be better!

Two days in carton house, a photo shoot for team sponsors and some hi-tempo Rugby. It was a nice break from the normality of on a bus, get to training, train, back on bus… We simply had to walk from our rooms to a great training pitch. The only downside of this was the chats on the bus were gone. A good time used to catch up on teammates lives outside rugby, what they like, who they support, just small things like that. Great for new guys like myself to get to know the squad that bit better… In saying that, Carton house is a great place to be grouped as a squad, i.e. race Keith earls and Jamie Heaslip in golf buggies!!! We had a lot of fun in the two day get together as well as doing some serious training.

The week in Killiney went well, training was sharp, attitudes very high, a real sense of enjoyment from the squad. Leaving for Wales we felt happy with our training and what we had achieved so far that week. On the Friday we had a very short but accurate team run at the millennium stadium. Very exciting for me as I had never been there. I couldn’t help myself from putting a drop goal through the posts, something I have now done in every stadium I have played in! I suppose I’m of the mindset, do it in the team run, get it out of the system because God knows: I ain’t takin one durin the game!!!

After the team run we had a free afternoon so a few of us went for a ramble about Cardiff to sample some of the coffee shops available. Standard enough really, myself and Jamie spend far too much time doing this an now have it in our heads to open one of our own at some stage… Just maybe… So back to the hotel for Captains meeting, just refocus after the free afternoon, get our heads right, into game mode! I enjoy Brian’s meetings because he is a man of such knowledge and speaks great sense, they really help me focus in on the game plan and what I and we have to do.

Game day was unbelievable, the city was full of supporters both red and green. A real buzz in the air. This transferred straight into my preparation. To see that it meant this much to so many people was a great feeling. The drive to the stadium was another wonderful experience of it’s own, but I was fairly zoned out so didn’t take the majority of it in! I was ready for it in a big way. Kick off could come sooner!

After the game I was devastated, I felt hard done by but I was flattened with the horrible feeling that I had let it slip. Let the team down, what if I held that ball at the end? Crushing thoughts that I just had to get out of my head. It was over. I couldn’t do anything about it now. I have always said, remove the positive and the negative after a game because either can hurt you. Positive can sometimes result in over confidence and the negative can bring you down. Madness as it seems, it’s just my own way of keeping myself on the right mental track.

So a tough game to get over but nothing better to do than get preparing for the next challenge. Next battle. Next opportunity to proudly wear the Irish jersey and represent friends, family, teammates and myself!

After very light training last week we started off well coming into the Scottish game. The intensity in training was up another level from the previous game weeks, guys really had their heads clued into what we wanted to achieve.

I was excited coming into this game because of how we had trained and the fact that I was so eager to get out and right the wrongs of the previous game, just to dust off the loss and make a valid effort at keeping ourselves in the competition. With a plan in mind and a team fully capable of beating any other team out there we headed for Scotland.

Room keys issued on arrival at the hotel and I was put in with Jamie Heaslip again. Suits me down to the ground as we get on great and both stay up late! So no tip toeing around the room at 10pm, we just have the music on and chill out – perfect!!

Off to the game with a clear head and ready to play ball.. the build up was great and it was an extra boost AGAIN seeing so many Irish supporters over!

I never remember much from games but this was different… at one stage I was gasping for my breath and a break in play came, thank god! but the thousands of supporters began to sing the fields of Athenry and the hairs stood on the back of my neck… this gave me such a feeling of passion and pride that I forgot about the physical pain and struggle for breath, it was just “get up and do your job Cian”.

It was tough as we scored try?s and they kicked penalties but we managed to keep them off our line and more importantly keep ourselves in the lead. By then the whistle was blown and game over… not pretty but I’ll take it! At this level of rugby a win is a win, the rest are details that will be improved so we can compete at the top of the tables all round..

Quite hard to write this saying what could have or should have been after coming so close on Sunday. We had such a strong build up during the week and all of the lads really tuned into what we wanted to do. Training was sharp and bodies were shifting well. We strongly policed areas of our game in training during the week and felt confident going forward into the game. This strict attitude has fitted well to the team and I feel it’s really going to play a heavy role in the future of this Irish team. On gameday the buzz around the hotel was unreal, people in their greens walking around town, faces painted, flags in hand. This made me really excited about the build up and the game!

Post match the mood was low, heads down, disappointing result after having pushed it so close. Something many Irish teams have done in the past, claw back into the game and at the final minutes steal a victory. This time however, it was not to be.. it took me a while to get it out of my head but at the dinner and a less tense atmosphere I managed to relax and really enjoyed a night with my team mates! There was great mixing of the group that evening and we had a good night with the French. This I feel is such a fantastic part of rugby and how the players carry themselves, language barrier or not! Everyone made the effort and topped off what was a Trojan battle on the field with a building of friendships off it!

Overall I enjoyed the trip to Rome. I had never been there before and apart from books in school I didn’t really understand how breathtaking the place was! As well as enjoying this I did find it a little tougher not to switch off into holiday mode!! In such a beautiful place I could not let my number 1 job slip from the front of my mind.

On Friday we had a team run in the stadium. Walking out onto the pitch I could imagine the place packed with support going nuts! This immediately sent my mind wild thinking about the game!! What would it be like, would it be full, would there be many Irish over… simple questions just running over and over…

Game day came and it all passed so quickly. The early kick off meant less meaningless hanging around trying to pass time. For the early part of the morning I just chilled in my room listening to my music.. I like to be relaxed before I start to build up to the game and I find music is the best to do this!

After the game I was beaten and bruised, barely had any energy left in me..

I decided to call it a night straight away and passed on the black tie meal that evening and trade it for a pizza in the hotel and an early night in bed. It’s often the boring decision that ends up being the wise one when looking for a quick route to recovery. .

Looking forward to France Now..Get behind us! C’on Ireland!!!