On the eve of his first Test match start, in the most inexperienced Ireland team to take a field since 1962, Ian Madigan sets the scene better than any strait-laced preview.
Madigan had no problem heaping pressure on his own shoulders. It makes him a rare breed in sport or any walk of life.
“If we put ourselves in the US Eagles’ boots, they’re going to see this as an opportunity because we’re missing 10 of our best players and we’re playing them in an away game. If they want to have any aspirations of doing well at the next World Cup they have to beat teams like us on their home patch because if they don’t the fact of the matter is they’ll be making up the numbers and they’d say that themselves.
“That’s not what they want to be doing. They’ve got enough quality players that they don’t have to do that.
“For that reason there’s a different type of pressure on this game, there’s reputations on the line; if we lose on the weekend the three main people who will take the brunt of it are myself, Peter O’Mahony and Les (Kiss).
“I’d be more nervous on that side of things then I would be going out and playing Australia or France, where if you’re slightly off your game you could lose by 30 or 40 points, whereas if we’re off our game here we could lose our reputations.”
That’s Madigan for you. His own personal expectation levels rise with each passing moment. Joe Schmidt insisted on exposing his dazzling skills as much as possible this season, picking the Blackrock man at fullback and inside centre but primarily at outhalf when Jonathan Sexton was injured.
"I'd like to think I've handled it well. I enjoy the bigger occasion, the bigger the crowd, the bigger the game, the more it's on the line, that's what I'm all about, I really enjoy that side of things. I've always been like that since I was a kid."
Control the tempo
The stifling heat will matter almost as much as the heavy humidity in the Dynamo Houston soccer stadium, known locally as "The Oven", so opportunities will need to be taken, Madigan will need to control the tempo with a controlled kicking game.
“The thing with Test match rugby is that your mistakes are going to be magnified . . . Les just backed me that with the pack we have going out we can be patient. They will grind out go-forward ball for us. If I’m patient behind that and when I do pull the trigger it will hopefully have good effect and we’ll get a clean line break.”
He speaks with the confidence of a Big Wave surfer. But such maniacs know that timing is everything.
“Joe wouldn’t think that I’m overly patient. He’s said it to me before that sometimes I want things to have happened yesterday. There’s other stuff I would be patient with.”
Schmidt quietly arrived into Houston last night. His role will be in the background today and The hope is he won’t be needed until Monday morning. The hope is the professionalism of this unfamiliar looking Ireland team, with six less total caps than Brian O’Driscoll, will be enough to keep the US at bay.
The hope is America’s ultra physical backrow of Samu Manoa, Scott LaValla and Todd Clever don’t cause too much damage. The hope is Argentinian referee Francisco Pastrana will not become a factor.
The hope is the water breaks will be sufficient and the sight of Taku Ngwenya breaking into open country never comes to pass. But hope is a dangerous thing. Circumstances have forced Ireland to send similarly callow squads on tour before and they paid a heavy price.
Robbie Henshaw (19) and Stuart Olding (20) win first caps today, Iain Henderson, Dave Kilcoyne and Madigan make their first starts, while it also marks deserve second comings for Devin Toner and Isaac Boss. Peter O'Mahony is born to lead, while Madigan's assassin-like intent is unmistakable. Munster granite and Leinster flair combined, reputations on the line. That should be enough motivation although a few early scores seem essential in the conditions.
USA: C Wyles; L Hume, S Kelly, A Suniula, T Ngwenya; T L'Estrange, M Petri; S Pittman, C Biller, E Fry; B Doyle, L Stanfill; S Manoa, S Lavalla, T Clever (capt). Replacements: Z Fenoglio, N Wallace, P Thiel, P Dahl, J Quill, R Shaw, J Paterson, A Siddall.
