There may be plenty of negativity in the air but it's not part of the environment in the Ireland camp, writes Gavin Cummiskey

A HEALTHY siege mentality is building within the confines of Killiney Castle. It seems like the correct approach considering the ferocity of the next challenge facing Declan Kidney’s Irish team.

The group have accepted they are not performing to potential, but they seem hurt by the wave of adverse reaction to the Springbok and Samoa performances.

“This is just my personal experience but there is a lot of negativity around the team at the moment and a lot of things being said about their confidence, but I really don’t feel it being in the team environment,” said Ireland’s forwards guru Gert Smal.

“This is where composure comes into it because what you don’t want to have is too much fear and you don’t want to have too much confidence, so you have to get that balance.

“Playing against the number one team in the world there will be plenty of motivation. The players will also back themselves and there is a lot confidence that we can take them on.”

The giant South African seems to have grasped the Irish mentality; when backed into a corner the best performances have historically come out.

To ensure New Zealand are not afforded any unnecessary advantage, the team announcement was delayed until tomorrow but the arrival of Cian Healy, Rob Kearney and Stephen Ferris into the mixed zone may give some indication of the starting XV. Kearney (bruised knee) and Healy (dead leg) were back training yesterday and both hope to be restored to the team at fullback and loosehead prop respectively.

This would see Luke Fitzgerald in a straight fight with Andrew Trimble for the left-wing position and Tom Court in a messy Reservoir Dogs-type shoot-out for tighthead prop with John Hayes, Tony Buckley and Mike Ross.

Hayes (37) was replaced last Saturday on 63 minutes, while Ross has yet to be rewarded for steadying the Leinster scrum this season. It was initially feared that Buckley’s hip injury sustained against South Africa would rule him out of the remaining November games but he was spotted in the team hotel yesterday afternoon after training.

Smal’s happiness with Devon Toner’s authority in the lineout against Samoa also seems to indicate the normally third choice Leinster lock will earn his second cap ahead of the normally third choice Munster lock Mick O’Driscoll.

“I have only seen Devon in the past two years being here but I think there is a fair amount of potential in him. In terms of lineout; what a pleasure to have that kind of length. But the game is not just about lineouts. We will look at his whole development. In terms of body development, the more we concentrate on that the better player he is going to become.”

Considering the 2007 World Cup winning forwards coach sat before us, we stuck to set-piece matters. “Hopefully what we see on Saturday is what we saw in the last game (lineouts, that is, not scrums).

“In terms of accuracy and better movement, it was a better lineout performance.

“In terms of the scrums, I think first half (against Samoa), we were going through a process, systematical adjustments we have to make to individuals and you could see in the second half when we brought the guys on that Greg (Feek) has worked with for a long time, like Cian (Healy) for instance, there was a big difference and we put them under huge pressure.

“So, I’m very happy with the progress, I’m not happy with where we are but obviously we have an important game on Saturday so I think we’ll be up there but there’s still a fair amount of space to improve on as well.”

By now the All Blacks 49-3 humbling of Scotland has been digested. “That’s the danger about the New Zealand team; they do have a lot of brilliant individuals. If you let them play they can hurt you. I think we proved, even with 14 men, on the summer tour that if you attack them there are opportunities for tries.

“There weren’t a lot of teams that scored four tries against the All Blacks up to that stage.”

It’s true, Ireland did cross for four tries in New Plymouth last June but the hosts had gobbled up nine of their own by then. Granted, three of those tries came when Ireland were down to 13 men after Jamie Heaslip’s red card and Ronan O’Gara’s sin binning.

“We should not wait to see what they can do to us. It is important that we have a mindset to attack them,” warned Smal.

“To beat the All Blacks you have to be on top of your game. You have to go and fetch it in some places where you have never been before. That is what it takes to beat the All Blacks.”