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Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll hoists the Six Nations Championship trophy
© Getty Images
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Rewind 12 months and it’s easy to forget where Irish rugby was according to Gerry Thornley in the Irish Times.
"Entering 2009, Ireland had won just four of its 10 matches in 2008, all at home against the combined might of Italy, Scotland, Canada and the understrength Pumas. All told, in Ireland’s previous 18 matches, there had been 11 defeats, while the other three wins had been a fortunate victory over Italy at Ravenhill and those taut World Cup wins over Namibia and Georgia. Notions of winning a Grand Slam would have had you in a straitjacket.
"...It transpired that the “honesty sessions” just before Christmas in the Marriott Hotel in Enfield were the origins of the Grand Slam. There, famously, Rob Kearney had brought up an elephant in the room, namely about the Munster players’ passion for the red and green jerseys before the squad were gobsmacked, rapt and inspired for two hours by Pádraig Harrington.
Most pertinent of all was the revised game plan, fed to the players and devised by Kidney, Gert Smal, Les Kiss and Alan Gaffney. Where there had been some confusion the preceding November, thereafter there was clarity. They didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. The forwards were granted more licence to take on opposition packs."
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