Sean O'Brien Modesty
Joe Schmidt's perfectionist attitude is rubbing off on his players. With the rest of Irish rugby drooling over the return of the Tullow Tank with a huge cleanout of three French players at a ruck; O'Brien, and one suspects Schmidt, are focusing on the missed cleanouts and missed tackles.
There were lots of rucks that I didn't clear out well. That's what I thought most about after, that I missed a few 'barrels'. I was rusty, like. I missed a couple of tackles and stuff. Things like that. Hopefully that'll be better next week.
This isn't an isolated thought. While the rest of Ireland is busy proclaiming lofty victories - Joe Schmidt has brought a focus to the squad that firmly keeps their feet on the ground. It's refreshing to see. Gone are the rollercoaster campaigns that involve a hugely emotional win over Australia that are following by an embarrassing loss to Wales.
Schmidt has given Ireland a clinical edge that allows them to perform consistently on a game to game basis. This leads to highlights from players like O'Brien that end up going viral in the rugby world.
O'Brien isn't worried about the attention he's getting for the monster cleanout, that has over 100,000 view from youtube and has appeared in many other forms across social media.
He acknowledges that he's seen the clip, and in this age of the internet it's nearly impossible not to see these things. He more focused on repeating the task to facilitate an Ireland win over England than the internet idolisation he's receiving.
We're having none of this modesty, as you can see:
