Ireland can learn from their experience with ‘wounded Wales’ for Saturday’s clash with England, according to Kieran Marmion.
Joe Schmidt’s men were warned that Wales, playing for nothing except pride in front of their home crowd, would come out all guns blazing - and they did.
In the end, Ireland weren’t clinical enough to deal with the Welsh and defeat signalled the end of their Six Nations title hopes.
Connacht scrum-half Marmion, who replaced the injured Conor Murray in the 46th minute in Cardiff, reckons there are similarities in their predicaments.
“I think we’re kind of in the same situation as them this week,” Marmion told RTÉ Sport.
“We would have been motivated either way and we know we’ve got a lot to play for this weekend.
“We’re obviously pretty wounded ourselves.
“The lads are still hurting from that game so we’re just focussed on ourselves to try and out things right that didn’t go right last weekend.”
It’s the kind of language: hurt, pride, regret, that filled Rob Howley’s side with passion in the build-up to the Friday night lights game.
Marmion, 25, will hope that the home side on Saturday can load up with national pride, the day after the national holiday.
“Everyone’s pretty motivated this weekend,” he said as Ireland bid to prevent Eddie Jones’s men recording a record 19th Test win in a row.
“We know [England] are on a good roll. There’ll be no-one holding back, it’s an international game and everyone will give it their all and we want to come away with a victory."
The Barking-born half-back will hope to win his 13th cap at Lansdowne Road (5pm, live on RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ2).
“Everyone’s pretty motivated this weekend”
He played 34 minutes in the cauldron of the Principality Stadium and says he learned a huge amount from the experience.
Everyone watching that game could see that Murray, who shipped a heavy knock in a collision with George North in the 30th minute, was struggling.
His passing was affected, Wales sent some of their big men at him, he was tackling one-armed. How did Marmion feel watching the Munster man continue?
“I guess the call came in,” he said. “It was a stinger on his shoulder. I think most players have had one of them before.
“It’s something that you can shake off so I guess they allowed him time to do that and after half-time it just didn’t come right for him. I was just called in.”
And if it wasn’t for a rush-of-blood mistake by Robbie Henshaw, it was likely that Marmion would have finished on the winning side.
He summed up his own performance.
“I was happy enough, there are little things that I can improve on,” he said.
“I guess it was good to be out there in those kinds of situations and I enjoyed it.
“The longer you’re in here the easier it gets. There’s a lot of pressure but you need to get used to that.
“The longer you’re around the lads and the more you know your details it’s definitely easier.
“To get that experience in those kind of situations is great for me. The lads around me helped me when I was out there. I’ve done enough reps in training.
“The training’s pretty high pressure as well, so when you go out there you’ve just got to convert that into the game.
“It’s something I want to build on and keep learning off Conor and the rest of the lads and improve my game.”
I
