Ireland’s Calvin Nash talks of his pre-match anxiety and how Andy Farrell helped him

Barry John wouldn’t have called it performance anxiety in 1966, but reflecting on a chat we had with “The King” more than a decade ago, some of the signs were there.

For one thing, he remembered counting down the days and hours and minutes until he would make his first Wales start against Australia in his hometown of Cardiff.

On the morning of the game, he woke so early he decided to have a lengthy bath.

He also recalled how he was not so well-acquainted with his new team-mates as one might suspect; in amateur times, there was no collective training after all.

The older players made a particular point of seeking him out before the kick-off, an attempt to assuage fear. From that day on, he vowed to do the same for those younger player who would trace his steps, too.

Almost 60 years on, and though the modern player is paid to play and enjoys a support structure that would have once appeared unimaginable, the mischievous workings of the mind remain a constant.

Calvin Nash is no mere stripling – he is 26 – and already a full international, fulfilled wholly in his personal and professional life.

But none of that can deny admission to the internal, nagging demons.

"Jesus, yeah, I was quite nervous, to be fair,” he tells us after a try-scoring championship debut last Friday night, which violently betrays such a revelation.

“I actually texted Earlsy (Keith Earls, acclaimed former Ireland winger) at the start of the week as well, saying, 'Man, I'm up the walls here now'.”

He was talking to someone who knew how that felt, quite conceivably before every single one of his 101 international caps for Ireland, never mind those for the Lions and Munster.

Earls’ message to Nash was one he had so often wanted to tell himself, except knowing that, even if he did find the words, the sensation would be impossibly elusive.

“Man, you just need to enjoy it!”

“He wished he enjoyed it more,” Nash relates. “And that's what I tried to do out there, I suppose. To enjoy it.”

A brief congress in Marseille with the squad’s performance coach, Gary Keegan, 24 hours earlier also allayed doubts.

“It’s not as though you've just appeared in this Ireland jersey. You've almost won it!”

Deep down, Nash knew this, of course. But there were times when he hadn’t.

After all, Simon Zebo had told us during the week of the crisis, in confidence, that had prompted his fellow wing to ponder retirement only two years ago.

Nash confirms the story.

“Myself and Zeebs were injured with each other and I was just like, 'Man, what am I doing?' I was in a rut and couldn't get out of it.”

And now all this?

“What Gary said really put my mind at ease and it was all about just giving my best there, I suppose, and doing the best for the team.”

And the coach, of course. It’s almost quaint at this stage, but the truth is undeniable. Andy Farrell’s most enduring character trait is to allow his players to unfurl their personalities, flaws and all.

Andy Farrell: Ireland ‘hungry’ to win back-to-back Grand Slams in the Six Nations

He had noticed Nash’s reticence during the week.

“It kind of opened up my eyes to how good he is with people, looking out to see what way they are. He was like, 'You've been a bit quiet this week' and I was like, 'How has he spotted this?', do you know that kind of way?”

And on match day, the coach’s final prompts.

“What are you going to do in attack? What are you going to do in defence?”

The questions weren’t tricky; the responses set him free.

“I had all the answers, so he was like, 'There you go, that's all the answers, just be yourself'. To be honest, it made me feel way better, so it was class to be out there then.”

And perhaps no surprise that when the moment came to confirm, so decisively, the defending champions’ superiority, the Limerick man was ideally positioned to deliver it, the most valuable of the 76 metres of ground voraciously gobbled up on the night.

“It was a big week for him,” noted Farrell, perhaps only relating the half of it.

“We had a good old chat yesterday after the captain's run and it's nice when people are able to be upfront and tell you exactly how they're feeling so you can help them. There's no point not saying anything.

“It was a big week for him, and at the start of the week, I'm sure that there was a lot that was going through his mind, but through the help of his team-mates and the reassurance of what he brings to the team, he was able over the last couple of days to get himself to a point where he was able to be himself.

“I thought he looked strong on the ball, and he is strong, isn't he? His point of difference is always chasing something down and all that stuff that doesn't take much talent. He nearly got one in the air as well from the kick-off and that's part of his game as well.

“I thought he looked really assured. He's tough. His defence was tough as well. He came off with a little bit of a dead leg there, so he'll be fine.”

Perhaps the beauty of it all now is that Nash not merely survived the experience but thrived within it.

“It was amazing. Look, it was obviously a massive honour to get the nod. The crowd were crazy, proper electric. It was an amazing experience.

“I'm massively privileged to be where I am and I think Faz says with great pressure comes massive privilege.

“It's a great quote, I feel. It was a great experience to hear the anthems and sing our own anthem. It was unbelievable, I'd love to do it again.”

His girlfriend, Ciara, dad Brandon and brother Jason were watching on as he iced the cake.

"I remember just thinking, 'Please, can I get the ball here? Please, please, please!' And obviously Caelan (Doris) gave the last pass and I was delighted, like.

“I went over the line and it was unreal from everyone else to get me the ball, I suppose I was just standing there.”

All the while in the mixed zone, team-mates are hollering and whooping in his direction.

“Triangle head!”

Deriving from the cartoon characters, Phineas and Ferb, Conor Murray and Jack Conan authored the nickname.

“They've been at me all week, so I had to give them something to cheer if I scored. It was funny."

After all the anxiety, he can smile about everything now.