Hickie back to his feet, back to his best and back to his future

THE JOURNEY home was long, arduous and painful. At least Denis Hickie and Alan Quinlan had each other for company, but their World Cup was over and their rugby futures under a cloud.

As fortune would have it, Quinlan recovered from his dislocated shoulder to play towards the end of last season. Hickie’s efforts to recover from his ruptured Achilles tendon have been rewarded - almost 12 months to the day he picked up the injury - with his 45th cap against the Springboks at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

There were times when the St Mary’s flyer wondered if all the effort would be worthwhile, but he comes from the soundest of rugby stock. People like his father Tony and uncle Denis battled hard for the cause of club, province and country, invariably giving the lie to suggestion that they might be “Dublin softies”. The leading member of the next generation is in very much the same mould, a point Denis has emphatically demonstrated by fighting his way back into the national side against all the odds.

Looking strong and fit, he says: “I had a lot more time to train without having the actual rugby element to concern me. The timing of my injury wasn’t too bad in terms of getting the rehab; it was always going to be April or May before I could do any running and then I had the rest of the summer. By the time it came to playing, I had a lot of preparation and was under no pressure.

“Full-back is a great place to play, especially coming back after injury. You get involved a lot more than on the wing. Once I got through that, I felt fine.”

But, as national coach Eddie O’Sullivan underlined, the injury placed a serious question mark over the 28-year-old Hickie’s prospects of resurrecting his career at the highest level. Would he regain the pace which was always his most potent weapon? Would his nerve hold when he went into physical contact? The manner in which he has responded speaks volumes for a man who has played splendidly over the past couple of months for Leinster, both at full-back and on the wing in the Celtic League and Heineken Cup.

His superb try against Bath at Lansdowne Road less than a fortnight ago confirmed that the pace, the change of direction and the desire were there in abundance.

O’Sullivan saw enough to convince him that Hickie was back and worthy of the number 11 jersey against the ’Boks.

“He was fatigued initially but he is now on top of his game,” said the coach.

“He has not lost anything he brought into the World Cup and his recovery is a credit to Denis himself and the medical team.”

Hickie was reassured early on that he would return as good as new provided he followed the guidelines. His desire to come back as good as ever did the rest.

“Regaining my pace seems to have been a general concern because I’ve been asked about it by several people,” Denis said.

“I have to say that the surgeon Bill Quinlan did a fantastic job and I’d like to thank him again for that. A lot of my successful recuperation is down to him.

“On top of that, I did a lot of work with Mark McCabe on performance rehab in Malahide. I owe a lot to those two people especially.”

His recovery has been extraordinary given the damage sustained and it is remarkable he is taking on a side of the calibre of the South Africans within 12 months of sustaining the injury. He knows well, of course, that they won’t spare him and is under no illusions as to the enormity of the challenge awaiting Ireland.

“The Springboks appear to have a fantastic all-round team and a lot of fantastic loose forwards,” he accepts.

“Guys like Burger, Van Niekirk, they’ve all played at 6, 7 and 8 at various stages.

“Eddie has picked the team that he’s sure will do the best job for us and they’ll be the same. Picking an out and out No 7 like Johnny O’Connor doesn’t necessarily dictate just how we’re going to play the game. It will hinge on different situations on the pitch, what kind of ball we get and stuff. We want to play a certain way and, like in any game, having an out-and-out No 7 gives us a bit of leeway in that respect.”

Hickie travelled to the World Cup with 20 international tries to his credit, an Irish record at the time. While he was away, his friend Brian O’Driscoll edged ahead in the scoring charts. The aim of getting back on top is just one incentive that Hickie carries into Saturday’s game!