Donal Lenihan: On a spring Saturday in Trinity's College Park, thoughts drift towards Twickenham
GRASSROOTS: On a glorious day in Trinity’s College Park, in the heart of Dublin’s College Green
COLLEGE Park one week, Twickenham the next. There was a time when a player would feature for his club in a comparatively meaningless friendly, before a sparse audience of rugby diehards just seven days in advance of running out for Ireland in some frenzied 60,000+ arena in the Five Nations Championship.
In the amateur days, the annual tournament was what international players lived for. The adrenaline rush as the bus pulled into a Twickenham car park packed with Land Rovers, their boots full to the brim with gigantic wicker picnic baskets overflowing with the best of food and drink.
Sitting in peaceful solitude, looking out the window of the team coach as we approached the golden Lion that marks the entrance to the Twickenham dressing room area, your mind drifts.
There’s a recession in Ireland - there always appeared to be throughout my tenure in an Irish shirt - and you felt that extra weight of expectation to do something for the many Irish people forced to work in England.
The image of the elderly man who approached me after Moss Keane slipped me away to one of the stadium bars after Ginger McLaughlin’s famous try cemented a memorable victory in my first encounter against the English is forever etched on my mind.
There were tears in his eyes when he extended his hand and thanked me for the victory that had just unfolded. “You don’t understand”, he said. “I’m working over here out of necessity. It will be so much easier to go into work tomorrow morning on the back of this win”.
I had just won my third cap and, suddenly, it dawned on me that representing your country carries expectations and responsibilities way beyond personal pride.
The Twickenham car park no longer plays host to those fortunate enough to get the treasured car pass that facilitated those iconic scenes. Commercialism has taken over with multiple bars and food outlets commanding those cherished slots. Yet I doubt very much if any of the Irish players on the team coach will feel any different than we did as they carry the expectations of a nation into battle against the English this Saturday.
I couldn’t help but think of that on a glorious day in Trinity’s College Park, in the heart of Dublin’s College Green, last Saturday as Cork Constitution took on the students in another cracking encounter. On days like this, is there any better setting in the country for a match?.
Regular readers here will be aware of my views on the importance of All Ireland League rugby, even in this professional era, and the bridge that the most competitive fare in Division 1A offers a budding professional.
Three years ago, I drifted towards the same vantage point on the far side of the pitch. I couldn’t help but notice the influence of a towering young presence in the Trinity second row as this powerful, athletic young man dominated the air at restarts and in the line out while running around like a gazelle in the loose.
I searched my pockets for the match program. No 5, Ryan Baird. I made a mental note and sought clarification after the game from a former adversary, St. Mary's and Connacht prop Hugh Maguire, the forwards coach with the students. Hugh smiled. We both knew Baird was a nailed-on future international.
Given his natural spring and flexibility in the air, finding Baird in the Trinity line out was a reasonably straightforward task for the Trinity hooker the same day. Yet there was something about the way he carried and offloaded that forced another dip into the pocket. No 2, Dan Sheehan. Made a mental note of him too.
Back in October, AIL followers in Munster were offered a fascinating glimpse into the future when the provinces budding No 10’s, Ben Healy and Jack Crowley, went head to head as Garryowen entertained Cork Con in Dooradoyle.
Both sets of followers were taken a little by surprise as there was no advance publicity to alert us of this fascinating duel. Three decades earlier Garryowen, with Tony Ward on board, hosted an Old Belvedere side with Ollie Campbell calling the shots opposite him in a friendly at the same venue. The place was packed to the rafters to witness a coming together of one of the most debated topics in Irish rugby at the time.
Lining out alongside Wardy for Munster and Ollie with Ireland, it was an impossible issue to avoid. Many is the time I climbed into a Dublin taxi for the driver to ask the question. You could see it coming. “Do you mind if I ask you a question. Who do you prefer playing with, Ward or Campbell?”.
The clash between Healy and Crowley passed largely unnoticed but, for once, the dedicated club supporter was rewarded for their allegiance as both players knuckled down with their amateur teammates and gave everything for their respective clubs.
Two weeks ago Crowley was back in club colors, lining out at full back for Cork Con. He appeared genuinely proud to be handed the special number 54 jersey, commissioned to mark the passing of club legend Tom Kiernan, with the No 15 shirt retired as a tribute to Tommy for the remainder of the season.
With club captain Aidan Moynihan playing in his regular out-half slot, Crowley had no issue whatsoever when coach Johnny Holland selected him at full back. Crowley was magnificent in a dominant performance, his brilliant try securing a four-try bonus-point win for Con. Yet it wasn't that important score that did it for me.
That came minutes later when he counter-rucked two Garryowen bodies, five metres from the Con line, to help turn over possession and save a certain try. That highlighted Crowley’s desire to play for his club, to work hard for teammates he only trains with sporadically due to his primary role as a key Munster player.
Crowley’s commitment is replicated across the league by countless emerging provincial players, screaming for game time. Last Sunday a Munster squad of 33 players flew to South Africa. The nightmare of that maiden URC voyage to the country, that ended before a minute of competitive action due to the Omicron variant of Covid, must have loomed large in the minds of many boarding that plane.
In preparation for the trip, many of the wider Munster squad were released to appear for the respective clubs in the AIL in order to secure valuable game time in advance of their journey. In total 16 of the traveling squad have featured in the AIL since January alone.
The clubs are only too happy to oblige. It may not prove enough to cope with what awaits at altitude in Pretoria next Saturday but, without that club exposure, many of the squad would be too short on game time.
As clubs, we recognise our role. Since new Academy manager Ian Costello came on board, there’s been greater alignment and recognition of the role club rugby can still play for emerging talent. That said, there’s even greater scope for improvement on that front.
Hopefully, Munster will seek to engage even further with its constituent clubs on that issue. It represents a win-win situation for Munster rugby whose needs are different to the model that works so well for Leinster. They have so much talent emerging from a superior schools base that they don’t really need a strong connection with club land.
Trinity pipped Con 32-27 in an eight-try classic last weekend. The amount of people who approached me after the game, thrilled with the quality on offer, was encouraging. It’s such a pity that so many who flock religiously to Thomond Park to follow Munster don’t dip their toe into clubland on the odd Saturday afternoon for a glimpse of what’s on offer. They’d be pleasantly surprised. As a spectacle and a raw-boned competitive encounter, the game in College Park was streets ahead of Munster’s 64-3 rout of the Dragons later the same evening.
On Saturday, Dan Sheehan and Ryan Baird will be on board the Irish team bus that pulls into Twickenham, harbouring the same ambitions and responsibilities of many an Irish side gone before them. As former Trinity teammates, they may well be sitting together as the coach inches its way through the same car park.
The link between club and country has been largely diluted by the advent of professionalism with the players now, understandably, recognised by their provincial allegiance. That doesn’t mean Trinity coaching stalwarts like Maguire and director of rugby Tony Smeeth shouldn’t feel proud of their contribution in accelerating the rise of players like Sheehan and Baird to the international stage. Further evidence that the club game in this country still has a meaningful role to play.
