Copeland rising though the ranks as new Munster chapter awaits

It’s been a whirlwind rise up the rugby pecking order for Robin Copeland, through St Mary’s College, Plymouth Albion, Rotherham Titans and then Cardiff Blues.

Copeland won Irish Wolfhounds’ and Emerging Ireland caps in a short few months since his first chat with national coach Joe Schmidt and on Sunday he was named IRB Nations Cup player of the tournament.

Then there’s a move to Munster next month and an increased chance to become a senior international before the end of the year.

Yet the Gorey native, who honed his rugby skills at Kilkenny College, might never have pursued a professional rugby career. It was a 50-50 decision between pursuing a career in business or rugby after he qualified from DBS in Marketing and Event Management.

Initially he opted out of professional sport, giving up a place in the Leinster Academy.

“I decided to concentrate on study, although I was playing AIL with St Mary’s,” he said.

“I was having a good season there and was approached in my final year by Karl Hogan [agent] and, after getting my degree, I took the opportunity. I figured with a degree behind me, I wouldn’t be any worse off if it didn’t work out.”

He went to Plymouth first for a year, moved to Rotherham and went up the ranks again to Cardiff where he hit the headlines over and over again in the past year – his second season — with a series of man of the match displays.

But it was a gradual learning curve and he admits the biggest difficulty was trying to get his head around the demands of a sporting life.

“For me it was never a physical thing to push me on, it was always a mental thing. It was coming to grips as to whether I wanted to give it my all or not. It took until I went to Rotherham for me to make my mind up to give it a good bash. It was like a mental switch going on and then everything started to go right.

“The Championship is a great place to integrate guys who haven’t had a lot of game time. There are some really good teams in that championship and if you do well there are a lot of opportunities out there.”

He loved life in Cardiff too, although he admitted it took time to settle in rugby terms.

“I had played number six at Rotherham and in the second row at Plymouth. That was my position growing up and so there was a little difficulty adapting. I played both at six and eight in Cardiff the first year before settling on eight and that, again, took some getting used to,” he explained.

Not for long. His profile heightened with quality displays in both the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup. Irish national coach Joe Schmidt moved quickly to speak with the 26-year-old and bring him into the enlarged squad before the Six Nations.

Schmidt suggested he consider playing his rugby in Ireland, explaining that being involved playing with the top Irish players on a regular basis would benefit him. Although Copeland didn’t want to leave he now recognises Schmidt was right.

“At first I wondered whether it would make that much difference, but being in a Six Nations camp emphasised the validity of the point he was making when I saw how the guys were interacting. Just being around the guys and being in that environment really does help when you move up.”

He said he is excited about moving to Munster and recognises that having a former number eight as coach in Anthony Foley is a plus.

He believes it will also be hugely valuable to have had time to mix and bond with several of his new Munster colleagues on the Emerging Ireland team during the Nations Cup.

“Having met the lads in the Six Nations camp some time ago and again in the Nations Cup is going to help a lot when I go there. It’s nice to know that on that first day in another new environment that there will be some familiar faces.”