Out of the sick bay and into the front line
It was something he had always wanted to do and, as a fully established member of the Irish pack with 33 caps to his credit, it was inevitable that he would do so this time round. However, fate intervened in the shape of what was described as the winter vomiting bug, though he himself says it was a little more than that.
He explains: “It was the worst sickness I’ve ever had. I was as weak as a baby on the Wednesday morning and I thought it would be a 24-hour job and the doc was saying I’d be okay. But the following morning, as the boys were getting ready to leave for Paris, I couldn’t get my head around travelling. I would have risked the rest of the squad and couldn’t have had all my energy back by Saturday because I had lost a fair bit of weight. There was a knock at the door and it took me nearly five minutes to get there.”
Marcus admits the bug gave him a bit of a fright, having convinced himself that he’d be alright and having that view confirmed by the medics. A few minutes after he cried off he was ruefully telling himself that he’d be watching the match on television on the Saturday feeling 100%.
But he wasn’t, and it was last Monday morning before he was back to his old self. He suspects the illness may have been due to being run down after taking a knock in the kidneys in the Italian match in which he did a lot of scrummaging, but he’s totally satisfied that he did the right thing in withdrawing.
“I was feeling miserable as I watched the game,” he confessed.
“But as soon as the bug arrived, I think I must have slept for two days solid and I think that did me the world of good and maybe was a blessing in disguise. I lost a lot of weight, but it has shot up again and I trained well for a few days. When I joined up with the lads on Monday I hit the ground running and felt great and haven’t looked back since.”
Marcus is looking forward to meeting up with Welsh tight-head prop Adam Jones, an old adversary from a series of Munster-Ospreys matches. This particular hirsute Jones is known as the “black sheep” as against loose head Duncan, whose peroxide mop means he is called the “white sheep”. He believes the Welsh front-row is a good unit and all the better for playing together on a regular basis.
“They’re big, strong men, but we just need to be cute against them,” he reckons. “They showed against Scotland just how clever they are at getting the drive on just ahead of time, so it’s important for us to counteract that. We’ve worked hard on our scrums and I think it’s important that we stick together as a pack because they believe it’s an area they can exploit. They’ve had their troubles, but that can make them even more united and we’ll be in trouble if we take our eye off the ball.”
Horan has been packing down for a long time now with John Hayes in the colours of Shannon, Munster and Ireland and has the highest regard for a teammate earning his 60th cap on Sunday. It annoys him that Hayes comes in for so much criticism, a lot of it completely unfounded as far as he is concerned.
“A lot of the lads started out together with Ireland, John, Rog, Strings and they’re all around the sixty caps mark,” he mused.
“What John’s had to take is very unfair, but this is a great occasion for him and I feel he’s playing very well at the moment.
“A lot of people are writing him off, but he’s doing his job very well. His strength and power is probably not seen by everyone, but it’s definitely evident to the rest of us.”
We saw in Paris how Ireland can struggle when either of their front line props is missing. With the possible exception of Simon Best, who did reasonably well when he came on against the French, there simply are no alternatives to Hayes and Horan, which is probably a sign of the times. Prop forwards are a rare breed and not everybody wants to play there, with parents concerned that there is a certain danger when it comes to collapsed scrums and the like. The point is not lost on Horan.
“You wouldn’t be a back-row in Ireland for love nor money for the last few years because there’s so many of them around, but that’s not the case in the front row,” he agrees.
“It hasn’t been a popular position for young fellas starting out, but I think it’s changing. You see a lot more props playing with the ball and getting around the field. It’s becoming a more open game than in the old days when the prop was only there to scrummage and to ruck and maul. There is that little more excitement in it now and I think it’s up to coaches of younger players to encourage them to give it a go, because you can get the ball in hand as much as any back row.
“It’s important that we steer people in that direction as there haven’t been too many coming through because they feel it’s a tough and maybe even dangerous position. There have been a few bad injuries down the years, but they’ve been freak incidents. It’s just a case of marketing it properly and get guys in there and used to it.”
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