Back on familiar ground

BERNARD JACKMAN may have swapped the green of Connacht for the royal blue of Leinster but the western province continues to play a central role in the hooker’s career.

It’s three months since the Clontarf man returned to the Sportsground for the first time since his new posting and, although Leinster left with a 21-9 win, Jackman made the journey back to Dublin with a broken leg.

“It’s been very frustrating because I was playing in most of the games until the Connacht match when I broke my leg,” he recalls. “Breaking the leg at the start of December was a nightmare because that was the most important part of the year with the European Cup and massive Interpro games over the Christmas as well.”