Horan happy to weight and see

IT was never difficult to admire Marcus Horan on a rugby pitch.

The figure on his back indicated he was a member of the front-row fraternity. In other words, you expected him to be like all other props and do his stuff at the coalface and leave the fancy work to the back-row, the half-backs and the fancy-dans in the three-quarter line.

But Marcus refused to see it like that. Instead, he wanted the ball in his hands and once it arrived there, he was determined to run with it and use it to his side’s advantage.

He is remembered for a famous try against Colomiers in the south of France after getting a late call-up for the injured Peter Clohessy in a Heineken Cup tie in December 1995.

A natural combination of swerve and pace took the French by surprise. There have been several similar tries since. However, the most recent also contained another element. Power.

Over the years, the native of Clonlara, Co Clare, appeared to lack the poundage that would make him a major force at the highest level. No more. Thanks to selfless dedication and a determination to prove his critics wrong, Horan has bulked up appreciably and it was this ingredient as much as his natural skills that enabled him to crash over the Leinster line for the crucial first-half try in the Celtic Cup semi-final defeat.

He is hoping for more of the same when Llanelli Scarlets provide the final opposition at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

“The pre-season work has caught up with me, it wasn’t an instant thing,” he explained during the week.

“We had a good 10 weeks back in August and September and I also did great work with nutritionist Andrea Cullen out in Newport. Small things like that have helped, as well as great weights work with Munster and Ireland. When I was sitting on the bench with Ireland, I was a bit frustrated and took my anger out in the gym and that stood to me a bit.

“I was conscious of being short of a bit of weight. I was getting worried and caught up about it because it was hard to put on the pounds. So I just kind of relaxed and enjoyed going to the gym and it became a little easier and now it’s a case of maintaining it.

“At the start of the year, I was 101kgs or around 16 stone; I’ve gone up to about 110kgs now, about 17 stone. That might be enough because I don’t want to be losing any speed around the pitch, although with the training we’ve been doing, it’s all been pretty balanced, combining a good bit of power with the strength weights.”

Mobility was always the mainstay of Horan’s game but he is also happy to note that “the bulk is helping out in the scrums”.

“Munster have improved as a scrummaging unit and we had the joy of scoring a pushover try against the Borders which gave us a bit of a lift.”

An indication of where a front-row forward’s priorities lie, perhaps, but even when he was being criticised for supposed scrummaging shortcomings, Marcus didn’t worry.

“The press always had an issue about my size and my scrummaging but I never saw it like that myself.

“I’ve had some good days against big name props and never felt under pressure. When people give you the reputation of being a weak scrummager, it kind of sticks and regardless of whether it’s true or not, it’s important for me to shake it. Perhaps it was also due to how often I carried the ball; I’m always getting slagged by Donncha [O’Callaghan], that the old-style props would hate me for the way I carry on around the pitch.

“But the game is changing and I don’t shy away from my job in the tight. I feel there are opportunities to do things if I’m in the right spot at the right time but there are also games when I mightn’t even touch the ball.”

Horan is open in admitting that the year didn’t go particularly well for him; not with Munster after losing to Biarritz in the quarter-final of the Heineken Cup, nor with Ireland, having failed to displace Reggie Corrigan as first-choice loose head prop.

However, he is reassured for the future by how his fitness levels and strength have gone up. He sees the forthcoming tour of Japan as an ideal way of progressing his career without regarding the Irish loose head position as his own because Corrigan’s international days are almost certainly at an end.

“It’s important to keep the head down and not lose sight of what’s important,” he declares.

“You can get caught up with people telling you that you’re next in line. It happened me with the Claw situation, that I was going to take over from him with Munster and Ireland, but instead Reggie was about so it’s a matter of keeping focused.

“My biggest goal for next season is securing my Irish team place and I can’t think of anything less. But you can’t take anything for granted. The Japanese tour could show up something and it’s when you take your eye off the ball that someone can sneak in ahead of you. That makes for a competitive squad but I don’t want it to happen to me.”

He tries to play down the satisfaction he and his Munster teammates derived from beating Leinster at Lansdowne Road on Sunday while conceding just how physical it was. “The dressing-room was like a casualty ward afterwards,” he said.

“As for the final, Llanelli gave us a good hiding over there and we were gutted with our own performance. We didn’t play to proper standards and we were disappointed. A few harsh words were spoken that night but they were needed. Beating Leinster or playing at home won’t win this game for us, it won’t be a matter of just turning up.

“Llanelli have beaten the Ospreys, who were probably the favourites, but we want some silverware at the end of a long season and hopefully we’ll get some this time round.”