Ex-Munster star relishing his Leinster renaissance

STEPHEN KEOGH has only one real gripe with life in Dublin since his move from Munster to Leinster – the traffic!

Otherwise, his career is experiencing few obstructions. Things are going according the plan with lots of first team football, and impressive performances at that.

Indeed, in last week’s historic encounter against Ulster at Lansdowne Road, Keogh was named as man-of-the-match and came agonisingly close to securing a bonus point. He was satisfied, but isn’t fooled by awards of this nature. “Somebody has to be picked out as man-of-the-match, but usually it’s someone getting it off the back of the guys around him. I benefited because Jamie (Heaslip) and Keith (Gleeson) did a lot of the spadework,” he said.

So what are the differences playing for Leinster compared to Munster?

He said: “Certainly, from a work ethic point of view, there’s absolutely no difference. The lads here work as hard as anyone in Munster. Maybe the game up here isn’t quite as structured as the game Munster play, but I’m really enjoying it here. Certainly you need to have the gas to get around the field chasing some of those backs!”

He continued: “I have a job to do and they have a job to do too, but it’s nice when you pop your head up from a scrum or a ruck and see these guys making quality use of the possession that has been provided.”

But Keogh mentioned the Munster backs in glowing terms also: Some people don’t seem to give the Munster backs the credit they deserve. All you’ve got to do is look back at a number of the biggest games over the last few years and see the contribution those backs made,” he added.

He also insisted: “People should recognise that the fact you might have a great pack (Munster) doesn’t mean you have weak backs or vice versa. I think both Munster and Leinster have really well balanced teams and have proved that by taking on the best in Europe, and beating them, regularly.

Apart from that minor traffic issue, he is happy with his move.

“I think the most important thing is that I’m getting time on the pitch. Everyone wants to play matches and I’ve been getting a run in the team now. I’m enjoying the style of play but the real boost is getting that game time.

“I was a bit frustrated in Munster.

“I know I had game time there, but it wasn’t enough for me,” he said.

He had another frustrating day recently when Leinster went to Thomond Park and came away with nothing to show for their efforts.

“Yes, that was disappointing,” admitted Keogh, I feel we left ourselves down, we were in the match for a long time but then drifted out of contention as the second half wore on. We lost way too much ball in contact.”

But Leinster quickly perked up with that New Year’s Eve victory over Ulster — a win that when combined by Llanelli’s New Year’s Day defeat — pushed them into second place in the Magners League table.

“December and January seem to be the defining months for the whole season, for everybody. We’ve put down a hard but fairly good month, and we’re facing into another tough four weeks. We’ll be looking for positive results. It’s imperative we get them as we bid to keep our challenge for trophies going.”

The Neath/Swansea Ospreys provide the opposition at Donnybrook tonight (7.30pm) and Keogh is well aware of the dangers posed by the Welsh outfit.

“They have had their ups and downs, but when they hit form they’re capable of beating anyone. We’ll be going out to win, knowing the importance of points at this stage, but we will treat them with the utmost of respect. We won’t expect it any easier than we had it against both Munster and Ulster these last couple of weeks,” he said.