Hogan’s courage pays dividends

LET’S get the obvious out of the way first; this weekend, for the final round of pool games in the Heineken Cup, Trevor Hogan should be preparing for Munster’s massive game against Leicester in Thomond Park.

He’s not. Instead, this proud son of Tipperary — accent intact after several years as both student and rugby player in Dublin — will be in Kingsholm, just as proud in the blue of Leinster as they face their own critical match against Gloucester tonight. It’s not that Trevor, having spent a couple of seasons in the Munster squad and having become a regular starter in the Celtic League, preferred to migrate north and eastwards. Circumstances dictated it.

His talent was obvious, but with a couple of second-rows of the calibre of Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan ahead of him in Munster, and Mick O’Driscoll making a huge impression on his return from France, he knew. A journalism graduate, he read the writing on the wall, and it was pointing directly towards the exit.

What more fitting place than Leinster where, having done his penance in DCU and played with Blackrock, there was such familiarity? It took courage and a huge amount of self-belief, but this week, with his inclusion in the 35-man Ireland Six-Nations panel, that courage has really paid off.

“It was obviously tough to leave Munster, but the quality of players that were there, it was very hard to get regular games. That’s not to say there isn’t great quality up here, but I was lucky enough to get regular games.

“The Heineken Cup is the main tournament, another step up from the Magners League, and that’s how you measure your improvement. If you can make a few carries, live with the intensity of the Heineken Cup, you’re going to improve. Playing with players of the calibre of Malcolm O’Kelly, playing against players of that calibre, all those players around you in that environment, that has helped me no end.”

Speaking of Malcolm, to many in Munster the Leinster giant almost personifies the difference between the two provinces. With Munster, the work ethic is huge, a never-say-die attitude of all-out aggression from first whistle to last. To many an arrogant Munster fan (yes, there is such an animal), Mal just hasn’t got that, for all his obvious talents.

If you really want to know me, as the saying goes, come and live with me, however. Trevor has lived alongside Mal now for all of this season and his impression is very different.

“Ah, he’s just brilliant. He’s different to Paul O’Connell, but he’s so experienced, so knowledgeable about the game. Just sitting down with him and analysing the opposition is so valuable for me, learning, seeing how he operates. He’s so fit, so fast, and even that pop pass inside for me last week (Leinster’s big win over Edinburgh), I was just lucky enough to be inside him.”

Obviously, they get on very well.

“We do,” he says, “We all get on very well, there’s a great spirit amongst all the lads, they’re all sound. Good slagging, all good.”

Staying with the Munster connection, it’s been four years since Munster’s Miracle Match win over Gloucester in Thomond Park to secure a Heineken Cup quarter-final place. Earlier, however, in the away leg in Kingsholm (the same venue where Leinster will tonight try for the win that will secure a home quarter-final draw), Munster had shipped a heavy 35-16 loss. While he wasn’t a member of the match squads for either of those games, Trevor was there.

“I was just after getting into the squad that year, and I remember the video analysis the day after Kingsholm, it was a tough scene, a tough match to lose so early on in the group stages.

“We knew we were on the back foot after that and it was always building up to that final game in Thomond Park. I remember that no-one was really aware of how many points we needed to beat Gloucester by, it just happened, but the performance that day was unbelievable, it all came together. I was in the stand, and the fans were massive that day.”

Brian O’Driscoll and Girvan Dempsey return to the starting line-up tonight with Brian Blaney returning to the replacements bench in the only changes to the team that defeated Edinburgh. That means that Hogan again partners Mal O’Kelly in the second row with Keith Gleeson continuing his in-form back row partnership with Stephen Keogh and Jamie Heaslip.

A decision on who will take the final place on the replacements bench, between Christian Warner and the fit again Luke Fitzgerald, will be made closer to kick-off.