Lack of chances prompts Gleeson to quit
The 32-year old openside flanker informed Cheika last week of his decision to quit the game and return to Australia with his wife Fiona where he intends to work in the family financial planning business.
Though born in Dublin, Gleeson’s family emigrated to Australia when he was seven. He returned to Ireland in 2001 to join Leinster having represented the New South Wales Waratahs along with Australia at U19 and U21 levels.
His full Irish debut came the following year and he was an integral member of the first XV for two seasons before breaking an arm in the Six Nations match against Italy in 2004. Worse was to follow later that autumn when a serious leg injury in training threatened to end his career. Though he battled back to reclaim his place with Leinster, Gleeson managed only two games apiece in 2006 and 2007 with the national side and his last match for Ireland was as a replacement in the World Cup warm-up defeat to Scotland last September.
He was not included in Eddie O’Sullivan’s 30-man World Cup squad. Gleeson made 27 appearances for his country, a haul seen as far too few by admirers who believe he had so much to offer in the openside position.
Cheika agreed yesterday that his retirement could be viewed as premature, a fact made all the more apparent by the sight of a 33-year old Martyn Williams returning to the international fold to win a Grand Slam with Wales last week.
“When he spoke to me about it, I was very surprised,” admitted Cheika. “It is a two-fold thing for him. It is the injury he sustained. Playing through and coming back from that takes its toll on him every day and he is the type of guy who does look longer term.
“He is very passionate about playing for Ireland too and he might feel that, that time is over for him too … I just think how lucky it has been for us (Leinster) that Ireland haven’t picked him. We have had him the whole time.”
Commenting on his decision to retire, Gleeson said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Leinster Rugby and am honoured to have played for both my province and country. My decision to retire is largely inspired by my desire to explore new avenues and opportunities and I feel now is the time to do that.”
Before he goes, Gleeson has the opportunity to claim a Magners League title with the province who lead the table by eight points from the Cardiff Blues with six games to come. First up on the homeward stretch is Glasgow tomorrow at the RDS and Cheika can call on his Ireland internationals who returned to the provincial set-up yesterday.
“We have got a lot of integration to do with the international players only coming back,” said the coach. “They needed to have some time off and so we need to keep things very simple and be very strong in the basics of our game plan, which is something we have been able to do for the last few games. Also, we haven’t played for three weeks.”
Another positive for the province is the news that their first-choice centre pairing of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy are expected to be fit again within “a couple of weeks” according to Cheika. That would rule them out of Saturday week’s tie against the Llanelli Scarlets at Stradey Park but would suggest they should be in line to play against Munster in Dublin on April 12.
Forwards: C Healy, O le Roux, B Blaney, B Jackman, S Knoop, S Wright, L Cullen, T Hogan, M O’Kelly, C Jowitt, S Keogh, K Gleeson, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
Backs: C Keane, C Whitaker, F Contepomi, J Sexton, L Fitzgerald, M Berne, C Warner, G Brown, S Horgan, R Kearney.
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