Patience a virtue for O’Leary

IT has become an iconic moment in Munster’s Heineken Cup defence.

52 minutes into their must-win clash with Clermont Auvergne at Thomond Park in December, the hosts were nervously defending a 11-6 lead. The ball fell to an onrushing Benoit Baby who looked set for an easy run under the posts. That’s when Tomás O’Leary entered the equation.

All the odds favoured Baby, who was running at full tilt, 10 yards from the line against the smaller scrum half. But O’Leary nailed man and ball, saved a certain seven-pointer, left Baby bloodied, and swung the game back in Munster’s favour.

The tackle wasn’t a once off. Last month he produced another piece of heroics when downing Johnny Vaughton in the Magners League win over Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium. It’s his versatility and all-round game that has O’Leary where he is today, as Ireland scrum half for the visit of France on Saturday.

Defence is just one of his many attributes — but he’s keen to downplay his talents.

“Everyone in the modern game has a job to tackle,” he said unassumingly.

His memory refreshed of the head-on stop on Baby, he recalled: “I was just lucky to hit him in the right place. Everyone works on all aspects of the game in training and defence has become a massive part of the modern game. Les (Kiss, Ireland’s defence coach) has us well drilled in that aspect of things.

Hopefully I can make my tackles Saturday. That’s what I’m focusing on — and not what happened in the past.

O’Leary has spent the past few years watching the Six Nations on television, wondering if there was any way he would ever unseat either Peter Stringer or Eoin Reddan. His name didn’t enter the international mix until Declan Kidney sprung him for the Heineken Cup quarter-final at Gloucester last April. Things have snowballed since.

True, he picked up his first cap as a late wing replacement on the Argentine tour in the summer of 2007 but it did little to sate his appetite.

So the former All-Ireland MHC winning skipper worked harder and harder until he reached his goal. He made his first start in the crucial games against the All Blacks and the Pumas in November and now aims to consolidate his place in the side.

“It’s a great thrill to be facing into my first Six Nations game,” he admitted. “It will be a big day for me on Saturday. I’m enjoying my rugby and obviously it’s brilliant to be playing with Ronan (O’Gara) for the last few years.

“It’s great to have a top-class number ten outside you. The direction he gives and the experience he has and he’s a class footballer. It couldn’t be better. It’s also an advantage to have so many of the Munster team in the pack. Hopefully, the familiarity is going to be a bonus”.

After all the experiences gained with Munster, it is difficult to regard Tomás O’Leary as something of a novice. But this is only his fourth cap and he carries a big responsibility on those broad shoulders on Saturday given how France pulled off that heart breaking victory at Croke Park in 2007.

He stressed: “Obviously, we were all fierce disappointed to lose that game in the last play but I don’t think that has any bearing on Saturday’s game. It’s two years down the line. Back then, I was quite a bit away from Ireland but I knew that if I could start playing regularly for Munster that I would be in the shop window for Ireland. So I focused my mind on playing for Munster and that’s still very much the case.

“If you’re playing week in, week out for your province, you have a good chance of getting on the Irish team. You have to take care of your bread and butter and that keeps you focused.”

O’Leary makes no secret of his respect and admiration for Stringer, describing him as: “a great player and I’ve learned what I can from him. The competition is good for both of us, makes us train harder and develop different aspects of our game.”

And even when he was the one warming the bench, O’Leary always remained positive.

“The key thing is not to panic and not to get too frustrated. There are times when you get impatient but you try to stay working hard at it — that’s what I did.

“No, I never felt I needed to leave Munster to progress. When you’re in an environment here with Munster and training with Ireland, you’re learning from some of the best players in the world.

“When I was first involved with Munster, Deccie preached about patience. Look at other lads in Munster, Donncha (O’Callaghan), Marcus (Horan), they’ve had to bide their time and serve an apprenticeship of sorts. I think that has been a good thing because some times in life, if you get things too easily, you don’t really appreciate them.”

Although he dismissed suggestions some members of the squad might prefer success in Europe to a Six Nations Championship, the Heineken Cup has meant a huge amount to O’Leary’s career, not least because his versatility has enabled him to figure in most positions behind the scrum.

He scored a couple of tries after coming on as a late wing replacement in Castres in 2006 and it didn’t seem to faze him when moved to out-half in the recent Magners League win over the Ospreys in Swansea. So does he feel there is little or nothing between top-class European matches and the international game?

“The Heineken Cup is obviously a great competition and is of a very high standard but the physicality and pace are higher again at international level. I don’t mind the physicality, being a rugby player you have to enjoy that. I wouldn’t claim the more physical the game the better it suits me… I feel I can adapt to conditions.

“The higher the level you go, the better skills people have, the quicker they are, the harder they are, it’s more of a level playing pitch. But the greater the challenge is the place you want to be… you want to challenge yourself against the best and that’s what I enjoy.

“A lot of the guys on this side have been tipping away for the last five or six years and I can see how badly they want to win the championship. I’m no different.

“It’s the ultimate honour to represent your country. The fact that we haven’t won a Six Nations or even looked like winning a Grand Slam in the last few years shows how difficult a competition it is to win.

“If we could do it, it would be a brilliant achievement and the boys are very ambitious to do that. Fellas don’t want to retire and look back and say we should have won a Six Nations or a Grand Slam. Nothing less will be accepted”.