Fitzgerald settles into the green machine

LUKE FITZGERALD could be grouped amongst Ireland’s second generation of professional rugby players, in a category with Rob Kearney, Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe, Jamie Heaslip and Tomás O’Leary.

Besides possessing talent, theirs is common history of enduring setbacks and, for some, of kicking their heels on the bench with their provinces.

When Fitzgerald, for example, made his international debut against the Pacific Islanders in November 2006, just three months after picking up his Leaving Certificate results, many felt here was the future of Irish rugby, a sure thing for the 2007 World Cup squad.

But professional rugby hasn’t worked out like that for this second generation. Take Kearney. He must have despaired during his early years as a pro of ever making the breakthrough even at Leinster, not to mind Ireland. Fitzgerald, similarly, had to learn to take omission from provincial teams on the chin and instead work hard to force his way in amongst the ‘galacticos’.

He found that a first Ireland cap back in November 2006 wasn’t an automatic ticket to selection at Leinster.

“I was very lucky,” he recounts. “My dad (Des) had said to me at the time: ‘Let’s be realistic here — unless you play out of your skin, you’re not going to get another opportunity for another year or two, that’s just the way it is. There are a lot of quality players ahead of you and you just have to bide your time and keep performing for the province.’

“I think I’ve done that and I’m delighted to be given the opportunity, especially given the amount of competition. It’s a real honour and I’m really happy to be selected (for Ireland).”

Still, it’s easy to understand why an international rookie like Fitzgerald was marked out as something special from a young age. Even before a teenager is inducted into one of the provincial academies, criteria for selection isn’t based on talent alone: level-headedness, maturity and responsibility are also factored into the equation. Fitzgerald, according to those at the highest level of the game, ticked those boxes long before his first cap against the Islanders, would by-pass the academy system and take up a full professional contract at 19.

Surrounded by character-moulding influences like his Dad, who won 34 caps for his country, and Michael Cheika, Fitzgerald realised that the road to the top is filled with obstacles. His father recently said in a piece about his son that talent alone won’t make you great. Attitude will. Young Luke agrees.

“Yeah, I suppose it’s hard to get that through your head. You come back a week or two later and you’re not playing for the province, and it’s a case of ‘get your feet back on the ground’.

“You realise there’s an awful lot of hard work to go. I think I was lucky that my dad had prepared me for it, and then Michael is very vocal. We had one or two meetings and he just said, ‘look, you have to bide your time here, there’s an awful lot of guys who are playing very well in your position’, and I know, they have been there and done it before me. He told me to bide my time, keep playing well and take my opportunities.”

He didn’t make the World Cup squad (just like Kearney, Bowe, Heaslip and O’Leary) but earned his first cap as a replacement on tour to Argentina in World Cup year before making a few cameo appearances in last year’s Six Nations. He was selected to play in midfield alongside Brian O’Driscoll in the first Test in Wellington against New Zealand in the summer but injury ruled him out of that game and the Wallabies Test.

Last autumn brought him three successive starts in the centre alongside O’Driscoll and, while he prefers the fullback/outside centre slots, he has found himself patrolling the left wing for the first two games of the championship. While he describes the week leading up to his first cap as “a bit surreal”, now the team environment is less intimidating.

“I think you’re always going to be more settled given that I’ve had a bit more time with the team. Initially when you come in it’s a bit surreal. At the moment I feel a lot more settled, what is it, my third year in the squad? I feel a lot more comfortable.

“There are a lot of people around that I would call friends, whereas at the time it was a bit of a blur, seeing guys who you’d grown up watching on TV and coming in and playing with them. It was surreal. At the moment they’re my peers and friends so I’m a lot more comfortable.”

He watched the corresponding fixture against England two years ago from the Hogan Stand, but this year’s clash is less about the historical significance of the fixture and more about two teams and an oval ball. However, he still feels this Anglo-Irish affair at GAA headquarters will have an edge.

“I think the squad might have been a little bit sheltered from all the hype that came with the first game at Croke Park against England. They are all very aware of the history between the two nations.

“I think that’s always going to be there between the two countries, there’s always going to be that added edge, that added internal hype. Everyone, maybe, always looks forward to the England game than anything else.”