Happy Hooker
YOU just gotta love John Fogarty. The son of Cashel is the type that meets most days with a big beaming smile. and that hasn’t changed this week just because he is facing into something as serious as a European semi-final.
Fogarty was one of three Leinster players wheeled out in Donnybrook on Tuesday for a laborious merry-go-round of press duties with print, radio and TV journalists and it made for an interesting few hours.
Nathan Hines bore all the hallmarks of a man bemused at the fact that he was dragged in front of the fourth estate for the third time in the space of a month but Leo Cullen was an altogether more interesting character study. The captain sat ramrod straight, pausing for a few seconds’ thought after each enquiry before launching into carefully moulded, analytical replies. His was an interview that all but screamed ‘FOCUS’.
And then Fogarty, who strolled in stuffing the last of a sandwich into his mouth before giving an interview that felt more like a chat down the pub. Different strokes for different folks, eh?
He has reason to be happy.
This year has been the most fulfilling in a career that has included pitstops with Munster and Connacht before a move to Dublin two summers ago that has allowed him shoot into rugby’s fast lane. His first season was a successful bridging operation which saw him make half a dozen European appearances off the bench, but he has replaced Bernard Jackman this time around to become the undisputed first-choice hooker.
“I have had a little bit of luck. Bernard’s knees have been at him a bit more this year than last year and I have had an opportunity to get in there and I am loving every second of it, to be honest with you. I have spent a lot of time watching games, like this Toulouse game, and I can’t wait to be a part of something like this. It is special when you are playing in Europe and even moreso in France against someone like Toulouse. I can’t wait, I really can’t wait.”
Fogarty’s bonhomie shouldn’t be misinterpreted; he is every bit as focused as Cullen. This is a fiercely driven man, one who could have stayed on in Galway where he was happy both on the pitch and off.
That drive was apparent again earlier this season when he was pulled from the Ireland ‘A’ squad to join up with their senior counterparts ahead of the autumn international against Australia after an injury scare to Jerry Flannery.
In the event, Flannery was passed fit and, by then, the ‘A’s had already played their game against Tonga in Ravenhill. Had ‘Fogs’ wished, he could have gone home and put his feet up for a well-earned weekend off. Instead, his first instinct was to ring Cheika and inform him he was available and wished to be considered for the Leinster ‘A’ side’s game against Plymouth Albion in the British and Irish Cup.
It poured rain, Fogarty played and loved every minute of it. Needless to say he is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to test himself against Toulouse in their own back yard, with the sun on his back.
“It’s brilliant to play in France,” he says with that familiar grin. “There is always a huge atmosphere. They are very parochial over there and they develop this intimidating sort of atmosphere which is great to play in. They are great games... but they are very tough matches and you need to stick together and have a crack.”
There has been a lot of talk about Toulouse on this side of the continent this week. Maybe too much talk and even Michael Cheika has been happy to paint Leinster into the underdogs camp. Fogarty can accept why people might see things in that light and he is fine with anything that might engender a siege mentality in the visitors, but a part of him clearly grates at the possibility of Leinster being dismissed.
Yes, he accepts, it is a big ask to go over to Toulouse and beat them on their own patch but he is just as quick to point out that this is the Heineken Cup holders that we are talking about here.n “As the week has gone on you grow in confidence and we have been putting ourselves under a lot of pressure. We have a (mock) Toulouse side playing against us in training, really putting it to us. You build confidence through that type of thing and you build it by knowing that you are the champions and all the little ups and downs over the last season or two. Leinster have developed a harder mentality.”
Toulouse have been below par by their own standards for much of the season and yet they are still in the mix to claim another Top 14 title and two games away from claiming what would be a record fourth Heineken Cup.
“They have got this off-loading game and they really do come at you from everywhere so it is a matter of making your tackles, not panicking and sticking to systems. They are an intimidating team when they are coming forward like that.
“There are going to be breaks in the game and it is about how you react to them. We have a very good scramble defence. We have obviously looked at what they are going to do and how they will attack. But we have been concentrating on ourselves a lot this week. We are kind of done looking at them and we’re concentrating more on what we are going to do, to implement our game.”
They are hardly stepping into the unknown. Enough of them have played in Toulouse as Leinster men before, whether in that famous win in 2006 or the 33-6 spanking they suffered two years later.
Clermont, with their big, mobile pack and star names dotted around the back line, were hardly a bad trial run for what is to come, although Fogarty isn’t all that interested in digging up the past for life lessons.
The future isn’t occupying his thoughts much either, even though it isn’t too fanciful to think that he could soon be facing his brother Denis and his old Munster team in next month’s final at the Stade de France.
“In Tipperary, everyone would love that, where they can slag me and bring up Denis but, I don’t know. It’s so far away from my mind now but, wouldn’t it be great? Yeah.”
Imagine the smile then.
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