Coughlan: All Blacks loss was gut-wrenching but we gave it our all

WHEN James Coughlan won a place on the Munster team to play New Zealand at the official opening of Thomond Park a couple of years ago it was arguably the highlight of his career.

The fact that Munster lost that game in the dying moments to a Joe Rokocoko try was neither here nor there; he was hugely proud of Munster’s performance and this evening hopes for a repeat as they face Australia.

“There was a type of sinking feel afterwards, it was gut-wrenching, but we knew we had given it everything and didn’t have any more in the tank.

“Regardless of the outcome, that was hugely important because we were able to look one another in the eye. I knew, for instance, that I and many others had nothing physically left to give.

Indeed, while Coughlan has moved onwards and upwards, one of his proudest moments in a Munster jersey was as recently as a fortnight ago on a wet and windy night in Belfast for a low key Magners League game.

Two years down the track, and with an upcoming challenge against the Wallabies in the pipeline, Coughlan reminds us that while the All Blacks game was always going to be a hugely special occasion and memory in his life it was still a one-off occasion.

“Sometimes, you know, it takes a game like the Ulster one a couple of weeks ago to bring it home to you; that was a game where you might have every excuse not to win on the basis that there were so many lads (front-line players) away; it was lashing rain, we were sitting on the aircraft waiting for take-off for an hour, but we still had to travel up there and then grind it out.

“Of course, it wasn’t more special but it was very satisfactory because we had to put our heads down and break a gut to get the result; so I would say at the end of the day that it was pretty special to get a win in Ravenhill against the odds.”

Coughlan is a prime example of somebody who had to fight for every opportunity that came his way.

Although he had played rugby since the age of 10 with Old Christians RFC and then CBC, UCC and Dolphin, he was 24 before being plucked from the relative obscurity of club rugby.

He still didn’t expect the call from Declan Kidney: “Yeah, I suppose it was a bit of a surprise to get offered a contract at 24 but I was glad to get it. The first couple of years were spent playing catch-up, trying to come to terms with the physicality of the game at this level but I had massive support from Axel (Anthony Foley) and others.

“Axel was brilliant with me; it wasn’t like he was worried about his place in the team but that any new guys would be the ones to carry on the Munster tradition; it was and is, without doubt, a case of us being on this journey together. Anyone who gets to play is regarded as representing the whole group, not just themselves, and that’s something Tony (McGahan) has managed to drill into everyone.

“Things are going pretty well; I’m playing well and the coaches are getting to the stage, I think, where they feel they can rely on me.”