Reddan taking nothing for granted in Irish scrum-half battle

EOIN REDDAN has been around long enough to know there are no trophies won in January and that potential doesn’t always guarantee glory.

Warning Leinster fans not to get too excited about the province’s fine Heineken Cup campaign thus far, Reddan won’t even allow his thoughts to drift forward to the April quarter-final clash with Leicester Tigers.

“We haven’t won anything yet,” he said. “It’s nice to get praise but we have nothing to show for it. We’ve done some good things; one or two of our results were really good but we must keep improving. That’s key.

“It doesn’t mean we have to score more tries or win games by more; it just means being better at the simple things like first phase breakdowns and these kind of things.”

For now, his focus is on the international game and come Tuesday he hopes to get a vote of confidence from national coach Declan Kidney for a place in the side to take on Italy in the Six Nations opener.

The public perception is that it will come to a straight choice between Reddan and Peter Stringer for the scrum-half slot, but the Leinster player worries that Tomás O’Leary and Isaac Boss are still firmly in the loop even if they were re-deployed to the Wolfhounds for last night’s A international with Scotland.

“I (honestly) thought straight away that it (O’Leary and Boss being with the Wolfhounds) meant absolutely nothing. I think that Declan could easily watch the two boys and come up with (something different) whatever.

“Just because myself and Peter happen to be in the senior squad now doesn’t mean we’re not looking out for challenges from elsewhere; you just have to look at Tomás and Isaac to know there’s nothing positive (decided) for the Six Nations.

“It’s hard (to judge yourself) you know, because I’m only watching myself and ye (outsiders) get to watch all the games at weekends: obviously, I certainly am enjoying the way we’re playing in Leinster but it’s up to other people to make those decisions and those calls.”

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt has forced Reddan and Boss to think outside the box this season as far as selection is concerned. It’s not quite rotational, but to the parties concerned it can seem that way at times.

Reddan admitted that it had taken a bit of getting used to. “Obviously when you start a season you’ve got to get your head around that (rotation plan), deal with that mentally and produce the form when you’re actually on the pitch.

“It’s going well and there’s no one throwing the toys out of the cot; in that situation, we’re both playing quite well and it’s working.

“When not playing, I get to work harder on other things like passing, kicking and weights; there are loads of things I can do in that week to help me going on. There are positives to playing every week but there also positives to having that time to look back and work out how to move on (as a player).”

Reddan revealed there is mostly good camaraderie between scrum-halves, in as much as there appears to be a special bond between front row forwards.

“Generally most nines get on well because they have the same things in common, issues about the way the breakdown, scrums and line-outs are going; both of you will have that together, so both of you will likely work to sort that out. Because of that mutual interest, nines do tend to get on very well.”