Opportunity knocks for wing man McFadden

KNOCKING on doors is nothing new to Fergus McFadden after understudying Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy in the Leinster midfield.

It prompted a switch to the wing and now, as no less than five doors have shut in the face of injured rivals in the Ireland camp, a big one has opened in time for the Six Nations opener in Rome on Saturday against Italy.

With injuries decimating his back-three options with the loss of Tommy Bowe, Shane Horgan, Rob Kearney, Geordan Murphy and Andrew Trimble, Declan Kidney yesterday turned to 24-year-old centre-turned-wing McFadden for this weekend’s trip to the Italian capital.

“I was originally with the Wolfhounds last week and was due to play in that match against Scotland on Friday,” McFadden said. “Then I heard Shane (Horgan) had a problem with his knee, Andrew had a broken hand and Tommy didn’t come through the scan. There was an opening there but there’s still a lot of good players left.

“The strength in depth in Ireland is one of the add-ons that we’ve brought into Irish rugby over the last three or four years. So there’s still good competition there. In training yesterday, things were looking positive for me but you’re still not going to make any presumptions and my heart was beating pretty fast when Declan was calling out the team. Thankfully I was on the team sheet and I was over the moon.”

McFadden has Leinster coach Joe Schmidt to thank for his conversion to the wing after singling out the 6ft back for a specific detail in the Heineken Cup against Clermont last October.

“Luke and Rob got injured in the back three and Nalaga, the Clermont right wing is quite big and he (Schmidt) was looking for someone a bit more physical to mark him. I said ‘of course, if it means I’m going to be on the team’. I showed well against Scarlets and kicked on from there.”

For McFadden, it was a welcome breakthrough after hitting a brick wall at centre. “I’d always backed myself to get into the team but with Gordon and Brian there in an extremely strong partnership, one of the best in Europe, thankfully I got a chance on the wing.

“Joe was looking to get the best players on the pitch and I fitted into the team the last six or seven games.

“There was a period at the start of last year when I was going ‘does my future lie in Leinster?’ But I’ve signed a two-year deal and I’m happy. I hope it’s going to be a bright future.”