Growin’ up throwin’

In an alternate universe somewhere, Cian Healy is preparing for the London Olympics right now and not the Six Nations.

Back in his Belvedere days, Healy could be found hanging out at Raheny Shamrocks Athletics Club when he wasn’t appearing as a prop or hooker for the school Junior or Senior Cup teams. But javelin, shot and discuss. And he was damn good too.

A handful of All-Ireland titles had already been squirreled away by the time he decided to give his all to rugby but the years spent honing his throwing techniques under the legendary Phil Conway paid off.

“All that training through athletics kind of relayed into what I was doing in rugby,” Healy said this week. “So it kind of helped me have a slight edge, whether it be speed or strength in my training. That kind of helped me.

“It’s all based on explosive power, how quick you can get from A to B in a small space. So training now is kind of the same. If you consider a scrum, you’re only going to need it for that kind of fast shock, that metre stronger you have to be when you’re doing it.”

Healy jacked it in when he was 19 but he isn’t the only Irish rugby player to have dabbled in both codes. Victor Costello represented Ireland in the shot at the 1992 Olympic Games and Tom Court was Australian University champion three years in-a-row.

To the present tense and Sunday’s clash with the side that ended their World Cup ambitions last October. Revenge on the mind then? “It’s a different year and a different competition and we’re going out with a different look on it and playing our own game and doing our own job,” said Healy. “I don’t see much need for revenge because that is back in the past and we’re looking forward.

“It was a very physical game and they got the advantage. We broke their line a lot of times and didn’t finish on them and when they broke our line they did. That’s not being screwed on that extra little bit but that’s in the past.”