Contract talks not disrupting Heaslip’s Ireland focus

Jamie Heaslip insists his ongoing contract negotiations with the IRFU will bring no disruption or distraction to Ireland’s RBS 6 Nations campaign over the next eight weeks.

The Ireland vice-captain and No 8 is out of contract this summer and has been heavily linked with a move from Leinster to a Top 14 club in France.

Yet while the 30-year-old has spoken of his dissatisfaction with the time taken to negotiate a new IRFU contract, in an interview conducted with the IRFU and distributed to media outlets yesterday, Heaslip said his focus was solely on Ireland’s Six Nations campaign, which starts on February 2 at home to Scotland. Asked by an IRFU.tv interviewer where his contract negotiations would affect his preparations for the Six Nations, Heaslip replied: “Unfortunately there’s a business side to this game that people sometime probably aren’t aware of and there’s been a lot of talk about different players in terms of their contracts and this, that and the other. And unfortunately it’s dragged out much longer than I wanted and it seems to be ongoing but it hasn’t been a distraction and that’s why I suppose I have an agent to deal with that and I can just play rugby and that’s what I’ve been doing. He’ll do his job and I’ll do mine.”

The Lions No 8 said he felt ready to go after three big games since Christmas as Leinster secured a Heineken Cup quarter-final berth with wins over Castres and Ospreys.

“I got a couple of weekends off at Christmas time, I don’t like getting breaks, I like playing and I think that’s the best way to go about it, always training, always playing. Then it rolled into a good derby against Connacht and then back-to-back Heineken Cup games, which were in the space of, like, five days, so it didn’t seem like three weeks, more like a quick two-week turnaround.

“I feel absolutely great, played Friday, had Saturday and Sunday off and now coming into Ireland camp this week and feeling fresh and good to go.”

Leinster face a difficult trip to Toulon when European action resumes in April but Heaslip said the province’s experience of getting vital away wins in France, such as their victory over Castres at Stade Pierre Antoine a fortnight ago, would stand to Matt O’Connor’s side.

“We have to go away and get a win which in the Heineken Cup is always difficult. I think we’ve had some great experiences in the last couple of years, especially with this group, going away and getting a win.

We’re going against the current champions in their own back garden so it’s going to be a massive challenge for our team and it’s going to be a bit of a headache for our coaches for the next couple of weeks over the Six Nations to formulate a plan, and for the guys back in Leinster. But we’re all looking forward to it in the club.”