Foley living the dream with Munster
Yet the lock’s journey to this point is such that it will inform the 26-year-old’s every move in his professional life and prevent Foley from ever resting on his laurels.
The two-year deal signed by the Clonmel man this week capped a fantastic four weeks for the Munster second row, following on from a dream debut for Ireland against Georgia and a well-deserved place on the bench six days later as he helped close out victory over Australia.
It all seems a long way from where Foley was at even 11 months ago, still waiting for his first taste of European rugby that would only come against Gloucester at Kingsholm last January, nearly four years after making his competitive debut for the province.
Like Donnacha Ryan before him, Foley has come to personify patience in the extreme, one of a string of second-row forwards who have seen their promotion to the first team blocked by the consistency and longevity of Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, Mick O’Driscoll and, more recently, Ryan himself.
From that debut against Connacht in Galway in April 2010, the UL Bohs club man had to wait until September 2012 to reach double figures in Munster appearances, his cause not helped by a couple of serious injuries, including a dislocated shoulder sustained against the Dragons in April 2012. Still, it would take another 12 months for him to make his 10th start in a Munster line-up.
Last season, though, saw Foley uncork the bottle. His talent and abrasive approach had long been apparent, by his own admission it needed a work ethic to go with it and that finally emerged in 2013-14. His reward, in addition to a Heineken Cup debut from then head coach Rob Penney, was more appearances in one season than in his previous four combined and this campaign, with Ryan injured, has seen him maintain his position as a first-choice second row alongside O’Connell, the pair set to start tomorrow in the Champions Cup clash with Clermont Auvergne.
“He’s been growing for 18 months, two years,” Peter O’Mahony said this week. “You see the performances he’s been putting in for Munster and now for Ireland as well. He’s been learning a huge amount from Paulie obviously, but he’s bringing his own thing. He’s hugely physical, he’s a huge competitor, and he’s a great guy to play alongside, and I think games like these and games like his first cap, they’ll do nothing but push him on and he’ll want more.”
O’Mahony’s assessment matches the player’s own analysis of his progress.
“To be honest, I try not to look back but my work ethic has changed, I think,” Foley said. “I’m probably a good bit more professional than I was and once you get a taste of it, you want more of it and you will literally do anything to get more of it and you will leave no stone unturned to get it. Short-term goals are good for me and this weekend is what is important.
“It is not about looking back but about pushing forward. I suppose your careers are short and they can end at any time so I’m incredibly selfish when it comes to that sort of thing. I literally feel like I wasted a few years as such, you know, and I left Munster caps behind and stuff and I could have been in earlier so it is important now I stay injury-free and I just get as many caps as I can and add to what is going to be a successful team.”
As to why Foley left those Munster caps behind, the Tipperary man is brutally honest.
“It was down to myself, I probably wasn’t training hard enough. I don’t blame anybody else, it was down to me not training hard enough, maybe because I hadn’t got a taste for it. I’m not sure that I didn’t want it as much, I knew I wanted it but didn’t know what I had to put in to get it.
“Now that you have it, you will literally do anything to hold on to it. It can be taken off you in a moment and people want to take it off me now and I am going to do everything in my power to hold on to it.”
That will mean keeping the likes of a still hungry O’Callaghan, Ryan and Billy Holland at bay, a situation he was for so long on the other side of.
“I suppose it’s a bittersweet situation in the face that you are learning a lot from these guys, but yet you are stuck behind them. They have massive names, anyway, so how do you get yourself ahead of these guys? You have to be playing 20 to 30% better just to get yourself in the door.
“At times I probably was feeling sorry for myself, but being realistic I didn’t really know what I had to do to get in there.”
Foley was not alone in that frustration and it was an experience he shared with contemporaries Holland and Ian Nagle. During the summer Nagle declined a new contract after a loan spell at Newcastle in the English Premiership last season and decided to take a break from rugby.
“From the point of view of Nages and myself, it was never from a lack of talent. It was backlogged with second rows in Munster and that was the way it is. I don’t really want to be talking about Nages’ situation, but in mine I looked at the amount of internationals and I probably wasn’t training hard enough or whatever.
“But you have to be realistic. When I was 22 or 23 I probably wasn’t big enough or strong enough. I didn’t have a stamp, something that stood out more than those guys that are there. Ultimately I wasn’t getting picked and I was picking up a few caps playing what was Rabo at the time and that was it. It was between myself, Nages and Billy to pick up those few scraps and at times I wasn’t even playing when the internationals were away.
“Right up to even two, maybe three years ago, there were times I was on the bench for the ‘A’ side. When you have the amount of second rows that were there it is incredibly difficult for anyone to get any kind of look in.”
Now Foley will be the one leading the charge against Clermont, alongside old warhorse O’Connell. It is put to the junior partner that even the Ireland captain won’t last forever.
“He won’t, but he could!” exclaimed Foley with a mix of reverence and terror. “His career has lasted a long time. I’ll tell you, if I get to 35, I will be delighted. It’ll be incredible.”
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