Luke Fitzgerald: Early exposure to professional game didn’t cost me

Luke Fitzgerald doesn’t believe his injury-plagued career was the result of his early exposure to the professional game.

The Blackrock graduate was only 18 and had just completed his Leaving Certificate months earlier when he made his senior debut for Leinster, against Edinburgh, in 2006. That career, blighted by regular lengthy spells spent on the sidelines, officially came to an end last month.

Fitzgerald, played for Leinster, Ireland and the Lions but never AIL or for the Leinster ‘A’ side: he jumped at the chance to skip the usual stepping stones when Michael Cheika offered him the either/or option of academy or senior squad training 10 years ago.