Another O'Brien making his mark with Leinster

Conor O’Brien had more than a hint of deja vu when he made his Leinster European debut against Toulouse last week.

The 22-year-old centre came off the bench with just minutes to go against the French giants, earning his eighth cap of the season.

It was an entirely new experience for the Mullingar man, but there was still a hint of familiarity about it.

“When I got on, I didn’t even touch the ball, I fell off Cheslin Kolbe, that was about the height of it,” O’Brien said.

“It was unbelievable to be involved against such a class team as Toulouse. Someone was saying to me there, 10 years ago, I was U11s or U12s for Mullingar and I played at half-time in that exact fixture (between Toulouse and Leinster).

“I got four minutes both days. I suppose it progressed, in a way.”

Luke Fitzgerald and Felipe Contepomi got the points when Leinster beat Toulouse in January 2008 — the game that saw 11-year-old O’Brien play his part in the half-time entertainment.

Now his goals are somewhat loftier, and recent performances have shown the former Westmeath minor has the right to aim high.

He was added to the Champions Cup squad after impressing during the festive fixtures, and the ultimate reward came when he was told to warm up and take to the field against the four-time European champions.

“I kind of knew I was coming on after 77 minutes and you’re kind of all over the place,” he said. “It’s such a crazy week. I only found out late in the week that I was on the bench so it was mad, with everyone sending you good luck texts and everyone’s happy for you.

“It’s easy to get distracted and listen to all of that and be like, ‘I’m a great lad here now being on the bench for a Champions Cup game’, but you kind of have to knuckle down a bit and focus and take a step back.

“So, you’re getting down to the ground and it’s weird… I haven’t been a sub too much when I’m playing, but when you do it’s like you’re coming into the game and it’s unusual because mentally you’re not switched on to start the game but, at the time same, you have to be ready to come in whenever you’re needed. So you’re kind of edge on the bench.

"I like to watch the games as well, you’d be down trying to warm-up but I’d be down the back near the tryline or whatever. I wasn’t needed, well I wasn’t needed until the 77th minute or whatever but it was class performance and then when I got on sure I didn’t even touch the ball.”

With Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw at Leinster, it’s not easy to wear the No. 12 or No. 13 shirt but that won’t stop O’Brien from trying.

Henshaw, a fellow Westmeath native, is his ‘role model’, and though he knows it won’t be easy to get past him — he finds it an honour just to be mentioned in the same breath.

"We are both footballers from Westmeath playing rugby,” O’Brien smiled.

He’s a really good role model to have without sounding too cringey. We are a similar enough build and our attributes are similar, strengths and stuff, so he’s the perfect person to have there to look at in training.

When he is running round you in training you learn fairly quick to stop him or try your best to stop him.

“But you have to be realistic when you are going in here, Robbie Henshaw is a Lion and so you can’t be disappointed when he comes back in and pushes you out of the team.

"I suppose it’s a good conversation to have that you’re talking about me trying to overtake Robbie Henshaw. Trying to get up to that level... I wouldn’t have considered it until you’d asked me these type of questions. I was playing for Clontarf last year, so every little bit of progress...”