James Tracy on Thomond Park: ‘I remember getting heckled when I wasn’t even playing’

Leinster are poised to present a batch of fresh and inexperienced faces when they take on Munster this weekend but James Tracy won’t be among the boys in blue experiencing Thomond Park for the first time.

The hooker has made the festive trip to Limerick on each of the last four seasons, winning two and losing another pair. He understood just how intimidating the place can be long before he ever threw a pass or made a tackle there.

“I remember going down as 24th man years and years ago now and even getting heckled when I wasn’t even playing. I was in the warm-up and still getting abuse; that’s what you deal with. I was like, ‘wow, this place is something else’.”

Many has been the player who has wilted under this pressure. French and English full-backs have found their legs quivering and necks twisting towards the sounds of onrushing hooves as they dealt with balls dropping from the skies.

Grizzled forwards and imperious tens have come a cropper. Game plans have been shredded — and left in taxis — but Tracy understands and relishes the need to stand tall and look the bear in the eye when he enters this particular pit.

“As a rugby fan it’s probably my favourite place to play. Now, I’ve had bad days there, but they make the good days all the better. It’s an iconic ground. it’s been sold out for the last few years in this fixture and it’s an unbelievable one to be a part of.”

He knows what it is to face Munster when they hit their straps on home soil. The game in Limerick last year, when Fineen Wycherley got to grips with Jonathan Sexton and lit the touchpaper on a fiery encounter, is just one cautionary tale.

Leinster had trained well that week and their form was good. Before they knew it they’d conceded a trickle of penalties, earned two yellow cards and a red, and a wave of emotion and momentum had swept the hosts to a pulsating victory.

“It probably is a great yardstick of how we’re going,” said the 28-year old Kildare man. “It’s one of the most intense games. It’s tough, tougher than a lot of European games, intensity-wise. It’s a cauldron down there.

“Until you’ve been in it, sometimes you don’t know what’s going on until it’s over. The pressure, they’re brilliant at riding the wave of momentum and everything down there. It’s a lot different to most other fixtures, the feeling of playing down there anyway.”

Tracy has over a hundred caps for the province now and experience has taught him to control the contollables on occasions like this. Munster will test them at the lineout but he has learned that concentrating on the opposition is a “waste of mental energy”.

Tracy’s mantra is simple: Throw the ball to the spot expected of him and let the cards, and the jumpers, fall where they may. It’s a singular approach to what is a combined collective effort but it’s one that is working for him right.

Omitted from Joe Schmidt’s World Cup squad, as was expected, he has struggled to hit the heights that earned him six test caps and a berth where he was breathing over Sean Cronin’s shoulder at Leinster in recent seasons.

Tracy had featured in every one of Leinster’s games this season up to last weekend’s win against Ulster at the RDS but it is Ronan Kelleher who had stolen a march on Cronin at hooker this season until injury brought his meteoric rise to a halt.

“It’s obviously not ideal,” said Tracy of the youngster’s emergence.

“But Ronan, in fairness to him, he’s been class so far this year. For me, I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot. My opinion on it is, we pick the team. If you’re playing well enough they’re going to pick you.

“At the moment, he (Ronan) is playing really well, but I feel I’m in a pretty good spot too. I’m pushing him and it means one off-day and all of a sudden it could swing in my favour. I’m just trying to be the best I can be.

“Even every day, you can’t afford to have one off-day in training because all of a sudden, they’re looking at bringing in someone else. There are four or five of us pushing for one starting spot and one bench spot.”

Stand tall in Thomond Park and he won’t be far off that.