Andrew Conway 'ready to rock' if Ireland's call comes for World Cup

The Munster man enjoyed a week in Andy Farrell's camp. 

KICKING ON: Andrew Conway pictured at the Budweiser Combine event. Budweiser is the official beer partner of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic which returns to the Aviva Stadium on August 26. Picture: INPHO/Evan Treacy

Despite more than a year of frustration sidelined by injury, Andrew Conway is “ready to rock” if Ireland boss Andy Farrell offers him a World Cup selection lifeline in the next three weeks, The Munster wing, 32, won the last of his 30 Test caps against England in the 2022 Six Nations before a complex knee injury reduced him to just two outings for Munster at the tail end of that campaign. 

The problem, which has need two surgeries, made last season a wipeout for Conway as Munster ended their 12-year trophy drought but the flyer with 15 Test tries was thrilled to get a call from Ireland to join the World Cup training squad for a week in camp last month.

Now back in pre-season training with Munster and looking forward to fresh start with the URC champions in 2023-24, Conway this week spent a day switching from rugby union to American Football as part of a Budweiser Combine ahead of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic which returns to Aviva Stadium on August 26th.

Yet there remains the possibility he could have to answer a call if injuries strike his fellow Ireland back-three players currently ahead of him in the Farrell pecking order.

Asked if he was on a standby list for Ireland, Conway said: “I couldn't tell you is the honest answer, I don't think there's necessarily going to be feedback to say you're the next guy in, I don't think that's how Faz works.

"He'll wait and see how things play out. The conversations I've had with him are that they're happy, that it was good to get me in to see where I was at physically and go back to Munster and keep trucking away and the cards will fall where the cards will fall.

"Obviously I'd love to go to the World Cup, there's no point in denying that. You manage your own mental space with that and I don't want to be held hostage to that having to happen because I don't think that's a healthy place to be in.

"But I also have a few techniques that I've used over the years to mentally prepare myself if that does happen so that if the cards do fall that way then I'm fully prepared and so that it won't be a surprise if I'm there.

"It's not looking likely but if I do end up there I have to be 100 per cent ready both mentally and physically to not just go there and fit in and be someone who is coming in to be a number, you want to put your best foot forward.

"There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, what's rattling through your brain and my experience over the years is that those thought processes have stood to be when other things looked unlikely.

"Like, it looked unlikely that I might play for Ireland at one stage and also that I might have gone to the last World Cup, so funny things happen in rugby but trying to balance that detachment from it not being the be all and end all so that if it does happen I'm fully ready to rock.” 

Conway described his time at the IRFU High Performance Centre as “a great week in camp”, having been given the go-ahead to return to high-intensity training by the Munster medics and whether it is with province or the national side that he makes his eventual return to play, the wing admitted there were a whole range of emotions at play.

“There's excitement, fear, doubt, everything. But actually doubt is a great thing, in my experience and has fuelled some of the best games I've ever played… So I try to roll with the emotions as they come and go, it's all just a mental battle we all have to deal with. The best thing for me is letting my emotions flow, being nice and loose with it and transferring that into performance, I'm excited about it.”