Irish passport another stamp on Gibson-Park's journey

The Leinster scrum-half was among 6,000 people to become new citizens last month

Sat, 13 Jan, 2024 - 07:24

Brendan O'Brien

Over 6,000 people born across an assortment of foreign shores - 131 different countries to be exact - filed in to Dublin’s Convention Centre last month and walked out again as Irish men and women.

The new citizens swore the Declaration of Fidelity to the Irish nation, agreed to faithfully observe its laws and to respect its democratic values. A big deal, basically, in anyone’s language.

“Today marks the end of one journey and the beginning of an exciting new one for them," said Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. It wasn’t a day that will alter anything in rugby terms for Jamison Gibson-Park, who first played for Ireland back in 2020, but it absolutely marked a new chapter.

“It was a great day actually,” said the Leinster scrum-half. “There's obviously a long process to get to that point but it was a very seamless operation. They've got it pretty fairly nailed. We literally sat down for 40 minutes and it was all pretty smooth.”

He’s 31 now and into his eighth year here after a switch from the Hurricanes in his native New Zealand. Two of his three children are Irish-born and his wife Patti was one of the other 6,205 people to get their piece of official paper that same day.

It means more than just words and an official seal.

“I feel pretty well rooted here. Rugby is one of those games where you don't know where you're going to end up sometimes. You're signing contracts for two or three years and a lot can change in that time. I'm grateful that I'm still in Leinster and able to do my thing.”

The Irish passport is rated as one of the most ‘powerful’ in the world and he could have done with it seven years ago when, along with Isa Nacewa, he was denied entry to South Africa for a Leinster trip because of an innocent visa mix-up concerning Kiwi nationals.

New Zealand and South Africa have since signed an agreement that would make any repeat impossible but Gibson-Park, now a dual citizen, is at least able to look back and see the funny side of that frustrating experience.

“We had to turn around pretty much straight away. I think we were back in Ireland for maybe 24 hours and then back again [to South Africa]. And we got rolled by the Cheetahs, so that wasn't a great couple of days.”

There have been other tough times. Leinster are well-positioned in their Champions Cup pool, with nine points from the first two games, as they host Stade Francais in Dublin this evening, but they have lost three finals since their last win in 2018 and won nothing this last two seasons.

The last calendar year did bring Gibson-Park a Six Nations Grand Slam but the Test duties ended with a crushing World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand. A disheartening end point in the short-term but, at 31, he has other peaks to address still.

Johnny Sexton featured in France last year at the age of 38 – “He made it look easy,” Gibson-Park laughs – and if another World Cup is still a long way off as of yet then he is all up for going as hard as he can for as long as he can.

He was, in horse racing terms, lightly run from his time back in New Zealand with Taranaki, the Blues and the Hurricanes, and the Irish system does a good job of reducing the load of its players relative to their counterparts elsewhere.

“Yeah, from an Irish point of view I have obviously been here for a good few years and Lukey (McGrath) is obviously still flying it. He is younger than me but been around a good while too, but hopefully that low mileage will stand to me too. We’ll see how I get on.”

McGrath is set to earn a 200th provincial cap in today’s tie but it will have to happen off the bench with Gibson-Park, who has leapfrogged his colleague with club and country, set to partner Ciaran Frawley at half-back.

Harry Byrne was due to be “involved” according to Leo Cullen, but the out-half rolled an ankle in training and the head coach expressed the hope that it would be a minor issue. Still, bad timing with a Six Nations squad to be named next week.

That leaves Sam Prendergast covering Frawley off the bench, as was the case in their last Champions Cup game, against Sale Sharks. James Lowe will play in blue for the first time this season and Tadhg Furlong returns after the passing of his father last month.

James Ryan only makes it as far as the bench on his return from injury but that will hardly be needed. Leinster have named a team with 15 internationals and another six to come in. Stade, with just one point to date, have travelled light. This one could be ugly.