Hugo Keenan 'torn apart' over sevens switch but targets Olympics with Leinster's blessing

GETTING UP TO SPEED: Sean Cribbin and Hugo Keenan putting in the preparations in Madrid. Pic: Martin Seras Lima, Inpho

It looked to be a complete flyer when IRFU performance director David Nucifora revealed an agreement with the provinces that would allow one contracted player from each of the four green fields to detour towards sevens duties for the upcoming Olympics.

That was back in December and then everything went quiet for months afterwards. That was that, we thought. 

Until news last week that none other than Hugo Keenan would be reprising the sevens role he held with such distinction a few years back.

The Leinster full-back – as well as Connacht’s Andrew Smith - has been named in the sevens squad to feature at this weekend’s tournament in Madrid and it remains to be seen if he features in blue again as Leo Cullen’s side turn to the URC in the coming weeks.

He is certainly out of Ireland’s tour to South Africa this summer.

It is a startling state of affairs given the primacy of the 15s game in Ireland and the stakes at play for Leinster who desperately need silverware in the wake of another crushing Champions Cup final defeat. Andy Farrell will miss having him around too.

If Ireland’s relationship with the shorter form of the game is still distant then Jacques Nienaber has seen the benefits. The Leinster coach name-checks three members of his 2023 World Cup winning squad who profited from the shorter code.

Kurt-Lee Arendse and Kwagga Smith both won Commonwealth golds, Smith and Cheslin Kolbe earned Olympic bronze medals in 2016, but none of them pressed pause on 15s careers as Keenan, or Antoine Dupont, are doing.

“For me the Olympics is such a big thing. For me, I 100 percent understand Dupont’s decision. I understand Hugo’s decision," Nienaber said. "I mean if that is a dream of yours, if you are good enough to compete in both codes…I know from the club and the fans but you know players also have dreams so I feel don’t stand in the guy’s way.

“Yeah, it’s important for us to get a trophy and he’s an unbelievable player for us and he’s important for us, but if that’s your dream to represent your country in the Olympics… And the way the Irish set up is currently, I think they have an unbelievable chance of getting that medal.” 

Nienaber, a man who came to Leinster from the Springboks with a reputation for getting the job done, focused on the human factor here and he offered the example of a player being excused from training to attend a pregnancy scan with his wife.

Saturday’s loss to Toulouse in London would have cut deep but rugby’s place in the grand scheme of things was laid plain for him with the news that a friend’s 16-year-old daughter had passed away from cancer over the weekend.

So, if someone feels they can win an Olympic medal then why not?

“I don’t think the club will ever stand in the way of the personal ambitions of a player because we are a family and because we love [Keenan] and he loves us. I promise you that decision tore him apart inside because I know he feels ‘I’m dropping my brothers here’.

“But the brothers say ‘listen we understand’. We support you with your decision. That’s the beauty of the club. You have to look at the human side of things as well. I must say, in Leinster, there’s a big human element in the way they do business.” 

Nienaber has won two rugby World Cups with the Boks and experienced the frenzied delirium that they prompted when the teams returned home in 2019 and 2023. And even he realises the sheer magnitude of success on an Olympic scale.

“I don’t know how many medals they will have a shout at but in the world Ireland’s name will be there and the amount of medals they have won. It’s phenomenal for the country. It’s massive. It’s the biggest sporting event in the world, so that puts it in perspective.

“So it’s an Ireland thing. The spin Ireland will get out of that with a country with six million people - I don’t know how big is Ireland - competing against the best teams in the world on the biggest stage in the world in sport and being competitive and winning medals. Brilliant.”