Dan Sheehan happy with Leinster return to cozy 'proper club ground'

It’s been two years since Leinster played in what used to be the RDS and what is now the Laya Arena.

Dan Sheehan pictured at Laya Arena ahead of Leinster Rugby's homecoming game against Cardiff on Saturday. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

 

Leinster are going home and Dan Sheehan couldn’t be happier. It’s been two years since they played in what used to be the plain old RDS and what is now the Laya Arena. Cardiff will be the first competitive opposition at the new gaff this Saturday.

The Aviva was a very acceptable and conveniently located alternative this past two seasons, but there was a sense long before the end of that residency that the province needed to relocate to more familiar and cosy surrounds.

The Aviva was too big and too impersonal. Very decent crowd numbers were lost in the enormity of it and all that was compounded by a team that wasn’t playing attractive rugby and struggling and failing to claim its Holy Grail again and again.

The Laya boasts a brand new €59m stand, and some of the other infrastructure has been improved, but the sense of a reboot is evident in the decision to play both Champions Cup games, against Pau and Sale, in the refurbished paddock.

"From a player's point of view, it's something that was chatted about in the changing room,” said Sheehan. “We didn't want to be playing in a half-full Aviva. We'd rather be playing in a full Laya Arena, which is definitely much more exciting.

“It's a closer, more intimate feel and we all look back on nice European days in the Laya Arena. Hopefully we can replicate the same because we don't have a whole lot of fixtures coming up before Christmas, but the first few that we'll have will be special."

His own memories of the place stretch back to times as a kid when they would play around the back of the stands during games. He was just ten on the day in 2008 when Brian O’Driscoll scored an iconic chip-volley-chase try down the right wing against Wasps.

Sheehan’s own debut for Leinster came against Zebre at the RDS. He remembers it fondly, naturally, even though it was a game played in the middle of the Covid pandemic and in front of four empty stands because of it.

“It’s a proper club ground, edgy and not perfect, which is what a home ground should feel like. Sometimes you go to these big stadiums, it's all too manicured, but this is a club ground. We want to make sure that it feels a bit special and there's a bit of history there, which you can feed off it.” 

A full house, or something close to it, will make for a nice change on the back of their two opening weekends in South Africa where they faced the Lions and the Chiefs in stadiums in Johannesburg and Durban far too big for the attendances.

Sheehan was one of 15 Ireland players who had toured Australia and New Zealand during the summer and then brought to South Africa by Leo Cullen, most of whom served supporting roles midweek and played no part in either of those URC defeats.

He wore the armband on that summer tour and is all but guaranteed to don it again come November given Leinster colleague and National captain Caelan Doris is expected to sit out the rest of this calendar year with a foot injury.

“It was good,” Sheehan said of the experience. “I thought it was a good challenge for me, it's something that I'm comfortable doing now. It's not as much of a jaw-dropping moment when I'm asked to do it, so I was happy to do it.

"I've said a number of times that the group that we have almost runs itself with the amount of leaders, and there's a lot of experience in the room and I can lean heavily upon that. I don't even need to ask twice, the place runs itself.

"It was a huge honour to lead it over the summer. Disappointing to not come away with the performance we wanted on the last day against New Zealand, but it's all great experiences and something I need to keep building going into this season.

"It excites me that I have that position to lead and put my own spin on things. It makes me get the best out of myself, which is probably the most important thing.”