Ruddock's got heavy mettle for the battle

RHYS RUDDOCK INTERVIEW:COMPARED TO most 20-year-olds, Rhys Ruddock has been making fairly quick progress. Fast-tracked into the Irish set-up during the summer from the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, he made his Test debut against Australia last June. And given the ferocious competition for places among the Leinster loosies, to make 15 appearances this season, including nine starts and one as captain, is a pretty good return.

It’s a measure of the progress of Seán O’Brien especially, and the presence of Jamie Heaslip, Shane Jennings, Kevin McLaughlin and Dominic Ryan, as well as Ruddock, that Rocky Elsom is scarcely mentioned any more.

Yet, like most 20-year-olds and all the more so after being given a taste of life at Test rugby, Ruddock is also a man in a hurry who is acutely aware his standards have to be high. During the Six Nations, he had a run of games and appeared to make a significant, Stephen Ferris-like impact in contact, both defensively and in his carrying, most notably in a barnstorming 80 minutes in the home win over the Scarlets at the beginning of March.

But having started just one game in the last six weeks and been laid low by a flu virus, the pressure to perform is intense, starting again at the Stadio Zaffanella on Saturday against Aironi.

“There’s a lot of competition for places. Kevin’s playing well, Dominic’s playing well, so that has to spur to me on. I’ve had plenty of opportunities and I need to take them and start playing well. I think I played better earlier in the season, so I need to get back to that form and try and get the jersey. I had a good run of games (early in the season) and then with the internationals I had quite a few games but my form sort of dipped around that period. I’ve also been feeling sick for the last few weeks so now I’m better there’s no excuses, I’ve got the opportunity and I have to take it.”

The previous win over Aironi last February marked his one stint as Leinster captain, a task he’s been handed with various under-age teams and one which he feels brings out a healthy desire to lead from the front.

“Definitely one of my proudest moments in the game,” he recalls.

“I really enjoyed the experience. It was a tough battle, probably tougher than we expected. There were some difficult times in that game but we had loads of leaders all round the park so there wasn’t too much pressure and we managed to get through just about.”

If that 21-16 win over the league’s bottom-placed club also constituted a warning, so too did the 29-13 defeat in Treviso last September. “That was the first experience I’ve had of playing in Italy and it was a very proud performance from the Italians as you would expect. Very physical and combative at the breakdown, and even Aironi when they came over here they challenged us in all those areas as well. They’re a very proud outfit, very physical and very organised and tough to break down. I can only imagine they’ll have a step up in adrenalin and be very tough to beat.”

Few would relish coming up against the big-carrying, one-time Munster number eight Nick Williams, but as a showcase for the Toulouse game Ruddock can see the plusses.

“Definitely. I’d like to think I could nullify his power. That’s the mindset for me, to really target that area and go at him and if we can do that as a backrow and make those impact hits, I don’t think he’ll be as prominent in the game as he usually is.”

He jokes that he regained the weight he lost while sick in “about a day – my usual appetite” and avails of the opportunity to correct one false estimate of his weight at 19 and a half stone (he’s almost two stone lighter) for one of many little digs at his father Mike, Wales’ Grand Slam-winning coach.

“I think that was my Dad’s weight,” he says, grinning from ear to ear. “They must have knocked about a stone off my Dad’s weight. They must have got mixed up with my age, 19, 20, but I’m not 19-and-a-half stone.”

Born in Dublin while his dad was coaching Leinster, and largely reared in Wales, his relatively unusual preference for heavy metal bands such as Rush, Led Zeppelin and Metallica also dates back to his days in Blackrock.

“I remember listening to SClub7 when I was going to Willow Park. It’s a long drive from Greystones and I was listening to SClub7 and my dad just had enough of it. He said ‘Listen to this’ and put on Led Zeppelin. I was probably only eight or nine years old but I started to go down that direction.

“I really do like them,” he insists, though he admits to some team-mates being aghast. “I’m also going to see John Cougar Mellencamp as well – with my dad again. It’s a free ticket to a gig so I can’t complain. No one else will go with him.”