Aiming for some consistency

Rugby Interview with Bernard JackmanGerry Thornley talks to Leinster hooker Bernard Jackman on his hopes for the new season

Bernard Jackman met a sizeable number of the Leinster players amid their post-Euro, post-Declan Kidney hangover towards the end of last season for Ireland's pre-tour match before leaving for Japan. He was struck by how down they all were and began to wonder if he'd made the right call in leaving Connacht.

Leinster were in desperate need of yet another "breath of fresh air", which is exactly how Jackman describes Michael Cheika the first day he came aboard as the squad's fourth coach in six years. "He's unlike any other coach I've ever worked with. He's so hands-on."

Indeed, evidence of this was the scrummaging session under Roly Meates which had delayed Wednesday's media briefing, due to Cheika packing down in the second row, and earning a bruised cheekbone as a result.

"He's involved in everything. He wants to know everything that's going on. He's on top of the fitness guys, he gets a lot of feedback. He runs it as a business but not from upstairs. Everyone has responded to him. I think all the players were looking for someone they could latch on to and trust. It's been brilliant, a really good atmosphere, and I couldn't speak highly enough of all the coaches, fitness coaches and players."

Jackman himself was always liable to revel in a changed environment after five years with Connacht and two at Sale.

There's a strong bond in constant adversity among players and supporters alike, and - in the tradition of bald, ball-carrying Irish hookers - Jackman was seen as something of a talismanic figure for the westerners. He looks back on his time at Connacht as great years.

"We were always fighting for something. There was never a dead game for Connacht. There was always someone at your back or we had something to prove. It's almost a pleasant way of playing; when you do get a result it's brilliant. You've achieved something else that you can't achieve with any other province."

Jackman is enjoying living back in Dublin and close to the Leinster set-up, and, impatient, cannot be blamed for believing it will enhance his ambitions.

"I'm looking, basically, to force my way into the Irish team. That's it really. I was coming here even when Shane (Byrne) was here to fight it out with him," he points out, in reference to Byrne subsequently joining Saracens.

That said, he's under intense pressure for the Leinster number two jersey from two hookers off the Blaney conveyor belt, Brian and David.

"There's a potential to win things here and to be more consistent week-in, week-out," says Jackman and, of course, there's the near certainty of Heineken European Cup rugby as opposed to the customary diet of Challenge Cup rugby, although the door has never been more ajar for Connacht than it is now.

"That's a massive factor. At the end of last season we were in with a shout via a play-off against an Italian team and if we had qualified through that route I might have changed my mind. But I've never played European Cup rugby and I'm 29, and that's where you want to play. That's where all the profile is," he reasons, not unreasonably.

There hasn't been a more dynamic ball-carrying hooker since Keith Wood, although unlike Wood, Jackman has yet to fully convince that he has ironed out his sometimes suspect throwing under pressure.

This resurfaced towards the end of last season with Connacht and while a collective rustiness and a slippery ball contributed to 11 lost lineouts against the Ospreys last Sunday, Jackman is more aware than anyone that if you give a dog bad name . . .

"We'd been working really hard in the whole pre-season and then it's frustrating when things don't happen for you out on the pitch. But the good thing is that the coaching staff here don't panic. On Monday morning we looked at it, everyone realised - as soon as we saw it - how sloppy we were and what was happening, who's fault it was, and it's a collective thing. We've taken it on the chin, we know we have to sort it out this weekend and I'm happy that it will be sorted out.

"It's true that once you have a question mark over you, it's always going to be there. Myself, Michael and the two Blaneys have been practising every day - throwing, throwing, throwing - and then of course, the first day the Leinster lineout goes badly and that's the first thing that goes into your head: 'Jackman' or whatever. But once you look at it and all the guys put their hands up and say 'I made a mistake there'.

"It's just a matter of being consistent. I mean Shane Byrne is a brilliant thrower, one of the best throwers I've ever seen and when the Lions lost the first Test he was at fault. That's our position. You take the flak when it goes badly, and you take the praise when it goes right.

"I've loads of good parts of my game, and I've been in the Irish squad for four or five years and if I can get my throwing up to the level Shane has, then I'd hope that I'd be pushing for the starting jersey for Ireland."

Starting, ideally, tomorrow against Glasgow.