Barnstorming in valleys just fine by Easterby

Pool Five/Llanelli v Munster: Gerry Thornleyhears from the Llanelli and Ireland backrower about the special ethos of the Scarlets and the rich rewards of a fine career

Simon Easterby has a good life. Steeped as he is Welsh rugby, last summer he signed a three-year extension to his stay at Llanelli, bringing his contract to 2010. With his wife, Sara, daughter of the former Wales and Lions winger Elgan Rees, three years ago he began converting an old barn into their country home about a mile from the village of Llanpha in the heart of the Vale of Glamorgan. There's a beach five minutes away, though these days it would not be overly tempting.

They live about 20 miles from Cardiff and about 40 miles from Llanelli: "Travelling-wise I share lifts with some other of the players so it's not a big drama and we're close enough to Cardiff for my wife to do a bit of shopping."

The conversion, extension and fittings were a stressful, time-consuming, energy-consuming yet rewarding diversion before they moved in over 18 months ago. They've since had a daughter, Cecilia, and obtained a mongrel, Darcy, from the Bridgend Dogs' Home.

"She was six months old when we got her and she already answered to the name so we kept it," he explains, lest anyone think his regard for Gordon was a bit excessive.

"It's funny, last season when Leinster were over to play in Swansea I went to see my brother (Guy). I took my dog Darcy and we met Gordon D'Arcy, and they got on like a house on fire. Maybe they'd been friends in a previous life, I'm not so sure."

Even Easterby himself finds it a little strange that here is he, an Irishman born to Irish parents, albeit in Yorkshire, reared in Harrogate and educated in Lawrence Dallaglio's alma mater of Ampleforth College, effectively living his life and plying his trade in the heartland of Wales. Rugby has given him a nomadic life.

"But it's worked for me. I've had a great career out of it. The club have been fantastic to me. They've always supported me when I've wanted to play for Ireland or be in training camps. I couldn't have asked for more from them."

He admits he was very close to joining an Irish province on a couple of occasions, "probably three out of the four," he says, "with the exception of Munster", who were never short of backrowers.

Connacht it was who ambitiously went after him before their plans for self-financing that deal and others were rejected by the IRFU. Leinster then stepped in, whereupon the Union's Players' Advisory Group sought to redirect him to Ulster, and he eventually stayed put.

"It appealed to me massively for one reason or another, but, in the end, with my wife being from Wales, and settled in a club down here and still being picked (for Ireland) while playing for the club, it didn't feel like the right thing to do. As it is, I certainly won't be going over there after this."

He looks back on the last eight years in Llanelli and realises how fortunate he is, not least to have played 62 times for Ireland (all but six of them starting) since being one of five debutants in that benchmark 44-22 win over Scotland in 2000.

"When I was first picked by Gats (Warren Gatland) I could never have envisaged being involved as much as I have. I've had my critics and that goes with the territory. I'm playing in a really competitive position as well.

"The World Cup was a big disappointment but when I look back on my career in a few years I hope that won't sour it too much. I've had a fantastic time and feel really lucky to have been part of such a special group of players."

In the last four Six Nations campaigns, which featured those three Triple Crowns, Easterby started every match; the only others to have done so are Ronan O'Gara and John Hayes. It's a remarkable tribute to his physical durability.

The ultimate pro and team player, and as tough as old boots, he is held in such esteem at Stradey Park, where he has played over 150 games, that he is captaining Llanelli for a fifth season, and after seeing out the last three years of his career with the Scarlets he hopes to "maybe have some sort of role within the club, although that has yet to be discussed".

Comparisons can be odious but in the case of the Scarlets and Munster they're entirely valid, and not just because they both wear red. Each is steeped in rugby as well as a chippy attitude to the city slickers from the capital.

"Yeah, I think all those things would ring true. Geography too. We're each in the southwest of our countries. You know when you play for a club like Llanelli there's a lot of history attached to the place.

"Talking to Ray Gravell when he was around he used to make you fully aware that you were in a fortunate position. It's not your jersey; you're a custodian of a great jersey. When players buy into that you get a really special feeling. Again, it's very similar to Munster in that respect."

And for that reason, no less than Munster were they in the same position, the Scarlets won't be inclined to roll over and have their bellies tickled just because they've lost their opening two matches.

"We see this as a must-win game; they all are now," reasons Easterby. "We were good enough last year to win all of our games in the group. This year, having lost the first two, we now have to win the last four, but it's not beyond us.

"Munster will be trying to knock us out and in this period, as always, you're not going to win the Heineken Cup but in these back-to-back games you can certainly be put out of the tournament. It's a huge game in the context of our season," adds Easterby, partly in reference to their eviction from the EDF Cup last week.

Despite their restorative 36-32 win over Saracens, the concession of four tries allowed the London side qualify for the semi-finals and maintained a porous run that has seen Llanelli concede 18 tries in their last four games. Few could have expected them to be in this position when they rattled up a run of 34-11, 52-23 and 32-8 wins over Connacht, Leinster and Ulster in October.

"It's a puzzle to a few of us," laughs Easterby. "Maybe sides have worked us out a little," he muses, citing the 33-17 defeat at home to Wasps, which followed their 48-21 loss away to a stunning Clermont Auvergne performance. "A lot of it is maybe a concentration thing. We're letting things slip and maybe not quite on our game at the moment."

Easterby declines to cite the death of Gravell in the week of the Wasps game, when the Llanelli captain was one of the pallbearers, as something that might have emotionally drained his team:

"The lads were maybe a little drained by what had gone on and the funeral, for those that were there; you just couldn't imagine the response for Mary, his wife, and his children, to his passing. It was a tough week but I wouldn't like to use that as an excuse."

Thinking back to turning points in last season's wins over Toulouse, and in those defeats when they'd forced their way back into both matches only for neither scoreline to do Llanelli justice, he says, "We're finding this year that it's a fine line at this level between winning and losing."

Alas, Easterby finds Ireland's World Cup campaign an even bigger puzzle wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. He wonders aloud as to how they prepared, trained and were coached the same as before for all four games and yet came up so short in all four.

"Maybe we thought we had to beat Georgian and Namibia by 60, 70 or 80 points and therefore we were putting in passes that we wouldn't normally do.

"I dunno, sometimes there aren't that many reasons as to why a side doesn't click. I'm sure there'll be an in-depth review but from my point of view the players didn't perform to their potential. All the rumours about fighting in the camp, there was none of that. If anything it made us pull together."

At 32, he still likes to think he could play for Ireland in the Six Nations: "I wouldn't like to go out on the low that was the World Cup. I'd like to finish on a high, but then again I've got to be playing well enough to be selected. I'll see how I'm feeling in the next month or so and make a decision then."

A well grounded, genuine lad, Easterby knows he has a good life in his converted barn near the village of Llanpha in the Vale of Glamorgan, the custodian of a cherished jersey, with his Welsh wife, Welsh daughter and his dog called Darcy.

"It's not a bad life. There's far worse things you could be doing than play rugby for a living, but professionalism wasn't an option when I was 19 or 20. These days guys are coming from school and their whole focus is on professional rugby," he observes, far from enviously.

"But I've seen both sides of it, the amateur and the professional, and I think you can appreciate professionalism more when you've done both."

Simon Easterby

Date of birth

July 21st, 1975

Position

Flanker

Height

1.91m (6ft 3in)

Weight

100kg (15st 10lb)

Irish debut

February 19th, 2000 v Scotland (44-22) Lansdowne Road

Caps

62 (eight tries)

British and Irish Lions

2005 (played second and third Tests, scoring try in second)

Clubs

Leeds and Llanelli

Llanelli record

153 appearances, 44 in European Cup (three tries), captain since 2003