Green lends weight to Leinster's challenge

Gavin Cummiskey talks to tighthead prop Will Green, who after a successful career with Wasps is eager to test himself with Leinster.

Last year Leinster were gifted an outhalf called David Holwell. A professional in every aspect and an absolute gem of a place-kicker, but the Kiwi has gone home after being contracted for only one season.

The province could desperately do with a figure of similar stature to fill his shoes. Selecting the Leinster number 10 is another day's work but at least Will Green came through the swinging doors this summer - a tighthead prop who has been keeping the Wasps scrum steady for 13 years. On a two-year deal, mind. His arrival and the return from Ulster of Ronnie McCormack bring options to what is constantly a problematic area in Ireland.

Funnily enough Green appears to have been replaced in Wasps by one of those rare commodities as Peter Bracken left Connacht to test himself with the two-time Zurich Premiership champions.

Green also brings the knowledge that only comes after winning everything available in Northern Hemisphere club rugby. But leaving Wasps for Leinster invites one immediate question of the 31-year-old England international. Why?

"Because I wanted a change. I was there 13 years and it's a long time in one place, probably too long. We have obviously had a lot of success over the last two years but it was a good time to go. I still got some rugby in me and I wanted to try it in a different environment. Test myself somewhere else. You stay in one place too long and you become part of the furniture and I didn't want that."

Although he was never an England regular - he has four caps - it is his 300-plus appearances for Wasps including 40 Heineken European Cup outings that demand respect. Last season being a Lions year, he was called up to international duty for the Churchill Cup but opted to focus on preparing for a new phase in his career. Leinster was the priority.

"I pulled out of it actually, really to come here and get a good pre-season in. Do I have any aspirations to playing for England again? All the time you play rugby you want to play for your country but I would be surprised if they come looking again. We'll see, but my focus, even when with Wasps, isn't international rugby, it's doing your day-to-day stuff with your club. There is a lot of satisfaction to win with the guys who you go through it with every day of the year."

There will be one guaranteed shop window just before the Six Nations when he faces Bath in the Rec next January.

Green is a no-nonsense type who is only interested in adding to the accolades the game has already brought him. He even seems enthusiastic about the bread and butter of Celtic League action.

Considering the absent Lions and imminent loss of players to international training camps, Leinster will be thin on the ground at stages this season. Green could find himself in the valleys of Wales surrounded by the future of Leinster rugby as opposed to the present. Doesn't seem to bother him though.

"To be honest the pre-season has gone fantastic. Rugby is a very simple game. It's about the guys knuckling down and working hard. There's no secret to that. There's no secret to where we are this year. We just got to battle down and we are going to have some highs and we are going to have some lows. The key is to stick together for those lows. Yes, I do have some experience but I'm no different from anyone else."

You get the feeling he is going to fit in just fine. He may not be replacing Holwell in the place-kicking department but there are just as many scrums to be sorted out each week.