RUGBY: GERRY THORNLEYtalks to the world-class backrower about his decision to stay with Leinster and about where the province and Ireland are headed
IF ANY of Ireland’s front-liners were to have flown the coop post-World Cup, Jamie Heaslip was probably the likeliest. Aside from being a stellar international in the front line of the global market place, he also has a decidedly independent streak, formed from a young age, which made him more likely to seek pastures new.
As the son of a military man, Heaslip has lived a somewhat nomadic existence anyway. He was born in Tiberias, Israel, while his father, now retired Brig Gen Richard Heaslip, was there on duty with the UN.
His dad and brothers also played the game, so he’s been steeped in a sport he first took up with Naas Under-8s.
He’s a truly world-class player. But rugby doesn’t consume him.
Reflecting on the negotiations which culminated in him signing a new three-year deal with Leinster and Ireland, he says: “That dragged on for a long time, but there were a whole load of reasons. I obviously looked down different avenues, looked at them in a lot of detail and weighed up all my options and it worked out pretty well. I’m happy enough.
“A stint in Australia, or in France, wouldn’t have been too bad,” he admitted during the week, when in typically ebullient mood. “I’ve lived abroad several times because of dad’s work and the thought of it really – I wasn’t against it. It would have excited me, I suppose, a little.”
It’s better for Leinster and Irish rugby that Heaslip agreed the deal. There would have been something fitting about him joining, say, the Melbourne Rebels, and it may have made for an interesting lifestyle choice.
Anyway, Heaslip sensed he was on to a good thing by staying put.
“I weighed up a lot of things, different options I had and where I want my career to go and stuff like that. I just stayed around. I like where Leinster are going. I don’t know if you guys can sense it, but there is something brewing in Leinster and the set-ups that we have now, and the plan that we have going forward. Exciting times ahead.”
The decision by Heaslip, Jonny Sexton and Brian O’Driscoll to sign new deals reflects well on the legacy of Michael Cheika and the way Joe Schmidt has carried on.
“He’s a good coach, we have a great set-up. A lot of things have to be said for what Cheiks did there, steering it in the right direction and getting the foundations in. Joe has come in. He’s not like Cheiks, but he has added to it, like a good coach should.
“The management we have, the management in the office who are not necessarily involved in the senior squad: everything we have going forward is going in the right direction. There are plans to move to a new facility – we keep having all of these bloody young players coming through,” he quips, in mock indignation at the intense competition from within. “It’s all going in the right direction.”
When O’Driscoll was weighing up the option of going to Biarritz, he reasoned that were he ever to reach the Promised Land of a Heineken Cup, it would be eminently more rewarding to win it with long-standing friends and with his native province. Heaslip, a Trinity graduate who was one of the first off Leinster’s remarkable academy production line, could relate to that.
“Yeah, yeah definitely. In 2009, it was my fourth or fifth year with Leinster, and I’ve been there since 2002 with the academy. It was pretty close to the heart (the win in 2009). I’ve said it was the highlight of that year, and I know we won a Grand Slam and I know I went on a Lions trip, but that was pretty close to the heart, to be honest. Obviously I’d love to win it again – I’m a greedy bastard and I want to take everything!”
His good mood was on foot of revealing a new-found respect for the sports media and the written word through his blog for The Irish Timeswebsite. It also made him realise how much rugby does dominate his life, although last week's respite allowed him to indulge in his love of music, and chill out with his four-month-old British Bulldog, named Jay Z.
Heaslip has been given more scope to reflect on things lately due to the ankle injury which interrupted his season. As an almost freakishly natural athlete, and normally indestructible, Heaslip can’t recall being injured since he was about 17.
“Man, it was 10 years since I’d been injured, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I felt guilty for having weekends off and stuff!
“The ankle is still a little bit sore and stiff, but getting through it,” he admits a tad disconcertingly, and describes himself as a “stubborn git” for having played on it twice. His ankle having been badly swollen in the first of the back-to-back games against Clermont, it was a minor miracle he played at the Aviva a week later.
He trained and tested the ankle for the first time in the warm-up, and though not at his best, Heaslip’s sheer presence for the 80 minutes almost seemed to visibly lift his team-mates. Of current Irish players, probably only Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell could have that effect.
“The stubbornness part of it comes from my dad,” he says, chuckling, before also attributing his good health to his academy training, the Leinster/Irish game management and his resilience.
“I used to say that injuries were only for the weak, and everyone always says ‘touch wood, don’t say that’. I say sod that, if it happens it happens and you just get over it. It’s a contact sport, it’s going to happen, and sometimes you see these soccer players jumping on the ground and rolling around and you think, ‘Jesus lads, just get up, will ye?’ We’re running into each other!”
His different take on things is in keeping with the stud in his tongue, the white or yellow boots, the break-dancing in training, the snorkeling with sharks on the Lions tour, the mutt called Jay Z or the pre-match ritual of a nap on the dressing-room floor.
You always felt this never quite sat with Eddie O’Sullivan’s view of a rugby player – ridiculously, Heaslip wasn’t included in the ’07 World Cup squad.
You’d wonder how it sits with Declan Kidney as well, but the coach seems to be more chilled about the chilled-out Heaslip.
“He’s Jamie,” says Kidney, thoughtfully. “He’s very serious about his rugby. He’s a good professional, he likes to pretend he doesn’t think about the game. He has a uniqueness.”
Heaslip can seem flash, but his ratio of carries into big plays is way higher than most, and there’s more than a hint of Anthony Foley about him in his willingness to do the close-in donkey work.
“He’s willing to do what the team needs him to do at that time, and he has good footballing instincts. Those are the things you can’t coach,” adds Kidney.
Heaslip also shares his coach’s frustration at how errors have undone much of their good approach play of late. The smile for once abates as he gets serious.
“We showed glimpses in November. We’ve evolved into playing this new kind of game, and it was a pretty exciting game. When stuff clicked we were really on fire and created a lot of quick ball. We split a lot of teams wide open and caused them a lot of problems. And then our own mistakes punished us, be it easy turnovers, soft penalties, spilling ball, letting guys out of jail, that sort of thing.”
If a degree of anxiousness has crept into this team, it hasn’t afflicted Heaslip. Nor, he makes clear, would he tolerate it.
“I don’t know, I don’t feel it (anxiousness). You’d have to ask each player about themselves, but I’m a pretty relaxed and at the same time confident person, I like to think. I back myself in my abilities, and I’d back any of the guys out on the pitch as well.
“I don’t think there is a lack of belief or a lack of confidence, and if there is and if I know there is in someone I’d tell them to get the f*** off the pitch, excuse my French. But you don’t put on a green jersey unless you’re 100 per cent confident, and 100 per cent ready to go.”
