Muscular Porter continues to shoulder the weight and ‘seize the opportunity’

Leinster prop not short of motivation for eagerly awaited Croke Park clash against rivals Munster

Ireland's Andrew Porter goes off injured in the Test against South Africa last July. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
Ireland's Andrew Porter goes off injured in the Test against South Africa last July. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

It’s a warrior spirit or mentality, a fuel source that drives sportspeople to defy physical and mental torment that would immobilise those with lower thresholds, ergo the majority of the population.

Andrew Porter is no ordinary Joe. Later in the conversation, in another context, he referred to his new team-mate RG Snyman “as the bigger Viking” and that he fulfils the role of “smaller Viking”. The bellicose moniker runs far deeper than the cosmetics of appearance.

The 28-year-old Porter is a physical phenomenon. It’s got nothing to do with the prodigious weights he once lifted in a gym, although his tin tally figures are impressive, and pretty much everything to do with remarkable aerobic endurance.

Scrum work, lifting in the lineout, pillar defence, carrying into heavy traffic — often off static ball — and the occasional scamper in broken field is an exhausting list. It’s hard labour even within a rugby context, and it explains why props tend to be “rescued” after 50 minutes, a warm coat, an ice pack and a cushioned seat in the stand their reward.

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The most durable of the species might go to 60 minutes, 65 is an ovation-worthy effort, and 70 minutes plus is nearly unheard of, unless your name is Andrew Porter. Last season he played 14 matches for Leinster, started in every one, and played 934 of a possible 1,130 minutes.

In the Champions Cup final defeat to Toulouse, he played 92 of 100 minutes that included extra-time. It’s a mind-boggling effort. In seven of the 14 games — Munster (twice), La Rochelle, Leicester Tigers, Northampton Saints, Toulouse and Bulls — he played past the 70-minute threshold. If you take an average across the entire campaign, he was off the pitch for just 14 minutes per match.

And then there is his contribution to Ireland. In the 2023-2024 season, taking in warm-up matches, the World Cup in France and the Six Nations Championship, Porter played 11 matches, started in every one, was on the pitch for 679 of 880 minutes, played more than 70 minutes in five, at an average of 62 minutes per game.

So last season, for Leinster and Ireland, he was in the run-on team in all 25 matches, and he played 1,613 minutes at an average of 64½ minutes per game. Those statistics don’t include the two summer Tests against South Africa, both of which he started for a combined 121 minutes.

Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter arrive for training. 
Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter arrive for training. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

So far, so remarkable. But to go with the physical toughness, Porter has the capacity to play through the pain barrier as was evidenced during the first Test against the Springboks in Pretoria. He suffered a particularly gruesome injury.

“I have pictures of it. I dislocated it [a little finger] and it was hanging off, pointing sideways,” Porter said, in reference to a digit that ended up at a right angle to a hand, pointing east. He continued: “I think I caught it on someone’s shorts and I knew it was dislocated before I even looked at it because I have dislocated the rest of my fingers; that is why they all look mangled.

“It was down there [at right angles] when I looked at it and then I could see the whole inside of my hand,” a reference to the fact that it also tore the skin. “Everyone back home thought I had broken my arm because I was looking down in shock. I had never seen the inside of my hand before.

“It was more the shock; it wasn’t that sore. I opened my hand, and it [the finger] snapped back up, back into position. I went off, got three stitches, they taped it up and came back on. I was in surgery that night to get it cleared up, stitched up again and then played the next week.”

He delivered all this information in a matter-of-fact manner with a smile, which was arguably more unnerving than had he grimaced. The first half an hour of the second Test was one of the most brutally physical rugby matches of recent times. Porter explained that his mindset hadn’t changed from going on tour, even after suffering the injury.

He said: “The way I was looking at that was, it had been an incredibly long season, but two more games, going up against the world champions, just throw everything you have at it. After it [the tour], if you are broken up, you still get your time off. You may as well throw everything you have at it. We did, especially in the second Test. I am glad my finger held up.”

He spent some time in Sardinia during the summer to decompress mentally and recharge physically before making his competitive bow in the current campaign in last week’s victory over Benetton in Treviso. Starting once again, he racked up 56 minutes. “I felt refreshed coming back, physically fit and strong.”

On Saturday that’ll be put to the test again when Leinster host Munster at Croke Park. It’s an easy motivator. Porter explained: “It’s hard not to think of the [Champions Cup] game in 2009. I remember being in the stands watching that, so it is even more special to be playing in it.

“You never know how many games you are going to play in Croke Park. You have to seize the opportunity when you do, given the history and the cultural importance of it to the whole of Ireland. It’s incredibly special as a stadium and a privilege to be able to play there.”

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan is an Irish Times sports writer