Hugo Keenan is hoping to play in Paris, although maybe it’s a little more than hope. The opening Six Nations clash against France in a fortnight’s time as a realistic target is getting no negative vibes from the Irish fullback.
“Yeah, we’ll see. Hoping to be back involved,” he says. “If all goes well ...”
Only Keenan knows. The desire is strong, but the 29-year-old is also unwilling to jump the gun and put six months of rehab in jeopardy. But to play against France, why not.
Is Ireland's Six Nations squad 'safe'?
He’s been fully engaged with Leinster since an old hip complaint flared up soon after scoring the try that helped the British and Irish Lions to a series win over Australia in July.
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Experience has taught him patience on the long road, but he was named on Wednesday in Andy Farrell’s 37-man Irish squad. While he has had zero game time under his feet, no competitive boots on the ground, he has a game face on.
“I’m going to try and maybe take the mentality and look at the likes of Caelan [Doris], who was out with a shoulder injury, who missed the summer, but was training hard. And who’s been keeping his mind in rugby, doing a lot of training like I’ve been doing over the last couple of months,” says Keenan, speaking in his role as an ambassador for BWG Foods.
“I haven’t been off on my holidays. I’ve been trying to stay in touch with the game, trying to keep the mind ticking over.
“I’ve been out in the pitch the last couple of weeks, trying to sharpen myself. I’ve done it once or twice in the past, coming straight in for a big game, and it is a challenge, whether it’s with Leinster or Ireland. That’s the sort of exciting challenge for me.”
When some of the Lions players came straight back for the November series last year with little or no club game time in their legs, they struggled for match fitness and form.
Keenan is known as unusually diligent, a player who competes with a high level of fitness. He is, he admits, often first to arrive and last to leave training, a requirement for his constant involvement in matches and the high-tempo support game he plays from fullback.
Coming back into an international environment after such a long period away is as much about how he feels about it, as it is about what the various markers tell the physiotherapists and strength and conditioning coaches that have laboured along with him. An art as much as a science.
“So, there’s definitely a few markers and sort of been tipping away at them for the last couple of months, because every time there’s short-term, medium-, long-term ones,” he says.
“It’s just being diligent. And then, yeah, there’ll be a point, where I’ll have to go, right, I’m ready, even if maybe you don’t hit all these markers. Where you just have to trust yourself, trust your mind and trust your body and go from there. So, yeah, ticking off nearly all of them now.”
Leinster have a few URC matches before Ireland’s Six Nations opener in France. The first is an interpro against Connacht in Galway on Saturday before they face Edinburgh at home on January 31st.
For a smooth landing perhaps a run out in either, or both, of those matches might be preferential to a higher impact Test match against the French on a Thursday night at the Stade de France.
The Ireland squad will leave for their Six Nations training camp in the Algarve next Monday, so whether Farrell would see merit in sending Keenan back to Dublin for the Edinburgh game is yet to be determined.
But needs must and Keenan is open to what is the best route back. As he explains it, for the healing process, sometimes sitting on the couch at home was as beneficial as working hard in the gym.
Parachuting into St Denis with two full weeks to be ready might be the best route, especially with 46 caps worth of Test rugby to guide him.
“Yeah, that’s the challenge,” he says. “Ideally, I would have been back playing already to get myself in the mix for the squad, to get myself in the mix for a place in the 23 or 15. So, that was always my hope.
“Obviously, there’s two more games with Leinster before the Six Nations, so that’s a possibility as well. Yeah, it’d be great to get a game in before you’re thrown in to a Six Nations game, but whether I’ll have that luxury, I’m not 100 per cent sure.
“If I miss those opportunities, it’s about showing through training, your coaches, the medical staff where you’re at. Because it [training] can be as competitive as a game. It can be as physically demanding as a game.
“That’s the back-up plan. If I don’t get back with Leinster, there’s always sort of training matches or that competitive 15-on-15 stuff.”
At the start of his career the rugby gods smiled on Keenan, who seemed to breeze through games unharmed as others sometimes fell away to early retirement. Over the weekend he was with a few, Conor O’Brien, who had a succession of tough injuries and Rowan Osborne, who suffered concussions.
He also name-checks Irish flanker Dan Leavy, whose career ended when his knee was caught in a ruck.
“I look at other lads, who’ve had to retire,” he says. “That’s sort of what gets me through this period. A bit of perspective. So, it’s still a big season to come, still plenty of rugby to play.”
Maybe even in Paris.
