Facing Munster’s challenge always extra special for Eoin Reddan

The shadows cast are often bigger than the objects they represent and so it was in the glory days. Peter Stringer and hoary old images of the smallest man on the pitch bossing around a metric tonne of Munster pack, slapping flankers twice his size and strutting around Thomond Park making a mockery of his 5ft 7in frame.

Climbing the ladder, Eoin Reddan’s heart had always been with Munster but the Napoleonic Stringer and Tomás O’Leary were coach Tony McGann’s preferred measures of scrumhalf tempo and muscle and Limerick-born Reddan found himself as a spare No 9 with few options. In the past even rugby’s solution has been the boat.

Wasps were more than forgiving and Warren Gatland switched on a light in Reddan’s head about what he could perform well. There are no grudges about having had to face the cold shoulder of McGann and his crushing of the schoolboy dream of playing out a career with his home province. But the notion of having to go to come back stronger occasionally takes position in his head. This week is one of those. Mike Ross and Sean Cronin may have similar thoughts about the province that allowed them leave.

"In reality they had very good players so we moved on and tried our hand elsewhere," says Reddan. "For us, that makes this game important every year. It's probably only important for that week. But it would be a lie to say it doesn't come into your head.

Real coincidence
"Before the Wasps thing came up, it was a real coincidence. Gaffney had asked me to wait 'til June, which in this industry means there is nothing for you. But I didn't have too long to waste.

"It's a pretty heavy landing but literally the same day or the morning after, I got a call from Warren Gatland. I was asking if he was sure but I said yes immediately. He asked did I want to know about money or time. I said there is no issue, I'll definitely go. There was no option for me anywhere else. They were reigning Heineken Cup champions. Matt Dawson was coming to a time where he was ready to help someone into that slot."

The prosecution case against Gatland in Ireland has been well-aired but Reddan's defence of the Kiwi paints him as a coach who salvaged something more than an Irish career.

Reddan didn’t have a great first season at Adams Park but Gatland persevered, emphasising aspects of his game that were strong as well as slowly adding more.

“Huge. Massive. I’m forever grateful to them for giving me the opportunity,” he says of the import and timing of the phone call from Wasps.

“They said they saw me play and said ‘you didn’t play well but we timed your run from breakdown to breakdown and that’s what we want. We can sort out x, y and z but you keep doing that’.

“Again it came back to putting tempo into the game. Looking back, there was no reason and they would have to dig deep to find a reason to give me that opportunity.”

The sum of the experience gives Reddan some edge this week, although he’s far from being consumed by the need to wreak revenge on Munster or hook himself to a crazy loop of forever feeling compelled to prove his worth.

He celebrates what he has achieved and Munster arriving at the Aviva is a reminder of the private battle won to meet his own expectations. It's a challenge that brings excitement more than fear.

Really solid
"There are times over the years where we would have spoken (with Munster) but it never came up," he says. "They've been really solid in terms of their nines over the years. Coming back from Wasps, I spoke to lots of clubs. Leinster was a perfect fit. Chris Whittaker was retiring. I knew a lot of the lads and I liked the way they played and that's six years."

On Saturday some of his friends will pull on a blue jersey for a few hours. Regarding his family, father Don and four brothers, Donal, Diarmuid, Alan and Cian and wife Aoife, well blood is thicker than water or the colour of a shirt.

Today as a board member of the Irish Youth Foundation he’s more Limerick than Munster and maybe less Dublin than Limerick but the city has been kind to him.

“When I was younger it was a bigger deal,” he says.

“But it’s always added a bit of spice to the week for me. It is enjoyable, adds to it, a little personal thing that no one else probably realises or thinks about. It gives you a boost for the game. It’s a help as long as you manage it properly.”