Hard work paying off for Hugo Keenan after exposure to top level

Rewind to before the resumption at the end of August. Hugo Keenan had started eight games for Leinster, all in the Pro14. Since then, he’s started six games for his province and is one of only three players, Andrew Porter and James Ryan are the others, to start all of Ireland’s last six Tests in eight weeks.

Rewind again to late August and what, for example, would have been the odds on Keenan ending 2020 as Ireland’s leading try scorer of the year, with three? You’d have got some odds on that!

“Jeez six starts, I would have bit your hand off for it at the start, 100 per cent – even just to get into the squad from the start! And then there’s just taking it game by game, just worrying about whatever was in front of me.”

Not that there’ll be much time for reflection, what with Leinster immediately into their first two of just four Heineken Champions Cup pool games away to Montpellier next Saturday.

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“You don’t really get a chance to switch off, it’s straight back into it. But yeah, it’s been very enjoyable, the eight weeks have flown by and yeah, it’s been a great experience. I’ve learned a lot in fairness.

Recovery mode

“It’s been some experience, thrown into the deep end a bit and you sorta sink or swim and a lot of the times it’s those mistakes, you get punished at this level, don’t you, for just small things and you have to be on everything.”

He was about to join his squadmates for a dinner, not least to honour Eric O’Sullivan’s debut, and “have a few beers”.

“But it won’t be anything hectic, unfortunately. It will be recovery mode and then into next week with Leinster because these European Cup games, there’s only four of them and they’re extremely important.

“It will be flicking that switch straight back into them and into Leinster and hopefully I’ll get involvement in those because I’ve only got one European cap so I want to get a few more.”

While six Tests in eight weeks, and playing the full 80 in four of them, “takes a toll”, the near monastic time in Carton House, with only the HPC and match-day for variation, has helped his body.

“You’ve got your masseuses there, you’ve got your S&C programmes designed to get you perform each week, week in, week out so I suppose two more games and then you might get another break.

“But my body’s okay, I’m still new to this. I’m not one of the old lads so I’m good to go again,” he joked.

“I wasn’t expecting to play every game but when you get a taste of it you want to put your hand up for every week. There was never once where I was, ‘Oh I don’t fancy playing this weekend’. You want to get as many caps as you can, you want to stay in the team, you want to give the coaches no reason to be dropping you.

“You can’t be giving other lads chances to take your spot as well. You’re in here and you want to keep playing for Ireland. Yeah, hopefully I’ll keep on going and get a few more caps down the line.”

Opportunities

Back on the treadmill next week presumably, yet when he does allow himself to reflect on this whirlwind elevation to his career, he is entitled to do so positively.

“Yeah, 100 per cent. A lot of the time it’s just about biding your time. Opportunities come at different stages for different people. I’m 24 at this stage so I feel I like I’ve been waiting long enough. It’s not like I’m a 21-year-old bursting on to the scene. I’ve had to be patient.

“In lockdown, I went and worked hard and got fit and got stronger and I suppose I was just lucky enough to get an opportunity with Leinster firstly, those big games, the semi-final, final, the quarter-final and then you just have to take those opportunities. Looking back now, it’s been a good few months but it’s still only the start of the season so there’s plenty more to come.”

As much as anything, it’s been quite the education, the most eye-catching of which for Keenan has, he said, been “the preparation and detail required to play at international rugby”.

“It’s a bit different from Leinster. You’ve got a lot more time, you’ve been training with them for years. With international rugby, you’re in for 10 days and then you’re into a game. It’s new people, a new environment, new coaches, and you just have to take everything on board so quickly and adapt as you go. It’s another level of prep and detail.

“That’s probably the best thing I’ve found about it. It’s learning from Keith Earls, from Andrew Conway, Jacob, these top, top players, and they’ve been so good to me. That’s probably one of the best things I’ve taken from it.”