Jamie Hagan hopes North American tour will launch successful stay at London Irish

Jamie Hagan's career appeared to be in free-fall. Effectively replaced at Leinster by Michael Bent last November, and without the offer of a contract extension, somehow he found the inner resolve to produce a burst of impressive cameos that got him selected on Ireland's North American tour.

London Irish provided the safety net of a three-year deal and now he seeks to achieve what Bob Casey and Trevor Brennan were unable to do; leave the Irish system yet still command regular call-ups to the national squad.

“There has been Geordan Murphy and Tommy Bowe but I don’t think a forward has ever gone away to England and come back and played for Ireland so that’s a massive challenge. The statistics are against me but I am looking forward to it,” said Hagan yesterday.

For now, Hagan will settle for a first cap against the USA in Houston on Saturday. Having reduced Bent to Leinster's 'A' squad, next on the road is Ulster's injury-prone tighthead Declan Fitzpatrick as no one expects an 80-minute shift from 33-year-old Mike Ross in subtropical Texas humidity.

Despite the presence of Ross, the Balbriggan man returned from Galway in 2011 to be a part of the dominant club in European rugby.

Problem was his conditioning, or lack thereof, that saw him end up with three fewer matches in six seasons at Leinster than the 50 appearances he made for Connacht from 2009-’11.

Yesterday, before training at Dynamo Houston FC’s pristine facility, he spoke candidly about it all. “The S and C staff in Leinster did a great job with me. When I came back from Connacht I wasn’t in the condition I should have been in. I’m after putting on some good size, which is great, and hopefully I can continue that on,” said Hagan.

Bent's arrival from Taranaki, becoming the first player since Brian O'Driscoll to be capped by Ireland before playing for Leinster, was the direct reason for his departure.

'Numerous discussions'
"It was a tough pill to swallow. That's professional rugby. You have to get on with it. The opportunity arose to go to London and their coaching staff was very keen on me. I had numerous discussions with Joe and the staff at Leinster and they were more than happy for me to leave. At that time my decision was made for me."

There are plenty of stories in Irish rugby of a player informing his provincial coach in spring of a summer departure and then spending the remainder of the season playing AIL.

But Hagan ploughed past Bent. “I was working really hard. I said to the coaches, ‘Look, I’m contracted to the end of the season. I want to play’. I suppose I kept saying that to them and they eventually listened to me. I never wanted to be just going through the motions no matter where I go. You can’t be like that in any sport, I suppose some players probably would be but I’ve come from that scenario where I came from Connacht to Leinster and rested on my laurels.

“That was a hard lesson to learn. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to that. I’ll always keep on top of my conditioning. It was definitely a hard learning curve but one that needed to be learnt.

“I have to impress on this tour so they keep looking at me. If I am on the bench for London Irish I will be a journeyman. The goal is to be a starter so they have a good window to look at me.”