Sweet success on an away trip home

In the first of his weekly columns, the London Irish captain recalls the build-up to one of the most extraordinary matches of his career

IT WAS a tough week from a personal perspective, more so than I’d imagined. I’ve spent the last eight years at London Irish, three of them as captain, so there was no question of compromised loyalties, but I have never played against so many friends with so much at stake.

In the build-up to last Friday night’s game I occasionally thought about what it would be like to go back and take on Leinster, but in an abstract way. Suddenly it wasn’t hypothetical any more and I found that difficult mentally. I had supported them, played for the province at various levels; it’s also where I am from, and obviously so too my friends and family.

The first inclination of how emotive it was going to be was fulfilling the media duties during the week. The questions constantly directed me to recall memories and friendships from my time with Leinster. That had an affect, not in terms of softening my determination to ensure a London Irish victory but just in emotionally complicating the build-up.

When playing professional sport it’s much easier if you can follow a pre-game routine. The more peripheral issues introduced the greater the distractions. I was very conscious of preparing in exactly the same way that I would for any other match, detaching myself from the occasion and just doing the analysis.

On a lighter note, and definitely an antidote to the tension, came in my weekly poker game last Wednesday. I was playing with friends, most of whom work in financial houses in London and who, virtually to a man, would be Leinster supporters. There was plenty of banter, and to be honest that helped. It was like a safety valve. I could let my hair down and not worry about having to say the right thing.

Speaking of counselling – I felt like a priest giving absolution following a serious discussion with a childhood friend, Gav Lyons. We’ve been buddies since we were in primary school. Gav and his father are season ticket-holders with Leinster, and he earnestly explained that, while he hoped everything would go well for me personally, he’d be supporting Leinster.

I told him I understood, and the most important thing from his perspective was to go along and enjoy the match.

One of the first people I saw when I got to the ground was Johnny O’Hagan (Leinster bagman) and the memories came flooding back. It was quite surreal, definitely one of the strangest experiences of my life, to stand there with Leo (Cullen) outside the dressingrooms for the toss.

We knew the pressure was on Leinster. They were the defending champions and at home. Toby (Booth, London Irish coach) had reinforced that, while there was a lot of expectation in terms of being successful in the English Premiership, we were flying under the radar a little bit in the Heineken Cup.

He emphasised that we had worked hard to get to this point and that the most important thing was to play with no regrets and go out and enjoy the game.

The match itself was a dog-fight for every blade of turf. There was no quarter asked or given. I spoke to Nick Kennedy after the match about the incident involving himself and Shane Jennings and he admitted he had overreacted.

Friday’s match was a contest of huge physicality, and it reminded me of an unwelcome recent trend I have encountered in the rugby Premiership. One of soccer’s problems is the diving issue to either get penalties or to get players booked. We played Leeds Carnegie recently. They were driving a lineout and Nick Kennedy was in the middle of the maul. On two or three occasions he tried to reach over the top to try to get a hand on the ball. Leeds scrumhalf Andy Gomarsall flicked Kennedy’s hand away and as Nick reached forward again he caught Gomarsall accidentally with a light slap to the throat.

Gomarsall collapsed to the ground where he lay for two or three minutes. I couldn’t believe it; players were just standing there shaking their heads. I spoke to Gomarsall after the match about the incident and he said he had earned a yellow card – Kennedy was sinbinned – for his side.

His side were trailing 27-7 at the time and I genuinely could not believe a former World Cup winner would adopt that attitude.

There was another incident involving Peter Richards where contact was minimal.

I don’t condone foul play, but it is a contact sport and simulating injury or, at best, exaggerating contact would be an unwelcome blight on the game.

No one had any wind at the RDS for trash talking, something that would be more prevalent in our domestic league.

There was no need to exaggerate the physicality of Friday night’s game. It was brutal, especially in the first half when we did more than our fair share of defending. I thought it important to clap a few players off at half-time. We had virtually no ball and yet we went in at 6-6. It was a huge effort from the boys.

I knew we’d have to get possession at some stage and we managed to tough it out. The lads were cock-a-hoop at the final whistle.

Several jumped on top of me at that point, and while I was conscious of not rubbing any noses in the post-match outpouring of joy, I couldn’t have been happier. London Irish have a huge amount of respect for Leinster and I think you saw that in the genuine way in which they celebrated the win.

My father managed to blag his way into the dressingroom claiming he was a director of the club. I don’t know too many directors who wear London Irish berets. Leo left immediately for the wedding of our one-time schools team-mate Neil O’Donovan in Leitrim – I joined him down in Mohill the following day – but I chatted with Darce (Gordon D’Arcy), Simon Keogh and Frank O’Driscoll, Brian’s dad. As you can imagine, the night ran into the early hours.

As a group we work hard and we play hard. This was a huge win for us, and Toby stressed how important it was to go out and enjoy it without worrying about next week. He has a mantra that he doesn’t mind what way we unwind, providing nothing crosses his desk in relation to a night out.

Speaking of which, we went to the NBA game involving the Chicago Bulls at the O2 arena in London last Tuesday night. Our Samoan centre, Seilala Mapusua, ended up sitting beside this attractive young lady, oblivious to the fact she was glamour model Danielle Lloyd. Those of us in the cheaper seats further back were furiously texting him asking him to ask her to give his team-mates a wave; she duly did.

We have taken a significant step in terms of the Heineken Cup, but unless we back it up over the next five weekends in Europe Friday’s victory will seem a lot cheaper. We’re no longer flying under the radar after our trip to Dublin, but as a squad we’re happy with that.