Gavin: I was fairly into GAA, but rugby had my heart from start
Daire Walsh
He may come from a part of Galway with a strong GAA tradition, but for Salthill native Hugh Gavin – rugby was always going to be his chosen sport in the long run.
One of the star performers for the Ireland U20s in their march towards a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2023, Gavin played Gaelic football at underage level with his local club Salthill-Knocknacarra – winning an U19 ‘A’ county football championship title in 2021, on a side that included current Galway senior panelist Tomo Culhane.
However, he first got a taste for rugby when he was brought to Galwegians RFC’s home pitch of Crowley Park at a young age – and his love for the oval ball game has been maintained ever since.
“I started around five or six [with Galwegians], my Dad was coaching. The club’s helped me so much in that way, all up through age grade and then with Connacht,” Gavin explained.
“I was fairly into the GAA. It added to my game as well. The fitness levels would always have been quite good from the Gaelic and my hand-eye coordination, but rugby had my heart from the start.
“Seanie Armstrong [Galway and Salthill stalwart] played for Shannon. I talked to him a good bit about the dual status and how he managed, but it was always going to be rugby for me.”
It has proven to be a wise choice from Gavin’s point of view as he played every minute for the Irish in last year’s successful U20s Six Nations campaign.
He also featured heavily last summer, as Richie Murphy’s charges made it to a World Rugby U20 Championship decider in South Africa.
Given he was still going to be underage this year – and is one of five players from the 2023 squad to be included for the forthcoming Six Nations – Gavin admitted he was somewhat surprised to establish himself as such a mainstay in the team.
“Going in, I was maybe an outsider at the start of the season. I was only U19, I hadn’t really played too many high-level games.
“All I was thinking of was trying to put my best foot forward. Every game was about proving myself again. I think the coaches maybe saw that hard work and I was getting selected then, so I was happy.”
Having featured exclusively on the wing for Ireland in the Six Nations, the Connacht Academy prospect was switched to outside centre for their second pool game against Australia at the World Championship.
He went on from there to don the No 13 jersey in their heavy showpiece defeat to France in the latter tournament and – after taking part in some intense warm-up games either side of Christmas – Gavin and his international colleagues are ready to kick-start their latest Six Nations defence against the same opposition in Aix-en-Provence, on Saturday week.
“We can all feel what’s going to come on that Saturday. It is another level and we have to make sure we are ready for it.”