Reddan fit and looking to make fast Rabo start
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
By Daire Walsh
Last Friday’s 21-13 defeat by Northampton Saints in Donnybrook was Leinster’s final pre-season fixture before the start of their RaboDirect Pro12 campaign this coming Friday, but for international scrum-half Eoin Reddan it represented his first piece of on-field action since breaking his leg against France in the RBS Six Nations on March 10.
“It was great [to get a run-out]. It was nice for it to go okay and I’m looking forward to next week now,” Reddan said.
“It didn’t dislocate. I tore some ligaments and had a break in the fibula. It was a lengthy injury, but there was nothing too crazy there that [meant] it was going to be hard to rehab. It was just getting into the hard work really.”
During his absence, Reddan looked on as Leinster captured the Amlin Challenge Cup and the Rabo title during the closing weeks of Joe Schmidt’s unforgettable spell as head coach. Missing out on this exciting end to the 2012/13 season was unquestionably a disappointment for the three-time Heineken Cup winner, but he is keen to reflect the positives that can be derived from his own personal circumstance.
“You kind of end up looking at the positives because you think that you can start the new season afresh. You do miss the big games that you’d want to be playing in, and that was definitely hard near the end of last season. At least we won them. It’s hard when you can’t contribute, but when you’rewinning it does make it a bit easier.”
Although the past few months have been frustrating, he has had betterfortune than Eoin O’Malley, who was forced to retire recently with long-standing knee problems at the age of 25. Reddan feels the loss of the popular centre will be noticed on and off the pitch, and the premature end to his playing career is a reminder of just how lucky players are in the professional era.
“It’s terrible. It’s very, very tough. He’s a massive loss on and off the pitch. It makes you realise how lucky you are, if you don’t know it already. There are probably very few at this stage that don’t realise that, but it is sad.”
An opening day defeat to the same opposition last season means it is seven seasons since Leinster last made a winning start to a new campaign, but with new head coach Matt O’Connor bringing a fresh dynamic to the table, Reddan is certain the squad will be in the right frame of mind in Parc y Scarlets.
“It’s probably an individual responsibility to bring our own skills up to the [right] level really, really quickly, and then we can execute the game plan that Matt wants us to bring.
“Overall, it has been very positive, very fresh. Knowing what you want your team to do, and being able to teach them to do it is two different things, and he’s able to do both of those things.”