‘I just hope we can finish off strong for him – and bring home two trophies’
AS THEY LOOK to bounce back from their first defeat of the season, Will Connors has said the arrival of Cian Healy in South Africa earlier this week served as a ‘huge lift’ for the Leinster squad.
While the vast majority of the province’s Irish contingent from the Six Nations are back in their UCD base focusing on an upcoming Champions Cup Round of 16 bout against Harlequins in Croke Park on 5 April, Healy is currently in the southern hemisphere to aid their preparations for a United Rugby Championship encounter with the Sharks in Durban tomorrow.
The record Leinster and Ireland caps holder has played for both sides in South Africa within the past 12 months and the Clontarf native (who is set to retire from professional rugby at the end of the current campaign) is expected to feature at some point for a Blues side that are seeking an immediate response to their last-gasp reversal against the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend.
“I was only sitting there today watching him lace up his boots and I was just thinking, ‘How many times has he done that?’ It is an incredible testament to him as a player and I’m delighted that the IRFU got to send him off with making the announcement and everything like that,” Connors remarked in a media call from Durban on Monday.
“I just hope now with Leinster that we can finish off strong for him. If we could bring home two trophies, I think that would be hugely deserving for a player of the kind of standard that he is. Not even just his style of play and what he has done on the pitch, but the style of man he is. How he leads and just his general craic around the place.
“For him to come into a group like this, even among young lads. It’s not like he’s an old man that doesn’t associate himself with young lads. He’s there having the craic with the lads like Fintan Gunne. That’s just the kind of lad he is. To bring him over here now for this week is a huge lift for us.”
Having featured in some big games for Leinster towards the business end of last season – he received the nod to start over Josh van der Flier for last May’s Champions Cup final defeat to Toulouse in London – Connors is looking to use Leinster’s current mini tour of South Africa as an opportunity to keep himself in the frame for the knockout phases of the URC and Europe’s top-tier.
His player of the match display in a 21-20 loss to the Bulls last Saturday will certainly have boosted his prospects for future selection, but the openside flanker recognises he needs to perform on a consistent basis if he is to become a permanent fixture in the Leinster back-row over the next few weeks.
“I was happy with my game and I think it’s just something I want to grow on again this week. If I get another chance this weekend to just keep building on that kind of performance. Doing a one-off game well is not as effective as being able to do it consistently on the bounce. That is what I’m going to try and follow up with.”
Although head coach Leo Cullen is still with the squad of players that are over in South Africa, senior coach Jacques Nienaber and attack specialist Tyler Bleyendaal have returned to Ireland and oversaw training with a separate group on Tuesday.
In their absences, the likes of Aaron Dundon and Kieran Hallett – who are employed by the province as elite player development officers – have been lending a hand to Cullen in the build-up to their meeting with the Sharks.
Whereas former Leinster hooker Dundon previously served as an assistant coach for Ulster and the Ireland U20s, Hallett was part of the Ireland senior women’s coaching set-up in the past and more recently had a stint in Super Rugby with Melbourne Rebels.
Hallett also spent time with the Leinster squad during their visit to South Africa in April of last year for regular season URC bouts against the Lions and the Stormers, and Connors is pleased to have gotten a chance to work with him and Dundon over in the southern hemisphere.
“I think we’re very fortunate to have the calibre of coaches like that available to us. The two of them, they’ve coached abroad [Dundon had spells in France with Grenoble and La Rochelle]. They’ve had a huge amount of experience in the coaching world.
“For them to take up a bigger role this week, we’re very familiar with their coaching style and their messaging. They’re two great coaches and they’re leading the week really well this week. Delighted to have them on board,” Connors added.