A BLUE CHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR MCGRATH
Dragons v Leinster, Sunday, 4.15
By DAIRE WALSH
OVER the past two seasons, Leinster prop Jack McGrath had made a rapid progression on both the club and international stages.
Under the guidance of Blues coach Matt O’Connor, he has featured regularly at provincial level.
He started four of Ireland games in their successful Six Nations defence, but made way for Cian Healy in the concluding fixture against Scotland.
He was also restricted to an appearance from the bench in Leinster’s Champions Cup victory over Bath last weekend.
Sunday’s encounter with Newport Gwent Dragons is an ideal opportunity to work his way back into contention, but as he reflected on the previous weekend’s fare at the Aviva, McGrath was pleased to get a 20 minute run-out.
He said: “I think every week is an opportunity. I got 20 minutes at the weekend. I was pretty happy.
“Matt was pretty happy with the character of the guys. I think we all were. It was a pretty tough last 20 minutes.
“We had a good first-half, but we let it slip away. I thought we showed good trust in each other and good character to grind out the win.”
Despite his relatively limited game-time in Murrayfield on March 21, McGrath was not part of Leinster’s match-day squad against Pro12 leaders, Glasgow Warriors, in the RDS six days later.
Given his exertions for Ireland, he felt that it wasn’t necessary for him to feature in this contest, but accepted that the time was right for him to be starting games again.
He said: “I think I played enough over the Six Nations and had done enough training in-between that the Glasgow game wasn’t really needed. I think they felt I probably needed a rest, but it’s coming to the point now where I probably need game time after benching against Scotland and against Bath.
“There is only so much you can do in the gym, circuit-wise. You need to be playing rugby.”
The fact that McGrath didn’t feature for Leinster while the Six Nations was in development (his most recent Pro12 appearance was against Ulster at the beginning of January) shows how important he now is to Joe Schmidt’s Ireland set-up.
In the absence of the front-line international stars last season, Leinster recorded five consecutive wins, but their form during the same period this year keeps them outside of the top-four heading into Sunday’s clash.
McGrath believes this is partly down to the motivation their opponents have when they face the reigning champions.
He said: “The guys last year got 24 out of 25 possible points.
“When you’re the current holders, teams are going to want to pitch themselves as good as you, so every time a Leinster team turns up home or away, the team that is coming over is coming to try and beat you and get one up on you.
“They really want to have a shot at the champions and get a scalp.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but it’s a good learning curve I suppose for some of the younger guys.”