IN THE MIDDLE of the five-week period that has separated Leinster’s triumph over Emirates Lions at the Aviva Stadium on 26 October and their interprovincial clash with Ulster in Belfast this evening, Will Connors found himself taking two swift journeys down Memory Lane.

As part of their 12 County Tour, Leinster Rugby held a gym session within the grounds of Connors’ alma mater – the Clane-based Clongowes Wood College – on the morning of 12 November. Later on the same day, Leo Cullen’s squad travelled roughly 15 minutes down the road for an open training session at North Kildare RFC, where the 28-year-old flanker originally got a taste for the oval ball game as a youngster.

Located between the towns of Maynooth and Kilcock, this club also boasts Irish internationals Devin Toner and Bob Casey amongst its list of past players, and Connors was delighted to return there with his provincial colleagues in tow.

“It’s a special moment to get back to your home club and I was fortunate enough to do it. I said before, every kid has the dream of playing for Leinster or playing for Ireland. I suppose it starts on those cold Wednesday nights in places like North Kildare,” Connors said at a Leinster media briefing earlier this week.

“Even if you had the €2 in your sock going off to get your jellies after the game. It was class. Even to marry it with the school as well, going to Clongowes: there’s a lot of proud days when you get to play for Leinster and you get to play for Ireland, but that will definitely stick in the memory as one of the better days I’ve had.”

While Connors hasn’t played a first-team game for Leinster since starting their United Rugby Championship win against Connacht at Dexcom Stadium on 19 October, he has nevertheless seen some game time in recent weeks.

The province have been using a certain number of senior players in the ongoing IRFU ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship and the Kildare man was selected at openside flanker for their round one victory over Connacht Eagles in Creggs RFC a little under a fortnight ago.

Connors (who picked up the last of his nine Ireland senior caps to date against Scotland in the 2021 Six Nations) will also be occupying the number seven jersey in Kingspan Stadium tonight, when Leinster will be aiming to further cement their current status as URC pace-setters.

Their latest Interpro bout in Ravenhill is also a perfect opportunity for players to put their hands up for selection in Leinster’s European Champions Cup Pool 2 opener away to Bristol Bears on Sunday week – albeit Connors is aware Leo Cullen and his fellow provincial coaches will also be keeping a close eye on Ireland’s duel with Australia in the Aviva Stadium tomorrow.

“I think we’re fortunate enough that this is such a big game. Obviously the lads will be playing Australia and that’s going to be another massive game. The lead into this Bristol game, I think there will be two heavy-hitting games this weekend.

“We’ll see how selection goes then over the next couple of weeks, but every opportunity you get with the Leinster jersey on, you want to put your best foot forward.”

Like most positions in the team, there is fierce competition for the openside flanker spot within the Leinster squad. As well as 2022 World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year Josh van der Flier, Connors also has to contend with the reliable Scott Penny in his bid to establish himself as the eastern province’s number seven of choice.

Yet the Donadea native has shown increased flexibility within the past 12 months as he started three consecutive games at blindside flanker in last season’s URC campaign. This run of fixtures saw Connors finally getting the chance to play alongside the aforementioned Penny and if called upon at any point in the current term, he will be more than willing to don the number six jersey for Leinster.

“I loved being out there with another 7. When I’m playing out there with Scott, it’s like you’re singing off the same hymn sheet. You’re both trying to get involved and I really like that balance in the back-row,” Connors added.

“Hopefully going forward there will be games where we can get two 7s out on the pitch, but we’ll see. I’d love to keep playing in the big games whatever way that happens, but it’s all about me putting my best foot forward. Trying to impress for selection.”

Daire Walsh

HE WAS ON these shores recently to help New Zealand overcome the challenge of Ireland in their opening game of this year’s Autumn Nations Series and Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has now confirmed that Jordie Barrett is set to link up with the province’s squad later this week.

When the versatile 27-year-old signed a new contract extension with the New Zealand Rugby Union back in April, he elected to exercise an option that would allow him to play overseas for a certain period of time. Given he had previously spent 15 months as a child with his family in Oldcastle, Co. Meath, Barrett was drawn towards a move to Leinster and he subsequently agreed a deal that will keep him with the eastern province until the end of the current season.

While a knee injury saw him being withdrawn 36 minutes into their one-point defeat at the hands of France on 16 November – eight days on from lining out at inside centre in the All Blacks’ 23-13 victory over Ireland at the Aviva Stadium – Cullen revealed he doesn’t expect this to be a serious injury.

“He’s in this week. He’s making his way from wherever he is in Europe at the moment. Some final bits he had to tie off with the NZRU. His injury is not too bad. He was a little nervous, but he had a scan so that’s what we want. Get him in the door and let’s see how he looks running around.”

Even though it is highly unlikely Barrett will feature for Leinster at Kingspan Stadium on Friday night, Cullen is set to welcome back a host of names for their latest United Rugby Championship clash with interprovincial rivals Ulster. In addition to Lee Barron and John McKee – who will both be vying for a spot at hooker against Richie Murphy’s side – the experienced triumvirate of Jack Conan, Jimmy O’Brien and Jordan Larmour have also resumed full training after recovering from recent injuries.

Despite a number of Leinster’s senior squad having seen game time in the ongoing Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship, Friday will see the Blues’ first team returning to competitive action for the first time since their URC win at home to Emirates Lions on 26 October.

Whereas in previous seasons Ireland might have concluded their Autumn Nations Series campaign by this point, Andy Farrell’s international side have a 150th anniversary Test to look forward to against Australia this Saturday. This means Cullen will be without a number of key figures in Belfast on Friday (17 Leinster players have featured for Ireland thus far in November), but he is nevertheless focused on pushing forward with those that are currently at his disposal.

“It’s tight this year versus what it would have been in previous years. Listen, the 150th anniversary only happens once. We understand the importance of the tests. It’s a big game for us here. It’s a round seven game, it’s against Ulster. We’d have slightly more players in camp than them.

“Listen, we just get on with it. It’s going to be a good challenge. We’ve been waiting for this URC for a while. We’ve had two ‘A’ games, but lots of senior players have game time. Three players making their debuts. We’ll try to manage the players.”

Across six games to date in the United Rugby Championship – which has seen Leinster accumulating 29 points from a possible 30 – Cullen has used a grand total of 47 players. 21-year-old hooker Gus McCarthy has featured in five of those games and despite only making his Leinster senior debut as recently as April of this year against the Stormers, the former Blackrock College student has already made an impact within the international test arena.

Last Saturday saw McCarthy making his senior debut for Ireland in a comfortable win over Fiji at the Aviva Stadium – as part of a front-row that also included Andrew Porter and Finlay Bealham – and he rounded off an accomplished performance by grabbing a second half try.

Cullen (who recently signed a new contract that will keep him as Leinster head coach until 2027) is understandably pleased with the progress being made by McCarthy and believes he can be an inspiration to the other young hopefuls that are currently part of the Leinster set-up.

“That’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s over to the players. With Gus, even if you watch back our pre-season games, he had a good pre-season. He just takes to it really easily. Every week he was getting better and better. That’s why he started round one this season, because it was off the back of a couple of really good pre-season games,” Cullen added.

“He went well and obviously he’s kicked on since then again. Which is great to see, I thought he was excellent at the weekend. It’s what you want. Again, for all the young guys, it’s over to them when they get their opportunity. Making sure that they’re ready for it. If they go well, they’ll get picked again, but that sounds easy doesn’t it?”

Daire Walsh