Porter aims to do his late mum proud on match day
IN what will already be a day of heightened emotion, Ireland player, Andrew Porter, will feel the occasion even more than most when he enters Twickenham today.
The 22-year-old Ireland and Leinster player, who starts on the bench today after a breakthrough season, has an elaborate threepart tattoo dedicated to his mother, Wendy, who died of cancer when he was 12.
His father, Ernie, reveals in an Irish Daily Mail interview today that Wendy’s death had a terrible effect on his son.
‘Wendy had been sick for seven years but she fought it off. It was devastating. She had breast cancer first and she had the operation and that was cleared up, then it came back, then her liver was next, then we got that cleared up, then it spread. It was terrible.
‘She was very active throughout – Wendy brought Andrew everywhere. If they weren’t going swimming it was soccer or football and he played hockey for a while too in goals,’ Ernie said.
He recalls his son’s great love for Wendy and the interest she had in his career.
‘Andrew was a great lad for his mother. He’d love coming home to her and telling her how he was going in the sport and Wendy would love to hear how he’s doing,’ he said.
Wendy entered a hospice in early August 2008 and died later that month.
Her death had a profound influence on Andrew, who wanted to get a tattoo to honour his mother. His father was completely against it, but couldn’t stop Andrew when he reached 18.
Andrew got a tattoo on his left arm of Wendy’s name, in between images of a dove and a Roman statue, because her mother had taken him to Italy on holidays when he was a small boy.
‘I always said to him, “Don’t be getting tattoos”, but when they reach 18, sure they do what they like, so off he went,’ Ernie reveals.
He said he ‘wouldn’t be mad on tattoos’ and ‘dreaded’ seeing his son come home with one.
‘But it’s his mother, Wendy, and I know he’d have thought long and hard about it and, yes, it’s touching,’ Ernie said.
He also explains his son’s unorthodox training regime as a teenager – Andrew dived at sheep on his grandmother’s farm to learn how to take down rugby players on the pitch.
‘If we were bringing in sheep or catching them or doing their feet he’d catch them and that’s how he learned how to tackle,’ he said.
In the days before he had use of professional gyms, ambitious Andrew used any farm machinery he could find to build up his muscles.
‘There’d be tractor wheels or big iron bars and he’d be dragging them around,’ Ernie said.
The 18st 12lb prop, who could win his sixth cap for Ireland in Twickenham today, had his Six Nations debut against Wales last month.
michelle.fleming@dailymail.ie
‘He will feel the day more than most’