DO NOT DOUBT THE BOTTLE OF WHISKEY Alby only too happy to remain
Jamison up for the scrap as he targets Ireland role
THEY call Jamison Gibsonpark ‘Whiskey’ around the Leinster HQ, and he knows he’s going to have to give it his best shot to force Luke Mcgrath out of the No9 shirt.
But with the Kiwi-born player becoming eligible for Ireland in just six months, he is as determined as ever to prove he made the right decision to leave home in 2016.
He will qualify to play for Joe Schmidt’s team in June, three years after he left Super Rugby side the Hurricanes, and he still dreams of playing at the elite level.
With Conor Murray, Kieran Marmion, Mcgrath (inset) and John Cooney all ahead of him in the pecking order, Gibson-park has a tough road to the green shirt – but he’s up for the scrap.
“They look as though they’re pretty set in those positions but you never know what could happen over the next while,” he said. “As I’d always say, the focus is on what’s going on here [Leinster], try to get the No9 jersey for Leinster first.
“I’m absolutely ambitious though, it’s what we’re here for, to play at the highest level. It’s something I’ve always aspired to do.”
Playing second fiddle to a rival scrum-half is nothing new – All Black TJ Perenara owned the No9 shirt at the Hurricanes, and Gibsonpark didn’t start a single game in the season before he left for Dublin.
Since his arrival, Gibson-park has started 27 games compared to
Mcgrath’s 45 – with just three of the
Kiwi’s starts coming in Europe.
He admitted: “I was probably a small bit naïve coming over here thinking I was going to breeze in straight away but it took me a good while to find my feet.
“Obviously the first season I was sort of feeling it out but it’s a whole lot different now, I feel comfortable in this environment, having my say, that kind of thing. I’ve improved that side of things I think.
“My focus has to be spot-on because I’m not playing every week.
“It’s good to get a bit of a ball rolling, especially in a ball-playing position, I feel it’s better when you get a roll-on, a number of games together.
“It’s hard to be bouncing in and out but that’s the nature of what I’ve had to do for the last wee while.
“It can be challenging at times, no doubt, but it’s the nature of the beast, you just have to roll on and get on with it.”
Ulster Munster
Kingspan Stadium, Friday 7.35pm
v SCRUM-HALF Alby Mathewson is eager to earn a long-term deal with Munster.
The Kiwi’s initial fourmonth contract with the Reds has been extended until the end of March, but after playing a big part in Munster’s season to date, he is desperate to hang around.
The ex-toulon No 9 says he has found the time away from his Australia-based family tough, having spent the last couple of years trotting the globe on shortterm contracts.
The 33-year-old said: “I am here until March at the moment and when that times comes around we will see what happens.
“I would like to stay because I was here from the start of the season and once it gets to March there is only two months left.
“It is obviously not up to me, really, but just take it as it is at the moment, see what happens in the future.
“Long-term (staying with Munster) would be ideal. It has been tough the last two years for me, I have lived in five countries, just picking up contracts here and there.
“It is tough on my family. My oldest son is eight, he has been to five different schools in the last two years. This is probably the toughest period, I have never been away from him for this long and obviously over Christmas it makes it even tougher.”
It was Conor Murray’s neck injury that prompted Munster to delve into the free agent market, and at the end of August Johann van Graan managed to secure Mathewson’s signature.
“It is always tough because I finished with Toulon and I had three months off doing nothing, because I didn’t have a contract, so I got a phone call to come over and I was happy to.”
It is expected that Mathewson will be handed his fifth Munster start against Ulster in Belfast this weekend.