I CANNOT STAND IT
Keenan: I don’t make a good spectator
HUGO KEENAN transformed himself into a fan for the weekend in Dublin and London and admits it was tough going.
Happy as he was that Ireland beat Wales to keep their Grand Slam ambitions burning, sitting in the stands is not something the 28-year-old is used to – even if he is on course to return from a knee injury at Twickenham on Saturday week.
“Yeah, 100 per cent it fuels you,” he said. “The novelty of watching the game in the stands wears off pretty quickly – I’m not great in the stands to be honest. You can’t control anything.
I’m not used to it.
“Luckily, I’ve had a good run of being injury free over the last two plus years and I’ll be a sort of a nervy watcher too sort of at the edge of my seat, shouting and screaming.
“The less of it the better, I say.” Then, on Sunday, Keenan made a bee-line for Wembley and the Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and his beloved Chelsea.
“I have two big Liverpool friends,” he said. “They had three tickets and teed it up a while back but I didn’t really know whether I would get the chance to go.
“I’m obviously a big Chelea fan but I was stuck in the Liverpool end, which wasn’t too enjoyable.
“I had to hold back some of the emotions but I got it cleared with some of the physios and just did a day trip over and back so it worked out well.
“It was nice to have a bit of a distraction and something to look forward to while you’re injured.
“Unfortunately it didn’t go our way, we didn’t get the result we wanted in that sense – probably a frustrating one because Chelsea could have and probably should have won it in the 90 minutes.” On Sky Sports, Gary Neville called Chelsea’s players ‘billion dollar bottle jobs’ for conceding Virgil van Dijk’s extra-time winner.
“God, yeah, the kids putting us to shame,” grimaced Keenan. “I heard one of them (the Liverpool youngsters) went into school on Monday! Mad. “They settled things well, the academy lads, in extra-time. God, we were pretty useless in extra-time. Bit of a tough watch.”
Keenan had never been to Wembley before.
“I remember some of the lads talking about their opening World Cup game there back in 2015 in front of 90-odd thousand,” he said. “I remember Johnny (Sexton) mentioning that at the start of our
World Cup.
“I was impressed with the football element to it but I’d love to play a game there myself as well.
“You do learn a bit as a fan, being there you get a sense of the different atmospheres. Football is obviously slightly different to rugby, probably a bit more hostile, but I enjoy it as a spectator.
“It was my first final that I’ve been to. I got to the Chelsea-man City 4-4 game earlier this year, I got the Chelsea-madrid game at the Bernabeu last year as well. I’m trying to enjoy those opportunities while I can.
“It’s always good to get away and I’m certainly not the only one in the squad.
“Some lads get over to the United or Liverpool games. I would go to any sporting occasion if you gave me the chance.”
And Keenan admits it gives him a sense of perspective, to be the one shouting at the players on the pitch rather than the other way around.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We’re in a very privileged position to have that incredible support following us over to
France and in the Aviva getting sellout games.”