Patience pays off for resilient prop
After a lengthy spell on sidelines Carlow loosehead is relishing regular game time and looking forward to Scarlets challenge
IT is something of a novelty to be sitting in front of Ed Byrne and not to have injuries at the top of the agenda but the man from Carlow is finally having the season he has been patiently waiting for.
“Yeah, it’s been going well I suppose. Really the three inter-pro games over Christmas were a huge boost. Being involved in all three of those and getting that regular game time was huge.
“It’s a cliché but you only get better with that game time and getting a feel for it week in week out, and this season has been about that.”
Of his 18 Leinster caps, 11 have come this season. Three as a starter and seven off the bench.
Since his debut in 2014 that’s been a slow burn. But of course the two-plus years out with knee injuries form a large part in that narrative. Now though, it’s all about game time and testing himself in an environment like Leinster.
“We’ve four loosehead props in the senior squad at the moment and you’ve other lads in the academy itching to get a chance too, so it’s a hugely competitive environment.
“What I’ve enjoyed this season is finally being able to build a level of trust with the coaching team because that can only come with game time.
“Whether that is starting or off the bench, showing them that when the pressure comes on in set-piece or in open play, that I have the skill-set to make a positive impact on the game.
“At the end of the season then I’ll sit down and see where I’m at but already this season I feel like I’ve taken big steps in my career finally and like everyone you then want to add more challenges and more obstacles in your own way and see how you can tackle them. But right now I’ve enough to be worried about with a massive block of games in front of us.”
He echoes what his fellow players and Stuart Lancaster have said this week. The loss to Edinburgh last Friday wasn’t all bad, but what was bad needs to be addressed. And quick.
“Scarlets lost themselves last weekend and the pressure is on them too to bounce back so they’ll have that intensity and that desperation to do well.
CONTROL
“They also know what’s at stake on Saturday. If they win they know that they’ve got control of Conference B back and know that we’ll be going over to them in a few weeks too, so it’s a massive boost to get one over us in the RDS.
“They’ll have some Welsh lads back and available to them so I’d imagine they’ll be stronger than last week so all in all, we can’t dwell on what we did or didn’t do last Friday. We have to just go at it with the right mindset and put it right. If we don’t they’ll punish us.”
The thought of the Scarlets coming to the RDS brings back good memories for Byrne. In the same fixture last season he scored his first and to date only try for Leinster on his first game in the RDS. The try sealed a comfortable win but the reaction of his fellow players told a different story.
It could have been a matchwinning score deep into the red.
“It could have been a trophyclinching score to top off an unbelievable comeback. But no. This was just team-mates delighted for a player who had been through the mill.
“It’s my rugby highlight. No question. The lads went nuts! It really does maybe encapsulate how tight a group we have, that brotherhood and how we all look out for each other. They all knew what it meant for me and it was great to celebrate it with them.”
He would love nothing more than to celebrate even more good days against the Scarlets tomorrow. A 3.15pm kick-off gives him the ideal prep time too.
“The 7.35pm kick-offs are tough. It’s a long day to wait for a game. The earlier kick-offs are perfect. You can get up and maybe go out for breakfast and a coffee. Then back and one of us will cook a pre-match lunch and those of us involved will sit down and eat and then we’re down to the RDS.”
The ‘we’ and the ‘us’ is an eclectic bunch. Twin brother Bryan is now also joined in the house by Joey Carbery and Luke McGrath, a combination that helps.
“I think it helps set good habits and it’s good to have lads in a similar headspace on match day around you. Same midweek, you can keep each other on the straight and narrow. So yeah, it’s a good mix in the house. Good lads.”
With his pre-match lunch out of the way, he’ll go to the RDS and by then the pilgrimage from Carlow will also have begun.
His mum and dad rarely miss a game nor does his sister, and younger brother and girlfriend Rebecca will also be there.
“To be fair to them they’ve all been hugely supportive of me and Bryan over the years and they rarely if ever miss a game. It’s nice too knowing that they’re there.
“You’re representing them too at the end of the day when you run out at the RDS or wherever so it’s nice to have them there with you.”
A mention of Ed, goes hand in hand with twin brother Bryan and Byrne the prop is very proud of his twin brother’s own achievements this season playing at hooker for Leinster.
“I think Bryan would have been disappointed with how things have gone for him at various points over the last few seasons but he has kept at it and it was brilliant to see him getting his first Champions Cup caps in January.
TARGET
“He had set himself a target and it’s always nice to see that achieved. Like us all it’s now about him kicking on and achieving more but yeah, it’s unique having the two of us in there but it makes it all the sweeter then to see that hard work pay off because you’ve seen it at close hand what’s gone in.”
To his own targets so? Like Bryan, adding one of those EPCR sleeve patches to one of his Leinster jerseys?
“Yeah, look it would be great to get that Champions Cup cap. You look at the buzz the lads got during those Exeter back-to-back weeks.
“The highs, the lows, the agony, the ecstasy, everything, all the emotions rolled into those weeks and those two games and you definitely want to feel that for yourself.
“As I said earlier there will be time enough at the end of the season to evaluate all of that and to set new goals. You can’t get distracted by that kind of stuff because there is too much happening right now, in front of us, to let your mind wander. Scarlets is enough for me and we’ll get through that first.”