‘It was pretty scary to hear Warburton retired’
HE IS the type of player who hurls himself into contact with abandon, a man whose work-rate earns him the kind of post-game statistics other players can only dream of, so when Dan Leavy says something scares him the game should probably take note.
Fearless competitors don’t often admit to their moments of doubt, but the Leinster and Ireland openside – one of the players of the European season last year – watched Sam Warburton retire at 29 and contemplated his own career’s mortality.
The Wales and Lions captain’s enforced decision was a reminder to all back-rows – and No 7s in particular – of the dangers of their position.
At 24, Leavy is already playing catch-up after spending so much of the early part of his life at Leinster on the treatment tables.
At the end of his break-out season, he went under the knife for shoulder surgery and hopes to be back playing in the coming weeks.
And he is fully aware that the career he has taken on is a perilous one.
“It was pretty scary hearing that news,” Leavy said. “Sam was a class player. I played against him a good few times and he was tough, very talented and obviously he had his leadership qualities mixed in.
“But no, you’ve just got to enjoy every game you get. Take the opportunity as best you can.
“I don’t think you can go into games trying to look after yourself, that’s not the way I play or the way any No 7 can play if they’re worth their weight.
“But it is kind of scary to think that a career can end so quickly like that, especially at such a young age. But it’s kind of what happens these days.”
That is a subject of some debate right now as the game processes the departure of one of its leading lights at such a young age.
Physical as it is, rugby has a decision to make as to whether it is OK to shed star names at what traditionally would have been the peak of their careers.
In a recent interview, Warburton suggested three changes that would improve players’ chances of getting more out of their careers; limiting the number of games they play to 25 a season, reduce the level of contact in training and protect players attempting to poach the ball at ruck time.
The jackal position is a problematic one and Ireland fans only have to recall the moment in which Paul O’Connell’s career was ended before their eyes at the 2015 World Cup when Pascal Pape’s clear-out forced his hamstring off the bone.
Sean O’Brien, another injury-plagued openside of Warburton’s vintage, has echoed his Lions teammate’s calls, whereas former England international Stuart Barnes has suggested that the jackal should be outlawed altogether.
Leavy agrees that the way the breakdown is refereed currently favours the team in possession, but does not believe that law changes are the answer and reckons that protecting the poacher would lead to a chaotic game.
“I think it does (favour the team with the ball), but that’s just the way the game is,” he said at the launch of Family SportFest.
“It would be a different game altogether if you were on the ball for two seconds and there was a turnover.
“It’s just the way it is, it is what it is. What you’re signing up to do as an openside is try and slow up as much ball as you can, try and get your hands on the ball and it’s up to the opposition to try and hit you as hard as they can and get you off it.
“I don’t know how you’d change the rules in that regard without completely altering the rules. It’s fine.”
The reality for a player like Leavy is that there is no point wasting energy on what might happen to the game when there are matches to be played and trophies to be won in the here and now.
After the frustration of being limited to one half of action on the summer tour of Australia, he is raring to get back into the new campaign. After last season’s exploits, he is expecting some treatment to go with it.
Target
“I think teams will maybe look at me more than they did previously, I’ll have a bit of a target on my head potentially,” he conceded.
“But there’s always things you can brush up on; discipline for one, keeping in the game, just always being fit and ready to go to perform at 100pc capacity to make sure your body is right. They are all things that you can keep tipping along.
“I do think that they’ll look at how we played last year, the strength of Leinster and what our potential pitfalls are. They will definitely try to exploit us.
“So yeah, we will have to evolve and how good we were last year won’t cut it this year.
“We’ll have to get better and that’s one of our big goals this year, to see how far this group can really go and how good we can get. That’s the challenge.”
‘Teams will maybe look at me more than they did previously, I’ll have a bit of a target on my head potentially’