‘I love it here and I’ll love it more when I play more’
IT has been like waiting for Christmas morning, but the plan is to get some much needed game time with the Eagles against the Dragons tomorrow, so my senior debut is going to have to wait a little bit longer. After settling in with my new squad and working through a brilliant pre-season it was a little frustrating to pick up a small quad strain in the week before our opening game, but on the back of some recuperation I’m ready to go in the green shirt. Since I made the switch from Munster I’ve felt right at home in Galway, but it’s a little ironic that I’m still in no man’s land when it comes to a house. At the moment I’m living with Kieran Marmion in Knocknacarra, but I just bought a house a few weeks back and I’m waiting for that to go through. In three or four weeks hopefully, I’ll have my own place again, but I probably won’t feel fully settled until I’m in there. The box room in Kieran’s house is great, but after living in my own place in Limerick, moving back in with a gang is a little different. But fair play to the boys and Katie; they’re a great bunch and they’ve really opened their doors to me and helped me settle into my new surroundings. After the few weeks getting up to speed, like everyone I was pretty keen to get going again against Warriors, but after the injury I spent the last fortnight on an extended pre-season. Last week involved a lot of running, heavy loads and a lot of fitness work. I needed to get that stamina back into the legs to be ready to rock and roll. It meant that I spent a bit more time with Johnny O’Connor and he is a really interesting guy. He looks at things a little differently to most people but he’s a brilliant man. He knows what he’s doing, he’s been around the block and he knows how to get the best out of people and I’m seeing the results. So while I was ironing out the creases on the sidelines there was another Wexford back row putting on a show with two tries against Zebre. Paul Boyle is a quality player and I’ve been hugely impressed with him since I came here. He’s a young guy and a fellow Gorey RFC man. It turns out his parents know my parents very well. We did a few running sessions together in the off-season and for a young guy he is one of the first people that talks in meetings and a training. If something has to be said he’s happy to say it. Because I haven’t spent much time at home in recent years I didn’t really know too much about him until he got his first cap against Munster last year. Afterwards someone tweeted a photo to me about two Gorey boys playing against each other, which was a pretty cool thing, but since I moved to Connacht I’ve gotten to see him perform up close. It’ll be great to play together whenever we get the chance. When you see guys taking their chances it makes you realise how excited you are to get back into the team, but I have to keep in mind that it’s a very long season too. It was frustrating watching the games, but it has motivated me as well to get back in action. Watching the lads playing and doing well feeds the hunger to get back out on the pitch. But I’m not going to get too down about missing a game or two. We were hugely disappointed with the Glasgow game as we knew that even though we were close on the scoreboard, the performance was not anywhere near our best and we should have got all the points on offer. The manner of some of the scores we conceded certainly annoyed us. So it was pleasing to see some of the things we focused on in training all week come to fruition against Zebre. The weather was a bit different alright, but we were much more solid in D last weekend and that along with a good set-piece allowed us to take a convincing win. Tonight is going to be a big step up though. Edinburgh were unlucky away to Ospreys in week one and even more so against Ulster in Belfast last weekend. They’ll be happy to have their first home game of the season against us and they’ll be keen to perform and take a result this time. Last season showed what a quality side they are, and they have unbelievable depth in their squad now. It’s always such a physical battle with them. Traditionally their pack is really strong but since Richard Cockerill came in, they’ve also shown they have the talent to score from anywhere. They have unbelievable pace to call on and some big guys who can spark something from nothing. But we have to be ready for the physical battle first up. If we can win that arm wrestle the chances will come, but I think everybody is very aware of the test that awaits us. I was really excited to sign for Connacht. Some people ask if a move to unfamiliar surroundings is the right thing to do – but I am 100 per cent sure. I think Connacht is going to suit me. The minute I walked in the door I thought, ‘Yeah, this is the place for me. I’m going to be happy here’. Everything is perfect and there’s a great buzz around the place. I think the Connacht style of play will really suit me and they’re giving me lots of opportunities to do what I can do best. Connacht like to throw the ball around and play the game. That was a big reason for me moving here. My expectations have been met in every area; the quality of the gym, the coaching, the S&C – it’s all top of the range. Everything is here for us to succeed so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.
It was frustrating watching the games, but it has motivated me as well to get back in action