Nash tackles self-doubt to take flight on big stage
SUFFICE to say, Calvin Nash was suffering with a bit of imposter syndrome in the days leading up to the Six Nations opener against France in Marseilles.
The Munster wing had just one Ireland cap to his name – against Italy in a pre-World Cup friendly in Dublin – when he got the tap on the shoulder from Andy Farrell.
In the injury-enforced absences of Mack Hansen and Jimmy O’Brien, there was a free slot on the right wing and Farrell had turned to the Limerick native to fill it.
The biggest game in Nash’s career? Undoubtedly. A heaving Stade Velodrome on a Friday night. Against a global heavyweight.
Nash was a form pick, but some old demons returned for a visit in the days leading up to the French clash. He began to look around the dressing room, seeing all the household names and wondering if he belonged in this environment?
Overcome with nerves and anxiety, he reached out to Andy Farrell, Gary Keegan and Keith Earls for a bit of perspective.
‘I think at the start of the week I had a bit of self-doubt. I was thinking: “You don’t really have any international experience at all!”
‘You know that kinda way? And you’re coming up against literally one of the best teams in the world.
‘All of that stuff came into my head at the start of the week but I did have a chat with Faz and Gary, the psychologist. I dropped Earlsy a text, saying I was basically up the walls. I just felt like I couldn’t switch off.
‘It was just class to talk to all three of them, to get different views but also because it got me to think more logically about the way I was thinking.
‘Once I got into the stadium, I thought: Just enjoy this. Listen to the crowd.
‘They can’t do anything to me, you know? Just soak it up and enjoy it. When are you get that opportunity to relish something like this?’
As well as being a brilliant coach and tactician, Farrell has emotional intelligence in spades. He picked up something during the captain’s run on the day before the game. He felt Nash was a bit quiet. He beckoned the wing away for a chat.
‘He just kind of went through certain scenarios with me,’ Nash explained. ‘It was good like – some of the stuff I was thinking was just so stupid!
‘I suppose I was thinking, “oh well I don’t know my detail well enough.” Which obviously…I’d been glued to my phone looking at every detail of the plays and then I felt, “oh my international inexperience... and France are going to target me”, and all this stupid kind of stuff.
‘It shouldn’t be coming into your head but I feel it was probably just a bit of nerves and it kinda snowballed.’
He needn’t have worried. Once Nash received an early pass from Robbie Henshaw and saw a bit of space in front of him, he settled into his natural game. He more than played his part in that statement victory on French soil, bagging a try in an impressive performance.
Nash has got the nod again this afternoon. Quite the rise for a player who considered packing it all in back in 2022 when he was going through a particularly barren streak at his home province.
The arrival of Mike Prendergast was seismic. The highly-rated attack coach was lured back from Racing 92 to invigorate the province. Nash thrived on Prendergast’s watch. He has been a standout performer over the past 18 months, revelling in his roaming role with Munster. It was very much cut and paste when he arrived into the Irish setup. Farrell likes a busy winger as well.
When Prendergast first sat down with Nash, he showed him clips of Juan Imhoff, the livewire Pumas wing with who he had worked in Paris. Nash took plenty of notes.
‘He just showed me some of his lines of running and what he’s looking at when he’s coming around the corner and scanning and stuff.
‘Prendy coming in helped me a lot, with my scanning and my decision-making around those areas.
‘It took a bit of getting used to because Juan Imhoff has some engine on him, to be fair to him. He’s well able to run. It was great to be able to try and copy him as well as taking my own stance on it as well.’
This afternoon, Nash gets another chance to impress. He should see plenty more ball and, crucially, he has Hugo Keenan and James Lowe for company again. Keenan, in particular, has been a calming influence on a player who can get in his own head a bit too much.
‘Yeah, Mr Perfect!’ Nash says, with a laugh. He seems to not do anything wrong to be honest.
‘His knowledge and detail round certain locations on the pitch, and his positioning, he’s such a great lad to talk to and pick his brain. He’s all over his detail. Even this morning he presented on scrum defence and he’s a really good rugby brain.’
Another big display against the Azzurri and Nash should be in pole position to hold onto this starting spot agains Wales in a fortnight. All of sudden, he could become a firm fixture in Farrell’s plans. He is keeping his head down for now. Thinking too far ahead has done him no favours. Dealing with a pacy Italian back three is today’s priority.
‘We’ll have out hands full with some of them,’ Nash added.
‘Monty Ioane is very strong – it’ll be a good match-up, now hopefully just keep them under pressure and see how we get on.’ He should be fine. It may have taken Nash a while to embrace the big time, but he belongs at this level. He is no imposter.
I was up the walls... I just felt like I couldn’t switch off