SCOTT HAS DEVELOPED MUNSTER APPETITE

Aussie happy to swap beer & barbie for the festive fight with Leinster

AUSTRALIA international Scott Fardy used to spend his Boxing Day supping pints and gobbling prawns.

But whatever his Christmas Day feed next Monday, the giant second row will be sacrificing the sauce this festive period.

After seeing off Premiership champions Exeter in back-to-back Champions Cup games, Fardy is refocusing his sights on Pro14 clashes with Munster, Connacht and Ulster.

He has made an immediate impact at Leinster this season since swapping life with the Brumbies for some roll-up-the-sleeves European fare.

And the new dad, 33, says the lure of restoring the Blues as kingpins in the northern hemisphere is what drew him to Ireland.

Grinning, Fardy said: “It’s totally different this time of year, (normally) you would be feet up in the sun eating prawns somewhere, drinking beer.

“But it’s a very exciting time of year here. To have three inter-provincial games is going to be important in how we end up at the end of the season.”

Fardy continued: “I wanted to come overseas. I wanted to experience playing European rugby and ideally that would be with a club playing at the business end.

“Leinster have proven they can get to the business end every year and have the squad to do so.”

As an established Aussie international, Fardy could potentially have picked up more dosh in France or England.

But Leinster were always at the forefront of his mind once that window of opportunity opened for him.

“Money is not everything to me, put it that way,” he said. “I’m happy where I am. You also want to keep learning.

“I’m learning stuff here – I keep growing my game and, personally, in my life. If this is the twilight of my career, I want to enjoy it and I want to win things.

“I don’t want to go somewhere and just play. I want to go to a place and win because that’s important to me.

“Everybody should always want to win more – shouldn’t they? Those are the kind of guys you want to play and the guys in this club want to win more things.”

Fardy has taken the adjustment to Irish life in his stride, but admits the pressure to deliver on the pitch is ferocious – but it’s a challenge he is relishing.

Take the come-from-behind win over Exeter at the weekend for example and the 45 phases of pickand-go at one stage in the game.

“It’s a different format than I’ve played in my career, it feels like a World

Cup format with the pool,” he said.

“It’s a huge challenge and a lot of pressure goes into those games but I’m very happy to get four from four at the moment.

“I know there’s nothing settled yet and there’s two big games coming up (against Glasgow and Montpellier).

“Glasgow will be hurting from their start in Europe and will be ready for us coming to the RDS in January.

“But Munster on St Stephen’s Day – hopefully we go down there and get a big result.”