I was a nobody leaving Leinster but Pat Lam gave me a shot
How Matt Healy picked up his career after moving west
MATT HEALY’S right hand isn’t a pretty sight. Two fingers, broken in late September, required three pins and despite wearing a protective glove, further damage was inflicted when trod on against Wasps.
Looks are deceiving, though, and the winger insists the hand feels good. ‘I was throwing balls around as soon as I got the cast off. The job done on my fingers was really good. I’ve broken other fingers before, come back six weeks later and struggled to use it again.’
It has been a slow-burning season for Healy: he was having a scan in hospital when he learned, via Twitter, that Pat Lam is quitting at the end of the season. But his declaration of rude health now is timely with a breakthrough Champions Cup quarter-final spot at stake in France today.
Winter has been tough for the Dubliner who bounced back from a Leinster academy snub to earn an Ireland Test debut in June on the back of his most prolific Connacht season yet. He couldn’t stop scoring last term, 13 tries in 26 appearances, the last the clincher in the Pro12 title success against the province that didn’t want him. Sweet.
However, his delight of a score every 153 minutes was followed by a 586-minute drought, across nine barren outings, that only ended with a brace last weekend against Zebre.
Just as well then that he doesn’t pride himself on finishing ability alone. ‘I haven’t been thinking about it because I know if I do I will just get annoyed with myself,’ he says. ‘This year would make anyone embarrassed really. It was good to get on the scoresheet again twice, but I was more concerned with other aspects of my performance. Happy enough with 80 per cent of what I was doing.
‘There are examples, like Craig Ronaldson, who are out for long periods but come back and play well straightaway. It’s disappointing for me to come back and not be at that level, but I feel over the last few weeks I have been getting closer to what I was last year.
‘Scoring as many tries as I did was great but it’s about the consistency of the other things demanded from the coaches. Ball retention in contact, tackling, work rate off the ball, getting in the right positions. These are the things I focus on.
‘You can’t focus on scoring tries because the opportunities might not come along and if you rate yourself on try-scoring and don’t get any tries like I haven’t been this season, you could get pretty low.’
Seismic events in France, just over three years ago, give Connacht hope today’s adventure in Toulouse is mission possible, not another dreary away outing in a campaign that has featured just one success – at hapless Zebre – in seven cup and league trips.
Healy was only making his second European appearance when the westerners previously shook up the European elite in December 2013, their shock 16-14 pool result at the home of the four-time champions being called up from the video vault this week in as Lam attempted to set a confident tone. ‘We looked at the footage on Wednesday morning which jogged the memory a bit. It was just an unbelievable effort from everyone involved. The work rate was a different level and that is what is going to be needed on Sunday. ‘Toulouse have improved. They probably underestimated us in 2013 and they are just not going to underestimate us this time. It’s probably going to be twice as difficult and we’re going to need twice the effort put in that day. ‘I was subbed off with 15 minutes to go. Centre Eoin Griffin replaced me on the wing so I spent the time walking the sideline telling him what to look at, where to stand, what to do, stuff like that. The final whistle was unbelievable. Elation and fatigue. I also remember the Toulouse lads just walked straight off. There were no handshakes or anything.’
Critics are envious of Connacht’s Euro loftiness, a 10-point leg-up against Zebre either side of a crucial late, late refereeing gift at home to Wasps integral in helping them set the pool pace. However, no one can begrudge progress if they double up their Galway win over Toulouse and make the knockout stage for the first time.
‘We would have all expected to be here (still in the hunt in January), but we’re not out of the group yet so we have a lot of work to do. Hopefully we’re going to peak at the right time. I can’t compare it to the Pro12 final. They are both huge games, both huge landmarks in the history of Connacht.
‘That day after winning the final in Edinburgh is a sight I never experienced in my life, memories that will stick with us. Hopefully, we can give the people another 80 minutes to be proud of us. It’s going to be a huge occasion.’
Creating unprecedented history for the club hadn’t crossed Healy’s mind when he first took the spin west in 2012. Instead, he was trying to revive a career that looked over before it started. ‘It was a shock when I was released by Leinster after the Under 20s World Cup. I would have been immature, a bit naive, not really thinking of the bigger picture. I definitely thought everything would fall into place naturally. It didn’t so I had to question whether I wanted to try and get back in.’
There was a DCU sports science degree to complete. Part-time work at a drinks supply company, too, before Lansdowne’s old connections with Eric Elwood rescued him, the former scrum-half becoming a finisher to fear out wide.
‘Eric got me down on a one-year development contract, but when Pat came in I’d competition in Danie Poolman, a big signing that year, and Fionn Carr, the top try scorer, and I was a nobody. Pat had one on ones with everybody that first summer. I just asked him to give me a chance. Just give me one shot.’
Healy took it. Now a Test winger, the yearning for a second Ireland cap is massive, his eyes opened in South Africa by the level of intensity the seasoned Andrew Trimble and Keith Earls brought to training, never mind matches. ‘I would never have expected to get this far. It’s been a huge learning curve.’
Toulouse underestimated us in 2016, they won’t do that again