Still hoping to play a part

 

JOE’s rugby columnist Jerry Flannery on the frustration of aggravating an injury against Barbarians on Friday night – but he’s still hoping to jet out to New Zealand this week.

 

It was disappointing to lose to the Barbarians on Friday night but we had a fairly inexperienced team out and when you look at the Baa-Baas, they had some of the best players in the world playing for them and they seemed to have been put under pressure to get results rather than entertain.

Even with the result, there are still a lot of positives to take out of it. A lot of people got their first real chance in a green jersey.

It’s a measure of a fella’s character that when he gets a chance like that he takes it with both hands

John Muldoon (main picture, above) was one of those and given that we’ve lost Kevin McLaughlin, Denis Leamy and Stephen Ferris – all options for the 6 position – John’s performance was very encouraging.

We have been blessed with the amount of good back-rows we’ve had for the last few years so it’s been tough for John to break through, but he has played well over the last few years for Connacht and it’s a measure of a fella’s character that when he gets a chance like that he takes it with both hands.

With regard to next weekend’s game against the All Blacks, everything’s up in the air a bit. There’s been a few injuries and uncertainty over certain players’ fitness, so the coaches are going to be sitting down this week to work out exactly what their best team is going to be.

I probably rushed it trying to be fit for the Leinster game in the Magners League and in hindsight the game  against the Baa-Baas might also have been a bit early for me

The Baa-Baas game was expensive enough in a way. Fergus McFadden (below, pursued by Brock James) broke his jaw, and it’s very unfortunate for him because he’s going to be out for at least four weeks so he’s going to miss the tour. I aggravated the same calf injury that had been troubling me for a few weeks and Jonny Sexton got a bang on the jaw before the game.

It’s easy to say that we shouldn’t have had this game but we had to have some sort of warm-up game ahead of the tour. The Leinster lads had a Magners League final and both ourselves and Leinster had semi-finals in the Heineken Cup and the Magners League but when the Baa-Baas game was organised, there was no guarantee of that happening and you couldn’t afford to be going into a game against New Zealand without having had a game in a long, long time. The injuries happened and it’s frustrating but that’s just the nature of it. Injuries are part and parcel of the game and we just have to move on.

My own problem is something that I’ve been feeling since the Biarritz game in the Heineken Cup. I probably rushed it trying to be fit for the Leinster game in the Magners League and in hindsight this game might also have been a bit early for me. The medical staff were reasonably optimistic when I came off so the plan was to rest it and ice it for the next 48 hours, and going on a long-haul flight straight after the game wouldn’t have been the best thing for it.

With myself and Rory Best both injured, it means that either Sean Cronin or John Fogarty will get a chance at hooker against the All Blacks. Best of luck to whichever one of them gets his chance

It felt fine when I came on but in the last couple of minutes I was on the blindside and I was our pillar at a maul, I saw Martyn Williams and went in but as I hit him I just felt my calf pull. It’s very frustrating but obviously someone like Fergus McFadden is a lot worse off than me – I still have a chance of getting out there.

The hope now is to get out there in the next few days and start rehab again with a view to making it back fit for the Australia game on 26 June.

The plan is to have a scan and maybe get on a flight at some stage over the next day or two. They’re waiting on test results for Shane Horgan to see whether he can go out as well so there’s a possibility the two of us will be boarding a flight together this week.

No matter what happens, I’ve no chance of playing against New Zealand on Saturday. With myself and Rory Best both injured, it means that either Sean Cronin or John Fogarty will get a chance at hooker against the All Blacks. Sean started against the Baa-Baas the other day, has been in good form for Connacht this season and has loads of potential, while John has had a great season for Leinster. Best of luck to whichever one of them gets his chance next weekend.

Myself, I just want to get out there and work as hard as I can and hopefully be available for selection for the Australia game two weeks later. To win a test against Australia out there is one of the chief objectives of this tour. It would be a massive thing for us and if I can get myself right and get involved in that, brilliant. That’s worth working hard for over the next couple of weeks.