RUGBY: NEVIN SPENCE INTERVIEW:A prospective World Cup bolter, the powerful Nevin Spence has garnered praise, awards and tries in a breakout season, writes GERRY THORNLEY
WHEN NEVIN Spence scored Ulster’s memorable, match-winning try away to Bath, he looked a tad shocked, and not because it was his first try for his province. Following 18 phases, when Spence slid in by the grassless left corner at the Rec from Paddy Wallace’s deft pass, his hands were tucked underneath his body and he had to twist himself to take the impact away from his neck.
“It wasn’t until I got home the next day and saw it on TV that I realized what I’d done,” he recalls. “Whatever way I tried to get the ball down I think I had to bounce off the ball. It was actually my back that was hurting more than my neck. Neil Doak (Ulster’s backs’ coach) came running onto the pitch and he doesn’t give you a lot of sympathy in the heat of battle, so I just didn’t say anything and tried to play on.”
That try was also a defining moment in his and Ulster’s season; effectively his rookie campaign. Such has been his progress that last week he was voted Irupa’s Young Player of the Year and last night picked up Ulster’s Young Player of the Year award (Ruan Pienaar winning the overall Player of the Year).
Prospective World Cup bolters are always popular stories around now, and having come through the Irish Schools and the Irish Under-20s, with whom he won a Six Nations and played in two World Cups, Spence made his debut for the Irish Wolfhounds in their win over the Saxons at Ravenhill last February.
His problem, like others, is that with the Wolfhounds not playing in the Churchill Cup this summer, opportunities are slim. But Spence has an X factor. He packs an extraordinary amount of ballast into his 6’, 95kg frame, carries hard into contact, has good footwork and defence, and as he showed in his first try last Friday away to the Dragons, has a wicked hand-off and an ability to accelerate through the gears.
Spence only took up rugby in secondary school at Dromore High School and football remained his first love until his Schools Senior Cup years with Wallace High School. “From there I began to enjoy rugby and things just took off from there.”
Son of a farmer and youngest of two boys, Spence hails from near Hillsborough, five miles outside Ballynahinch. “It was brilliant. I would recommend it to anybody growing up. If you grow up in a city you kinda miss out on the farm and the animals.” He was a centre-half cum midfielder with Lisburn Youths. “I punched like an elephant to be fair,” he quips but he must have been reasonably handy as he played for the Northern Ireland Under-16 schools side.
Soon though, rugby took off to such a degree that he played for both Ulster and Irish Schools and then the Irish Under-20s, graduating to the Ulster Academy. But his progress was stunted by bulging discs in both his neck and back, and a broken cheekbone.
Along the way, he followed his father (Noel) and older brother (Graham) by playing for Ballynahinch, and, although sidelined until Christmas, in his first year out of school was part of the side that won the Ulster Senior League, Cup, AIL Division 2 and All-Ireland Cup.
His Ulster debut was as a late replacement against the Ospreys in April last year, but has made another 17 starts since late October. “With all the injuries I had in the first couple of years out of school that’s the one thing I was missing, game time,” says Spence. “The way I sort of play, it’s no secret that kicking and passing and the more intricate skills aren’t a strength of mine. In order that I don’t become predictable in the future I need to work on those and be able to do everything. From that point of view, Paddy Wallace is someone I look up to.”
He clearly keeps his feet on the ground, talking only of nailing down an Ulster midfield slot, which he prefers to the wing, when everybody is fit, and of the magnitude of the task facing them in Friday’s semi-final, all the more so after 30-13 and 34-26 defeats to Leinster this season.
“Embarrassing, for want of a better word, sums up the two games. In the second game we fought back and made the scoreline look a little more respectable but hopefully that doesn’t happen this time around.” In the first of them, he came face to face with Brian O’Driscoll. “At line-outs and scrums, just looking up and seeing O’Driscoll there, was definitely surreal, but a great experience. Some people say he’s not the youngest any more, but to me he’s still unbelievable, he’s still one of the best players in the world.”
This Saturday, he could face Gordon D’Arcy. “They’re the best players in the country, if not in the northern hemisphere. You can always learn a lot from them and I think it’s important you test yourself against players like that too.”
