Fogarty's focus fixed on the nuts and bolts

HEINEKEN CUP POOL SIX:JOHN FOGARTY smiles as he considers the question before thoughtfully plotting his way through an answer that carries the fragrance of diplomacy. Sitting at the top table during a Leinster press briefing ahead of tomorrow's Heineken Cup match against the Scarlets at the RDS, he's quizzed about a potential vacancy in the national squad.

A long-term injury to Rory Best and the news that Munster’s Jerry Flannery underwent an operation earlier this week on an Achilles tendon injury means Ireland coach Declan Kidney will take a keen interest in performances of the recently-capped Seán Cronin (Connacht), Fogarty and the latter’s younger brother, Denis (Munster) amongst others over the coming weeks.

Leinster’s current first-choice hooker admitted: “If you said no, you weren’t aware, you’d be lying probably. But if my head was on that now, and thinking about that kind of stuff, I’d be stupid. Genuinely, I would be.

“All I’m thinking about this weekend is that the lineouts are good, the scrums are right; (about) my own performance and where it should be.

“Of course, every hooker in the country playing professional rugby is aware the two hookers are having a bit of a hard time. But if they’re not thinking about the nuts and bolts, they won’t feature.

“It’s about being really sharp on yourself and keeping pressure on yourself and not taking anything for granted and certainly not to be picking yourself. That would be stupid.”

Naturally amiable and with a good sense of humour Fogarty is quick to lighten an inquiry about whether the issue would be discussed around the Fogarty family Christmas table.

“I don’t think it will be; we do a lot of eating in our house. I hope we can get to Christmas and talk about something else bar rugby. If things go well in December for Denis and myself, we will be quietly happy and we’ll be doing more eating than talking about rugby I hope.”

Having started his career in Munster, played over 100 times for Connacht, the Tipperary native has now wrestled the starting berth from Bernard Jackman and is thoroughly enjoying his time at Leinster.

“I’m absolutely happy. You work hard to get into a good team and then you work twice as hard to get into the 22 and the 15.

“We are having a battle, me and Birch (Jackman) and we are turning up each week and having a crack.

“We both want it. I am really glad that I got picked last week and I hope that I get picked this week. I love it; am mad for it.”

He knows he’s starting with Leinster on the basis of form and that he is in contention on a national scale.

When there were injury doubts about Flannery ahead of the November Test game against Australia, Fogarty was withdrawn from the A match against Tonga in Belfast to stay with the senior squad. He wasn’t required, remarking, “It was close but in other respects it was a million miles away.”

His enthusiasm for his sport can be gleaned from the statistic that after missing out on the Tonga match he asked Leinster coach Michael Cheika to play him in a British and Irish Cup game away with Plymouth Albion. “I wanted to play in an A match over in Plymouth Albion in the p*****g rain. It was great to come back and play in it, genuinely.

“I think it helped with last week because calls were so much sharper in my head. Believe it or not after three or four weeks you can get muddled with plays in your head; at least forwards can anyway,” he said, laughing.

The 32-year-old knows that the Scarlets will present a tougher proposition this weekend, especially in his sphere of operations.

“Ken Owens is a young hooker who’ll probably be capped soon, knowing the Welsh – they like to give them a go. If you look at their key decision-makers, they’ve got quality throughout. Their lineout worked very well at the weekend. We didn’t get near it, so that’s an area we’re going to try and improve on for this weekend.

“They do a fair bit of moving and they crowd you a small bit. It’s all about yourself and the relationship you have with the jumpers and making sure the lifters are all sharp. That has more relevance to a lineout going well, more than the opposition, I think.”