Hickie fast into his stride

Leinster Squad/Interviews: No player likes shouting from the rooftops, but Denis Hickie has looked a rejuvenated player in prime physical nick. At 30, he looks as quick as ever, and as hungry as ever for another return from the cold after losing his Irish number 11 jersey to Andrew Trimble last season.

In actual fact, Hickie came back after an eight-week pre-season, two weeks ahead of many of the other frontliners, but this perhaps signals his desire to make a flying start to the campaign as a prelude to regaining that Irish jersey.

"I'm reasonably happy in that the pre-season was good this year, in that I would have approached it a little bit differently and focused on a few different things. Certainly, in the short term one of my goals was to get off to a good start, because it's hard to claw your way back if you don't make a good start.

"You think you're only playing your second or third game and all of a sudden you're into the Heineken Cup. If you haven't hit the ground running it's pretty hard to get picked, or to make the step up again.

"So I'm only happy that I've got off to a good start and I need to keep improving every game."

Aside from setting higher basic standards, the differences in his pre-season entailed resuming an old training partnership with the former international sprinter Tom Comyns as well as adding another few kilos.

"I did a lot of speed work as well, in Poland, with a guy I used to race against when I did a bit of athletics who's come on board with the IRFU as a sprint coach. It was good to get back into that and give that a bit of time."

Hickie does not subscribe to the view that athletes "plateau" at any specific age, citing the "extreme example of Linford Christie, who was winning the Olympics at 33. Obviously it doesn't go on for ever, but if you do work on it you can always get faster. A lot of it is basic speed just being harnessed by better technique."

For Hickie, no less than the rest of the galacticos, the emergence of Luke Fitzgerald on top of Rob Kearney last season has heightened the competition for places.

"It's been good actually. You need to have a lot of competition. It's hard to go through the season with the same team, so there'll be disappointments for everyone at certain stages, and guys want to play every game. It's been pretty competitive alright, but it's been good in training as a result and it will only be better for the team."

For Guy Easterby, a former Irish squad member now further removed from the test fold, the threat to his Leinster position has come from a more proven, experienced challenger in the shape of a new signing familiar to the coaching regime, namely Chris Whitaker.

There was a knowing smile from Easterby when Michael Cheika revealed the two had had a few screaming matches in light of the coach's decision to bring in Whitaker.

"It's obvious when you bring in someone with the quality of Chris you're going to have to fight for your place," said Easterby diplomatically. "But we had a chat at the end of last year when they told me they were signing him, and I just wanted a fair crack at it.

"As long as I feel I'm getting a fair crack, and if I'm playing well, and I'm going to be in the mix as much as he is then I can't really ask for any more than that.

"I'm sure during the course of the season there's going to be ups and downs, but I suppose I've got to be quite grown up about it. I'm not going to pretend I'm happy when I'm not playing, but at the same time I'll try and be supportive when I'm not playing and give it everything when I am. It's about the squad really, and giving the squad as much support as I can, in my veteran's role," he said with a self-deprecating smile.