SIX NATIONS SCOTLAND v IRELAND:Johnny Watterson talks to the frustrated, ambitious Munster man about his return to the starting Ireland XV
GIVEN HIS recent frustrations with injury, Denis Leamy may temper his competitive instincts in Murrayfield on Saturday. Unlikely as it may seem, the example of soccer player Paul Gascoigne might be considered, as the Ireland number eight faces into his first Six Nations start since recovering from the shoulder operation that caused him to miss the start of the season and the 2008 autumn internationals. Before Christmas he then damaged his right cruciate ligament playing for Munster in Llanelli.
The Gascoigne story is as much a cautionary tale as anything. In 1991 he was stretchered off the field in the FA Cup final after committing a rash tackle on Gary Charles of Nottingham Forest and suffering a rupture of the cruciate, which threatened his proposed transfer to Lazio in Italy.
The injury was caused by a mistimed challenge and might have been considered an accidental collision. In subsequent interviews Gascoigne admitted to being over-stimulated or too hyped up and psychologists would say the tackle was a classic case of what they call behavioural frenzy.
In the footballer’s case, psychological factors probably contributed to his injury.
The theory is that badly wanting to perform can cause attention narrowing, which results in peripheral cues being missed. For example, the rugby player who concentrates exclusively on the ball may fail to withdraw from an unrealistic challenge in which his opponent is going to get there first. Frustration and ambition can be a heady mix. Leamy, maybe more than others getting a start, Peter Stringer, Gordon D’Arcy and Rory Best, has both.
“I try to keep it (frustration) under lock and key,” says Leamy.
“Sometimes when you get involved down in the provinces, you do a bit of contact and stuff. That’s always a good way to release a bit of that frustration.
“Possibly when I was younger I would have taken it out on somebody but you try and lock that away for when it’s needed. Saturday would be a good day to bring it out.”
Leamy’s injury concerns have been exacerbated by the blooming of backrows Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip in tandem with the form of David Wallace and also by Declan Kidney’s policy of keeping a squad internally competitive.
The older Leamy watched from the physio table as two younger players appeared to consolidate their positions with strong performances in the first three Six Nations games. Heaslip, with 16 caps was born in 1983, 11-cap Ferris in 1985. Leamy, born in 1981 and initially out in the cold, has earned 10 caps more than Heaslip and Ferris combined.
“It’s difficult,” he says, “you’ve got to understand the boys are playing well. They got the opportunity. They got the jersey against France. They played very well that day and they kept the jersey. You can’t argue with that. Sometimes you’ve got to put your hand up and say ‘fair play’. Given the chances I’ve got I’ve tried to do my best for the few minutes I’ve come on. But to get a start is a big help because that’s where you can set out a stall and really put your footprint on a game.
“Initially I would have been delighted to come back in and just get on the bench,” he adds.
“But when you are on the bench, its human nature you want more. Sitting on the bench is very frustrating. Thank God, I haven’t done a lot of it for a long time, so I sort of forgot about how frustrating it is.
“You’re sitting on the bench warming up but you’re trying not to get too involved, trying not to get too over-hyped and then suddenly within a minute of being called you’re sent on, you’re a bit cold, you’re trying to snap into game mode straight away. It’s very difficult to get into the game. It always seems to just pass you by.”
He is now more trusting of the knee, although, that took time. He had injured the left cruciate as a 21-year-old and when he went down in 2008, his immediate diagnosis to the Munster physio, based on his memory of the first injury, proved accurate. But he has been a good healer.
“I was looking at possibly nine months. It took a lot of getting my head around. You’d think that after a shoulder operation you’d get a run but it doesn’t work like that,” he says wistfully. “But to be here where I am is a bonus.”
With Scotland promising to be a physically big pack, Leamy goes in with scraps of international play time. His aggression for Ireland and ball-running has earned respect around Six Nations camps. Now he’s playing for the jersey, in his own head that’s every bit as important as a footballer’s (Gascoigne’s) move to Italy. A calibrated game more than a swashbuckling adventure might serve him best.
