Injuries fail to dampen Dempsey's desire

Girvan Dempsey deserves a break - metaphorically speaking of course, because he's had enough of the literal kind over the last two years to fill a career.

In the past couple of seasons, on every occasion Dempsey appeared to be running into good form, an injury intervened, and much like a game of snakes and ladders, down he would slide to the starting point once again. In broaching the subject a certain degree of frustration is anticipated but the player is remarkably positive, accepting with good grace this remarkable litany of misfortune.

"I suppose that it appears to be a lot but it's just the fact that they have been squeezed into the last two years. Many players suffer serious injuries like Mal (O'Kelly) with his ankle or Woody (Keith Wood) with his shoulder but I just happen to have got them all together, massing them into the last two years. Hopefully that is the end of them."

So let's catalogue. "Before the 1999 World Cup I broke my collarbone, then tore ankle ligaments against South Africa, fractured my cheekbone in the Rest of Ireland v Munster game and finally I had a concussion in the Barbarians game at Lansdowne Road."

He missed the Samoa match because of wear and tear on an Achilles tendon with a suggestion of a calf strain thrown in. A spell on the sidelines has left him fully rehabilitated and raring to go.

It's staggering the number of players who embarked on Ireland's summer training camp to Poland with a great degree of trepidation only to return enthralled by the facilities. Dempsey was especially pleased with the work he managed to get done during the camp.

"This year especially has been fantastic. I got the foundation done in Poland with (IRFU director of fitness) Liam Hennessy and the squad, improved my fitness, managed to do a lot of good upper body work, bulk up and put on weight. I have put on over three kilograms."

He couldn't wait for the new season to begin. "The Celtic League helped us to get match fitness in a not too competitive environment. I knew that the groundwork had been put in place. In the early matches in the competition, Leinster were playing well and to be honest the opposition wasn't that good. The back line got a lot of confidence in those games and we seemed to be stringing together better moves than we managed last year."

Dempsey has always hid his talent under a bushel of self effacement, something Leinster coach Matt Williams tried to change. He wanted the player to be more assured about the ability he possessed. "He (Williams) tries to get me more involved. When we sit down to look at the video he points out the number of times that I was involved and the success rate. He also pointed out that I was hedging on the defensive end more than I was in an attacking capacity.

"Playing with the likes of Nathan Spooner has helped, different players help to open up your mind to new angles and make you think about the way you play the game."

He says Alan Gaffney, Leinster's assistant coach, has changed his angles of running on a couple of occasions. "Basically in Leinster the skill level within the squad has improved dramatically."

Dempsey will look to transfer that to the international stage on Saturday. He has played against Australia and South Africa before but the visit of the All Blacks will allow him to fulfil a childhood dream. "These are the days that make all the hard work worthwhile."