INTERVIEW EOIN REDDAN:A VEHEMENT, wholehearted Eoin Reddan can sometimes present an intense public side when he speaks about his highly pressurised job.
The Leinster and Ireland scrumhalf has been subject for most of his career to the philosophy of modern coaching, one that ensures no player should feel at all comfortable in his position. Reddan’s is a life of, work, rest and play and weekly judgment.
When Leinster asked Isaac Boss to make the short trip from Ravenhill to the RDS last season, there was reason to believe the incoming Joe Schmidt wanted as ruthless battle between his nines as Michael Cheika did before him.
It was the younger of the three scrumhalves, Paul O’Donoghue, who voiced his opinion first.
“Yeah, he said he wasn’t doing cartwheels,” says Reddan, not at all intensely.
Along with Peter Stringer, he is this week a scrumhalf in Declan Kidney’s squad of 30, the injured Tomás O’Leary nursing a broken finger.
“I don’t think anyone was doing cartwheels as a scrumhalf. Yeah, of course Boss is a good player . . . it’s not that you try harder. All of us try hard as we possibly can. If you don’t play every minute of every week you can focus on different things during the week.
“There are negatives to not playing and there are positives because you can work harder. It is up to individuals to take that responsibility and get those improvements if you are given that opportunity during the week.
“Then when you are playing you just have to go out and play well. It’s something I’m used to. Most of my career I’ve been in clubs where there have been a few good scrumhalves.”
Ten years ago, Reddan spent a few months in South Africa as an under-21 player. What immediately struck him then was the impact early schooling had on his game and he was almost immediately picked because he could pass the ball.
Stringer, so often now his opposition, was a player to admire. Perhaps of the trio of Stringer, Reddan and Boss, it is Stringer and Reddan who have the most similar styles. Although in age there are only a few years between them, Stringer’s crisp passing was admired.
“When I got down there (Cape Town) . . . if you are a scrumhalf in Ireland there is a massive emphasis on passing coming up through school. People like Peter (Stringer) playing for Ireland for so long would have created that emphasis. You can see what can be achieved by having that sort of a pass.
“So when I got down there they liked the fact that I was able to pass and I was actually picked ahead of some very good players because I could pass. I realised that was a strength not just that I had but that a lot of scrumhalves had in Ireland.”
The make-up of the injury-hit South African team is still a little mysterious and won’t be known until they land in Ireland on Thursday. However, Reddan doesn’t see the late arrival as being casual, something also borne out by the fact that most monitors are indicating Springbok coach Peter de Villiers is under acute pressure for success following a poor Tri-Nations. “There’s only an hour in the time zone,”says Reddan.
“I don’t think it’s casual, no. The jet lag is the biggest thing on those trips. They arrive in Thursday and get a good night’s sleep, get up Friday and they’ve another day. They might have decided that the best way to get their training this week is at the start of the week in South Africa. So they’ll have picked the best way forward for the match on Saturday. Definitely.”
It’s a relaxed Reddan in the team hotel.
A good pre-season, lively competition at Leinster and a career chance to seize the moment. At nine these days, that is all he ever expects to get.
