It’s been a whirlwind week for Jack Conan and the Leinster contingent in the British & Irish Lions squad. Their URC title-winning celebrations carried on into Sunday whereupon they were packing their bags and linking up with the rest of the squad on Monday, albeit the Lions had helpfully come to Dublin for the week.
Jack Conan was among the 10 Leinster players obliged to take something of a back seat before watching last night’s tour warm-up against Argentina in the Aviva Stadium. This day last week, after Conan captained Leinster to a 32-7 win over the Bulls, already feels like an age ago.
“It was a bit weird in the changing room after,” reflected Conan, “like we didn’t know how to win. Lads were a bit awkward or something like that, but it was good craic.
“We went to the RDS for a bit which was good, and then just pottered into town, and everyone did their own thing.”
The debate rages as to whether Leinster’s season can be deemed a success or failure, and Conan gave a balanced perspective on this conundrum.
“I think any season where you win something can never be deemed a failure. Obviously, we want to go well in both competitions, and I think if it hadn’t been for the performance against Northampton, even if we had lost that game, but we performed really well, I don’t think people would have said much about it.
“They’re a quality side, but I think it was just the way we didn’t show up that day, and had a bit of a hangover for a few weeks. Maybe we don’t get the result over the last two weeks, if it wasn’t for that game. Maybe it was the bit of a kick that we needed.
“The problem is when you win most of the time, it papers over cracks a little bit, so we had to have a good hard look at ourselves and it was tough for a lot of lads, for everyone in the building. But you get to win a trophy at Croke Park with all your mates, at the end of the day, I would have taken then.
“I definitely wouldn’t say it was a failure, but there’s definitely some more in this club and more in the lads, so hopefully there’ll be a few years still ahead of us.”
At least the squad also had Sunday together to continue their celebrations in their last day together as a group given departures and retirements. With age comes wisdom, and Conan was home “early” on Sunday night ahead of hooking with the Lions.
“I felt fresh enough on Monday morning. I had to go down to Bray at 7 o’clock in the morning to get the dog,” he said.
“The afterglow went pretty quickly on Monday morning when you had to pack up for the next eight weeks of your life, and get organised and do everything else and get into camp. The anxiety was pretty high, like first day of school going in. The lads had the time together, so you feel you’re behind the eight-ball a bit, so you’re on catch-up.”
He’d love to have been playing last night but instead was with Andrew Porter, Joe McCarthy, Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan, as well as the Bath duo of Will Stuart and Finn Russell and the Leicester pair of Ollie Chessum and Jack van Poortvliet in the UCD Bowl hosting a training session for 90 girls and boys ranging from eight to 12 years.
The four primary schools nominated by the Irish provinces were Moorefields Primary School, Ballymena, Antrim (Ulster), St Columba’s National School, North Strand, Dublin (Leinster), Clerihan National School, Clonmel, Tipperary (Munster) and St Brendan’s National School, Eyrecourt, Galway (Connacht).
Conan described last Tuesday’s first proper training session as “soul-searching stuff – we had to run out the demons.”
He’s been rooming with Jac Morgan. “Great fella, nice bloke, so getting to know him. I need subtitles half the time, it’s a strong Welsh accent.”
Conan seemed very relaxed and happy in his new environment. The benefit of being a Lions standing to him, even if the contrast with that pandemic-afflicted tour could hardly be starker.
“Four years ago was still great. I loved it and had a great experience. In a way, you get to know the lads in such a different way because it was eight weeks of solitary confinement. You have to mix. You still have to mix now but you’re getting out and about in smaller groups whereas four years ago, everyone was just kind of sitting around.”
Last night’s full house at the Aviva accentuated the disappointment of not playing, especially as the warm-up game against Japan four years had a restricted 16,500 attendance in Murrayfield before the tour games in South Africa were played behind closed doors.
“I can’t wait to get over there,” admitted Conan ahead of their Saturday morning departure and long haul to Perth. “Everyone says it’s just a different fanfare, a different level of excitement when you get properly on tour. But you can even see it walking around town at the moment; people in jerseys, there’s a pop-up shop, so many kids outside the Shelbourne. It’s special and I’m looking forward to getting a proper run-out at some stage.”
Four years on, Conan also has a better idea of what to expect too.
“It’s going to be the biggest game of their careers when you’re playing the club sides. The Western Force are going to be unbelievably up for it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those blokes to play against the Lions.
“I know they might be missing a host of international stars but they’re going to be unbelievably excited, so we know we’ll have to be at our best. Every time you get an opportunity to put on this jersey it’s only a very short amount of time you get to wear it you’ve got to make the most of it yourself and leave it in a better place.
“You’ve got to take those opportunities and run with it, and hopefully I’ll get that opportunity next Saturday.”
