A home away from home.
As CJ Stander walks confidently into the bright, airy room at Co. Kildare’s luxurious Carton House, it’s easy to forget that the 26-year-old is a relative fledgling at international Test level.
The powerful back-row only made his debut for Ireland this time last year and it didn’t take long for people to realise his indispensability to Joe Schmidt’s team.
However, as ever, Stander remains humble, as he makes the effort to greet every journalist in the room before taking his seat at the top table.
Stander is immediately quizzed on the excellent form he has shown for his province this season and he states how he hopes he can carry this into this year’s Six Nations.
He also answers questions relating to his familiarity with many of the Scottish players, considering his Munster side have faced the Glasgow Warriors three times already this season, with the province coming out on top on all occasions.
Of course, those wins in addition to the remarkable run of form the southern province have shown this season has led to a sizeable contingent of Munster players in Joe Schmidt’s squad.
When asked by SportsJOE what it has been like to have so many of his provincial pals in camp with him, he quickly made the point about how it’s good to have everyone from the four provinces involved.
“Yeah we’re a good bunch, 11, 12, 13…I’m not sure what the number is but its been good you know?
“I think there’s a good mix from all the provinces but on the other side when you get up here (Ireland Camp) you know its an international team, everyone slots in and everyone has different mates and different stuff they have to work on. So if you get up here with a big group everyone looks after each other and the team in general,” said Stander with a diplomatic response.
However, before another question was asked, Stander couldn’t help but laugh as he revealed one of the positives about having so many Munster men in Carton House.
“It’s good to have them up here because they’re the only players who catch my jokes!”
With the 26-year-old likely to be in many Irish squads for years to come, you would think his sense of humour will eventually be understood by the rest of his international colleagues.
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