"It's been amazing to see the faces of these kids over the past couple of days."
Leinster Rugby took the unusual approach, this season, of only going for one pre-season game and using some of their time to head on a whistle-stop tour around the province's 12 counties.
Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster split their squad into two and set off about the province to engage with clubs and fans from each of the 12 counties. There were open training sessions in Kildare and Longford, while the club went to clubhouses, gyms, dinners and functions in the other counties, pressed a stack of palms and made an awful lot more great memories for young supporters still on their school holidays.
I took my two eldest along to Athy RFC, last Friday, and noted with amusement their confusion at being handed a blank autograph book when they headed through the main gates. 'What,' they must have wondered, 'am I being given a blank notepad for?'
At seven and eight, they are much more used to requesting pictures or selfies than getting a scrawled signature from a player. However, they soon caught on when the likes of Luke McGrath, Rónan Kelleher, Rhys Ruddock, Ryan Baird & Co. started doing the rounds after an hour-long session led, for long stretches, by new coach Andrew Goodman.
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Reaching out after years of Covid distance and protocols
The two day jaunt around the 12 counties of Leinster really sparked the coaching staff and playing squad. Every autograph and photograph request was fulfilled at Athy RFC, last Friday, and so was the case whenever the team bus parked up at the next venue.
Martin Moloney, the 22-year-old Leinster flanker, was the star attraction in Athy, his hometown, and his family even brought along their dog, Mia, adorned in blue and loving the extra attention.
Moloney recalled how Sean O'Brien - his former teammate and new contact skills coach - and Tadhg Furlong had been his idols, when he was a teenager, and how local stars like Joey Carbery and Jeremy Loughman were further signs to him that a player could make it through the club system into the senior provincial set-up.
For Leo Cullen, it was refreshing to finally get out and about to see so many of the fans that had to stay at home, or within tight circles, during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. After a "gut-wrenching" Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle, too, getting out and about was a chance to reconnect with what, and who, his team is playing for.
"It's been amazing to see the faces of these kids over the past couple of days," he told us.
"All of the lads were one of those kids - bright-eyed and wanting to represent Leinster and Ireland. Heading out over those last two days has only brought that back to them."
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Jonathan Sexton meets Leinster supporter Amanda Butler during an open training session on day one of the Leinster Rugby 12 Counties Tour at Longford RFC. (Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile)[/caption]
Several new faces in the Leinster squad
One of the stand-outs from the morning we had down at Athy RFC, as we spoke with long-serving club members like Oliver Henry, Tadhg Kelleher and Mark Bergin, was the amount of fresh faces training with the senior squad.
Although some fans may have been unfamiliar with all the players on show, the presence of
someone like Joe McCarthy, who made his Leinster debut last season then was called up to tour with Ireland to New Zealand, only proves how rapidly a rise in rugby can be. Others like Ryan Baird, Scott Penny and Alex Soroka may have been queuing for autographs not so long ago. Now they were the ones making the days of several hundred youngsters.
Among the players training, and hoping to feature in that sole pre-season game against Harlequins, was Will Connors. Another Kildare native, Connors was in demand at Athy RFC and happy to have come through another training session on his way back to what he hopes will be a long run without injury issues.
The Ireland international was flying for province and country in 2019 and 2020 but knee issues hampered 2021 and the early part of this year. While he has seen one brilliant Leinster flanker, in Dan Leavy, forced to retire through injury, he has seen another, in Josh van der Flier, kick on to world-class status over the past season.
"It would be nice if myself and Josh got a few games together, this season," he said. "My plan is to make my mark here, and build from there."
"It's mad here, you feel like a young lad then all of a sudden it's like you're kicking on. Sam Prendergast is in with us and he was born in 2003. I was just thinking, 'Oh my God'!"
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