Eoin Reddan was 22-years-old when he achieved his lifelong dream of playing for Munster. He made 24 appearances in his first season with his native province but injury, the presence of Peter Stringer and a dip in form saw him cut loose in 2005.
Reddan, born in Limerick in 1980 and a player with Old Crescent then Young Munster in the All-Ireland League, could not immediately force his way into the Munster set-up. He moved to Galway, in 2001, and spent two seasons with Connacht before a window of opportunity opened at Thomond Park.
Stringer was required for World Cup duty in Australia [2003] when Reddan was settling in. He shared the scrum-half duties with Mike Prendergast and started 19 of his 24 outings that season. Interestingly, Stringer played only two league games in 2003/04 but started all eight Heineken Cup games as Wasps eventually beat them 37-32 in a semi-final thriller at Lansdowne Road.
Declan Kidney arrived, via Leinster, at Munster in the summer of 2005 at decided Stringer would be his go-to No.9. Reddan, who had been held back by injuries the previous season, was cut loose. In the days following his axing, Reddan’s phone barely raised a tremor or beep. Retirement from professional rugby looked certain.
‘I wasn’t offered a contract at Munster and, basically, you’re faced with the question of ‘What will I do next?’ I had a couple of days, of not knowing what I was doing, before Wasps approached me, out of the blue. I said ‘Yes’ on the phone, straight away. They were top of the Premiership at the time and had just won the Heineken Cup. There was no talk about figures or years.’
Reddan quickly stepped into Matt Dawson’s boots as Wasps’ starting scrum-half. The club, he feels, was six or seven years ahead of their competitors when it came to strength and conditioning, and fitness, work. He won his first Heineken Cup with the club, in 2007, and captained them for a large portion of their league-winning 2007/08 season.
He returned to Ireland in 2009 with a switch to Leinster and prospered there – winning two more Heineken Cups, two league titles and a Challenge Cup. On Saturday, Reddan and Leinster take on Wasps at their new ground [the Ricoh Arena] in Coventry.
‘Wasps coming in was massive,’ he comments. ‘I was going to retire but everything that has happened since then [three Heineken Cup wins, 58 Ireland caps] has been down to one or two coaches seeing something in me and having a gamble. Hopefully, on both sides, it paid off.’
‘I enjoyed my time there,’ he adds. ‘I’ll always feel indebted to the club. Great club, great fans but I’ll have to put that aside for the weekend.’
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