The Leinster backrow tells Gerry Thornley how he quickly learned from the province’s former coach Michael Cheika that professional sport is ruthless and cut-throat, a lesson that helped him become a more confident player and more receptive to criticism
ON A mid-February Friday night two years ago in Murrayfield, a week after the Harlequins epic, Bloodgate and all of that, Kevin McLaughlin was afforded a belated seasonal debut for Leinster as a 55th-minute replacement for Cameron Jowitt in a second-string side which lost 27-16 to Edinburgh. At 24, it was his ninth appearance in three seasons for the province he had supported since he was a kid, and, he felt, his last.
Injuries had dogged his career, some bloke called Rocky was doing okay in the number six jersey, Michael Cheika had intimated his contract would not be renewed and McLaughlin had half-heartedly begun exploring the possibility of joining another club or, as is widely known, entering the, eh, banking community! Coming onto the pitch in a near deserted Murrayfield, he says he was carefree.
“I had nothing to lose. I wasn’t that fussed about the game at the time. To me it was just a dead rubber. As far as I was concerned, I was going into the game thinking ‘it’s my last game for Leinster, I want to go out and play well’. That was the only thing I was thinking. It’s funny how things can turn. It’s a professional sport, but it’s very fickle, you know.
“I remember I made a couple of big hits and knocked a winger into touch as he was scoring, a couple of things that made Cheiks go ‘hold on maybe I will give him another chance’.”
Cheika offered him a new contract, on the proviso he sorted out troublesome knee and shoulder injuries. “Even though I’d been resigned to the fact I was finishing I was delighted with a new chance and then I didn’t really look back.”
Cheika, he says, was tough, and tough on him. “My confidence was an issue in my formative years and I don’t think he was that good necessarily for my confidence then but he also taught me the way professional sport is, that it’s ruthless and it’s cut-throat and I think that stands to me now in that I’ve a much thicker neck. I can take criticism and I can take a bit of abuse and criticisms of my game by Johnno (Gibbes) or by Joe (Schmidt) or whoever whereas I would have been maybe a bit more sensitive before.”
His sensitivity was possibly, he concedes, due to his background. Gonzaga was not an especially driven rugby school, and there he could do little wrong. It was better known for its academic reputation but with Brian O’Riordan something of a trailblazer, followed by Ross McCarron and McLaughlin himself, others such as Dominic Ryan are following. This comes as no surprise to McLaughlin, who attributes the bigger rugby emphasis simply to the presence of Bobby Byrne, rumoured to be taking over from John McLean as director of rugby at UCD, as head gamesmaster.
IN HIS FINAL year, McLaughlin was one of only three sixth years on the senior cup team, the majority of his junior cup team-mates having quit to concentrate on their Leaving Cert. “Now most of the team comprises of sixth years and they’re taking it way more seriously. They do lineouts on a Thursday morning and they do weights on a Tuesday morning and they’ve got a new purpose-built gym and new changing rooms. People are now going to Gonzaga to play rugby as well as get a good Leaving Cert.”
He seems like almost a classically Gonzaga product himself. We meet in Wilde and Green, a trendy eatery near his home in Milltown, and he talks freely for 45 minutes, readily offering to move tables when a child at the next table begins exercising her lungs. Good humoured, with a youthful laugh, and bright and articulate with it, McLaughlin emerged with sufficient points to then complete a degree in commerce. But although rugby was always his first love, he’s glad he didn’t attend a school where winning the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup is a badge of honour. “I was obsessed with sport and that was never going to change so that gave me a springboard into other interests and I don’t know if I would have developed those interests if I went to another school.”
For example, half his school year of about 80 sang in the choir, so fostering a keen interest which led to him playing classical guitar as his instrument in the Leaving Cert, and he intends “borrowing” his dad’s newest guitar. “I like playing stuff like Eric Clapton, The Eagles, same kind of stuff as my dad; it’s kind of old school. I got my influence from him when it comes to guitar playing.”
His mother also sang in a choir, while his sisters, Kate and Ailish, have been in musicals. “I just love singing. It’s as simple as that,” says McLaughlin, a bass one or baritone singer who subsequently joined the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, which, in the environs of rugby dressingrooms, must have required a thick skin. “Shock is people’s first reaction, but the lads have gotten over it now. They get me up to sing a bit and I don’t mind that. I get a bit of abuse but I’ve actually had to drop out of the choir this year.”
He couldn’t commit to day-long weekend workshops, but intends returning.
Another passion is food, whether going to restaurants, writing restaurant reviews or, on the occasional day off, cooking. “Say I have a Saturday off, I’d sit down at lunchtime, look at three cookbooks, pick three courses, and I’d go shopping with my girlfriend (Kate) and we’d spend the day at it. My idea of cooking wouldn’t be coming home at seven from training, look at a cookbook and start cooking. That would be a nightmare for me – rushing it.”
A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL adviser, currently McLaughlin is also doing a graduate diploma in Financial Planning along with Eoin Reddan. Were it not for these outside interests, rugby could easily consume him. He began playing mini rugby with Monkstown, where his dad played centre in the 1970s and ’80s, and then with his schoolmates from Kildare Place National School at Lansdowne, before Gonzaga took over.
McLaughlin may, he admits, have slipped through the net but for Bobby Byrne being the then Irish Schools coach, but whereas his Irish Schools team went through their season unbeaten, he reckons he won about four or five cup games in his five years at Gonzaga. He’d hardly lifted a weight at this stage. “It wouldn’t have been an explicit sort of thing in my head that I was always going to be a rugby player. No disrespect to my Gonzaga team-mates, but I loved playing with savage players, and when I joined the UCD 20’s I loved that step up again.”
Two seasons on the UCD Under-20s and five with their senior team followed, before he joined St Mary’s. Along the way, a year after leaving school, came another turning point – being invited into the Leinster Academy. “When I did the interview Mark McDermott explained to me how the academy works, and I made the decision then I wanted to be a professional. From then on I was a lot more serious about my training. I was actually lucky in that some of the lads had gone straight into the academy from school, they hadn’t had a year in college where they could let their hair down, of rugby not being everything. From then on rugby was my religion; probably too obsessed many a time. I’ve kind of found my balance now.”
INJURIES WOULD CONTINUALLYdeny him a run of games. He tore his cruciate ligament in his second year in the academy and had shoulder surgery in his first season under a development contract. But all suddenly came right for him last season, including an Irish debut against Italy at Croke Park – less than a year since that pivotal outing at Murrayfield. "It was just one high to another and I was enjoying it more and more. The only thing I would say is I think I was a little bit flat by the end of the season."
McLaughlin still wonders if that had anything to do with the awful knee injury he sustained in the Magners League’s Grand Final against the Ospreys. He moves out of his chair to demonstrate how his leg was extended as Lee Byrne straightened up on his inside, and where Byrne’s body impacted upon the inside of his left knee when tackled from the other side by Stan Wright.
“The ligaments and the hamstring popped off the tibia or whatever you call it. I knew I was f*****. I felt two pops, and I stood up and my knee was wobbling.”
He had been named in the Irish squad for the summer tour which was departing the following week and would assuredly have added to his one cap. Instead, he was in hospital for a week, on crutches for eight weeks and had his leg raised for another eight weeks. His weight dropped from 109kgs to 99kgs. Television became depressing, and he did anything for a distraction.
If his parents were going to see their friends, he was up like a light offering to go with them. Supportive through thick and thin, they were with him at the under-21 World Cup in Mendoza in 2005.
“When I was injured they were unbelievably supportive. I wasn’t far off being depressed for a couple of months and they were there. They were the ones who dealt with that s*** so I like it when they can get some of the pleasure from it as well.”
He took up the guitar again but also took the opportunity to have his shoulder operated in July. “From crutches to sling!” he jokes. “In fact, I think my absolute lowest point was when I got into the sling. Because I was so delighted to be off the crutches, and then three days later I was trying to cook for myself again with one hand,” he laughs with gallows humour.
“I had unbelievable support at Leinster though. We’ve a new rehab guy, Stevie Smith, and from the minute I got shoulder surgery done I was working with him every day and that kept me going.”
SEVEN MONTHS AFTERthe injury, he returned on New Year's Day against Connacht and, touch wood, has been feeling fine since, though his search for form got him down. "It was only the Scarlets game and the Dragons game (last weekend), that I started to feel sharp, feel fit. I was able to use the strength I'd built up while I was out injured and felt on top of things."
Now, there’s everything to play for, collectively and individually. He describes tonight’s match against Munster as the first of what could be 10 knock-out games in a row, and, for all the edge Leinster have had of late, each one is “a blank page” and “a cup final” which he likens to two mates playing golf. “They’re even more competitive than they would be, so there’s always an added bite to the game. But they’re great to play in.”
With the World Cup looming too, a recent outing in the second row against Aironi was also a timely nudge to Declan Kidney regarding McLaughlin’s versatility as a backrower or lock.
Last July he’d have said it was the worst job in the world, now he admits it’s the best. Just over two years ago, he’d even had an interview and been on placement with Anglo Irish Bank. “I thank my lucky stars, to think that your career and your life can swing on 20 minutes of rugby. But you need some luck, unless you’re someone like Brian O’Driscoll who is always going to make it regardless, and I know that there are lots of guys out there that maybe just haven’t had the luck with injuries.”
He knows it better than most.
Date of birth:September 20th, 1984.
Place of birth:Dublin, Ireland.
Height:6ft 4.75ins (1.95m)
Weight:17st 1lb (109kg).
Education:Gonzaga College,
University College Dublin.
Clubs:UCD (2005-'09), St Mary's College.
Province:Leinster (41, two tries).
Honours: Ireland/Ireland A
Red and blue: the last six League meetings
Leinster 30 Munster 0
Saturday October 3rd, 2009
RDS
BRIAN O'DRISCOLL, playing his first match since the Lions tour to South Africa that summer, was one of three try scorers for the home side, Gordon D'Arcy and Shane Horgan also crossing the visitors' whitewash, while Jonathan Sexton kicked 15 points.
Munster lost John Hayes to a red card for careless rather than malicious use of the boot on Cian Healy. A clearly upset Hayes sought out the young prop afterwards to apologise. Paul O'Connell and Jerry Flannery were sprung from the bench but to no avail.
LEINSTER: I Nacewa; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, J Fogarty, S Wright; L Cullen, N Hines; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
MUNSTER: K Earls; D Howlett, L Mafi, J de Villiers, D Hurley; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, D Fogarty, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, N Ronan, N Williams.
Munster 22 Leinster 5
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
Thomond Park
NOT EVEN Rocky (Elsom) could save Leinster as Munster completed a seasonal double over their rivals, although the former would exact their revenge just a month later in the Heineken Cup semi-final between the teams at Croke Park. The Toulon bound Felipe Contepomi was baited from first whistle to last and both his composure and kicking game deserted him as he missed a succession of chances with the placed ball. The home side, though, were deserving winners, with Keith Earls and replacement Denis Fogarty crossing for tries and Ronan O'Gara in his pomp.
MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; I Nacewa, G D'Arcy, S Horgan, R Kearney; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; C Healy, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
Munster 15 Leinster 16
Friday, April 2nd, 2010
Thomond Park
RONAN O'GARA kicked all Munster's points but it wasn't enough as they home side were edged out by the narrowest of margins at their Limerick citadel, Leinster's first win at the venue since 1995. This match would start a run of three games between the provinces in which only one try was scored, an honour that went to Leinster on each occasion. Rob Kearney got the benefit of a very fortuitous bounce from an Isa Nacewa chip to cross for a try in the dying seconds of the first half. Jonathan Sexton, jeered all night by the home crowd, contributed the remainder of the visitors' points.
MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Howlett, L Mafi, J de Villiers, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; A Quinlan, D Leamy, D Wallace.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; G Dempsey, F McFadden, G D'Arcy, I Nacewa, J Sexton, E Reddan; S Wright, J Fogarty, CJ van der Linde; L Cullen, D Toner: N Hines, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
Leinster 13 Munster 9
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010
Aviva stadium
THE PROVINCIAL rivals set a new attendance record for a Magners League match when 50,645 saw Leinster earn a fifth successive victory over Munster in all competitions – the previous mark was 48,000 when Leinster hosted Ulster at the old Lansdowne Road in 2006 – and inflict a first defeat of the season on the visitors. It was a timely win for Leinster's new coach Joe Schmidt who had watched his side lose three of their first four games in the tournament. Brian O'Driscoll's try, following a one-handed offload from the impressive Seán O'Brien provided the game's seminal moment.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; I Nacewa, I Boss; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross; N Hines, D Toner; D Ryan, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.
MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Howlett, L Mafi, S Tuitupou, J Murphy; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; W du Preez, D Varley, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, D Ryan; A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Leamy.
Leinster 16 Munster 6
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
RDS
MUNSTER'S DEFENCE of their Magners League title came to an end in this semi-final contest as Jamie Heaslip led Leinster to the Grand Final: a match he latter would lose to the Ospreys in what was Leinster coach Michael Cheika, defence coach Kurt McQuilkin and manager Chris Whitaker's final game as part of the backroom team. Once again a single try, scored by Rob Kearney for the second match between the teams in succession, had a pivotal bearing on the scoreboard but the home side were full value for the victory on the strength of an excellent second-half performance.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, I Nacewa; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, J Fogarty, S Wright; N Hines, M O'Kelly; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, J de Villiers, L Mafi; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, D Varley, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; A Quinlan, N Ronan, N Williams.
Leinster 0 Munster 18
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
RDS
MUNSTER WERE emphatic victors in the 131st derby meeting of the two provinces which saw the reigning European champions come to Dublin to take the then Magners League title holders. The game was finely balanced up until the 69th minute when South African Justin Melck, on an initial three-month contract with Munster, scored a try to put the visitors 11-0 ahead. Doug Howlett embellished the win when racing on to Ronan O'Gara's deft grubber kick to score under the posts. Felipe Contepomi, in the centre, had an off night with the boot.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, C Whitaker; R McCormack, B Jackman, CJ van der Linde; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
MUNSTER: K Earls; D Howlett, R Tipoki, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; D Ryan, D Wallace, J Melck.
