European Cup/Leinster: Gerry Thornley chats with Leinster ace Shane Jennings about his past achievements and future ambitions.
A couple of years ago, Gordon D'Arcy used to chide Shane Jennings that there weren't that many openside flankers around the scene. 'You must be kidding,' was the general gist of Jennings' replies, and time has more than proved him right. If Ireland had a similar conveyor belt in every other position you'd start punting the mortgage on 2007 and 2011 right now.
In the week that was in it, one of the more eye-catching features of the enlarged squad Eddie O'Sullivan named for the autumn internationals was the absence of any Leinster backrowers. In a Leinster backrow featuring three capped players, Eric Miller, Victor Costello and Aidan McCullen, the non-selection of Jennings wouldn't necessarily have been a surprise.
He's possibly a little behind Johnny O'Connor in his exposure to sub-international rugby, but, like Denis Leamy, Jennings made his first European Cup start last week, and he can't be far behind the other uncapped opensides.
Jennings welcomes the competition between these three and a host of other upwardly mobile young sevens. "It's going to be good for Irish rugby in the end, I'd imagine, because everybody wants it."
Most probably it's just one of those cyclical things, though one would venture that many talented schools forwards are put in the backrow and primarily number eight, simply because they're more liable to get their hands on the ball there. "Sure myself and Denis used to kick lumps out of each other at eight," Jennings recalls with a knowing smile.
Jennings had been earmarked for greatness a long way back and Willie Anderson, the Leinster forwards coach until the close-season, believes the 23-year-old could one day captain Ireland.
"I had no hesitation in recommending Shane as captain last season to Gary (Ella). He's intelligent, he's very talented and he's fearless. He wins the ball at the breakdown, he tackles well and he can run with the ball. There's nothing he can't do as a number seven and he's a natural leader."
Meeting up with the young Leinster openside in Kiely's pub last Wednesday afternoon - just before the stormy weather was to hit their planned afternoon session in Old Belvedere - Anderson's opinion didn't look a beat out of place. Arriving early, tracksuit buttoned up to his chin, Jennings is an intelligent young man, who was thoughtful and assured of himself in all his answers.
For the moment, breaking into the Irish squad is not something that devours his every waking thought.
"I've got my chance (with Leinster) and it's up to me now. I want to concentrate on the European rugby, get my position on the Leinster team, stay on the Leinster team, and then hopefully things will come from that. Realistically I didn't think I'd put myself in position."
He might have used the word 'yet', for, with Jennings, it is surely only a question of time. Far from being burdened down by his leadership and game-breaking responsibilities with St Mary's at schools level, he revelled in it, and though there were no senior cup medals, he was the outstanding player of his generation, no question about it, which was capped by his part in the successful Irish schools tour to Australia.
Returning from Australia in August, Jennings went into the St Mary's AIL team barely a month later, making his debut as a replacement for his brother Karl against Young Munster.
St Mary's, both school and club, were effectively in his blood. His father Seán, had been heavily involved throughout his life with the club, managing the first team and junior sides, while both his older brothers, Karl and James, played with the club.
"I would have been watching these games, acting as a ball boy and those kind of things, and I was about four or five when I started playing. I used to play with Knocklyon, where we lived, in Community Games, and then mini-rugby in Mary's."
He also played underage football with Knocklyon and some Gaelic football in St Colmcille's.
"My dad and my mum (Joan) never put any pressure on me, but rugby was always the game I wanted to play."
Likewise, though he obtained a business degree at Portobello to allow for a career outside the game, if required, playing professionally has been, by some distance, his main ambition.
"Everybody says it is a very good lifestyle, and don't get me wrong, it is, we're doing something that we love, but you also want to be good at it. Players are very dedicated because you can see the benefits if you put the work in. It could be worse, we could be in an office doing something we don't particularly enjoy.
"It's not a nine-to-five. I don't have to put on a suit and tie, but then the worst of it is days like these," he says, nodding toward the storm brewing outside, "and you have to go out and get beaten up by bigger lads. But then even the worst days, I think, would come pretty close to the good days in an office."
At face value, it would seem that it has taken such an outstanding talent unduly long to make his breakthrough, but these things take time - not least when there is an incumbent like Keith Gleeson around, and a host of other versatile backrowers with more experience. Though he got to a bit of a low ebb about two years ago, his motivation never wavered.
"You can get down, that's only natural, but I'm also a realist, and if you deserve something you'll get it. And if you're not putting in the time, you're not going to get it. It was never a case of me going, 'I should be here, I should be doing this, that or the other'. It was always a case of me having to work a bit harder or get my head around things."
Jennings started in 13 of Leinster's first 15 Celtic League or Cup games last season - six of them as captain - before a dislocated shoulder required a reconstruction which sidelined him for six months.
"A lot of players have had it and come through it, which gives you confidence. It does take a couple of games to get your head around it, but it seems fine now."
For somebody weaned on big schools days at the venue, wearing the harp on his heart and playing at Donnybrook is a dream. "I know it sounds cheesy or whatever, but Donnybrook is where I want to play. It is my home ground. I've been watching rugby there for years, and I will watch it there when I'm finished. But I want to be in a team that is successful, and I'm from Dublin, and that's what a lot of lads in the squad feel.
"There's fellas coming over from England or France with that strong sense of identity, and that's what we
feel as well, even if we still have to prove that to people."
Hungry and dedicated, Jennings is cut from a very similar cloth to Gleeson.
His European Cup breakthrough did not come about the way he would have wanted it, as Gleeson's broken leg provoked mixed feelings for him.
"As it happens, I'm involved at the moment, but when he's there it's an even bigger motivator because you see the level he's at. He's probably the most professional in our squad. Whether in the gym or on the pitch you can learn an awful lot of things from him, but you want to get ahead of him. That's sport, it's not a bad thing, and knowing him, he'll be back stronger than ever."
He's possibly being a bit hard on himself (as he admits he's inclined to do) when discussing his own form, "there's lot I want to improve at", and this as much a barometer of Leinster's current well-being. There's more in their tank, for sure.
"We're in for a right few battles now, but that will help us. People may say we're favourites (against Bath), but we're underdogs, and we know that. We haven't really clicked, but we're not too far away either."
The Treviso game will have brought them on, and Jennings' mood in the build-up to a meeting with Bath reflects the palpable excitement within their camp this week.
"Everybody is really looking forward to this. These lads are coming over and they'll definitely think they can bully us, but they're not going to come to Lansdowne Road and not get a battle,that's for sure."
