An oversimplification of the lengthy season just gone for Leinster and Ireland’s Ciarán Frawley is that it turned for him on three drop goals. That is how many remember the clutch moments that have spun Frawley from a fraught Champions Cup in to an August preseason that is hopeful and positive.
One drop goal miss for Leinster in the Champions Cup final was a gloomy end to club ambitions. Then Ireland took to South Africa for the summer tour and lost the first game in Pretoria. Losing the second in Durban with the minutes counting down and Frawley stepped up again. A nerveless effort in the 70th minute sailed over and then, as if to show the miss against Toulouse was an aberration, he did it again. Another drop goal with the last kick of the match for Ireland to win 25-24. Frawley’s season turned.
“It was a long season, 54 weeks, it felt long,” he says. “The body needed a break and mentally I needed it as well. There were a lot of moments throughout the season that I would have been proud of. So, it’s not just all down to the one moment of a drop goal. That last season was the most minutes I have played in a season ever.”
Still, there was a sense of satisfaction and no small feeling of redemption in executing the basics with the pressure of the world champions bearing down.
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“It obviously didn’t come off when we played against Toulouse in Tottenham, but to bounce back and do it twice in South Africa, I was proud of myself after the game,” he says.
“Look, at least I have done it now. I know I can do it. It’s a good springboard for me going into next season. You practice it a lot. I have done it since underage. I remember playing here in Gorey and having one. But I suppose after a big moment like that, it can play on your mind, so to come back and nail it is such a relief and a reassuring feeling.”
[ Ciarán Frawley savours best moment of his career after drop goal heroicsOpens in new window ]
Wexford this week is part of the traditional preseason tour, a squad showing that it is not just a city-based entity. French prop Rabah Slimani is on the field, Springbok lock RG Snyman is not. With South Africa for the Rugby Championship, Snyman is recovering from a foot injury and hopes to play against New Zealand in their next match.
Irish scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park, who missed the summer tour, is not doing contact work but quietly running behind the far goal, his hamstring injury from the end of the season still in recovery.
Hooker Dan Sheehan is a long-term absentee and sometime early next year he may make a return from the ACL knee injury he suffered in South Africa.
The squad mood is like the day - bright and upbeat - and for Frawley the beginning of a season of discovery. What position to play - fullback, centre, outhalf or all three?
“I suppose a lot of people would say, ‘you’re a ball-playing 12, you’re a ball-playing 15,′ but I think it’s because I feel, I more so think like a 10 and I say I play more like a 10 when I am in those positions.
“Look, going forward, there is a lot of competition at 10. It’s good for everyone here. It’s about pushing us on because I know Johnny [Sexton] retired a year ago, but that gap is there. Jack [Crowley] has done an incredible job [for Ireland]. But there are a lot of lads champing at the bit and trying to improve themselves.”
The nature of the season is that Leinster will patch up as best they can during international windows. Frawley laying on a suite of positional options for Leo Cullen and Andy Farrell is both a help and a hindrance.
“Leo is brilliant like that. You can always have a conversation with Leo,” he says. “It’s about proving yourself out at training and having a real presence when you are on the pitch, giving the coach confidence when he comes to picking. Ten is a unique enough position in terms of that.
“Hopefully I’m getting better at it and hopefully it can transfer across through the coaches, and I can get a run-out at 10.”
Conspicuously, getting better has recently been his thing.
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