A few weeks ago Darragh Fanning was cheered to be getting game time with Leinster but bemoaned his lack of tries. The whitewash just wasn't coming to him.
The winger was and still is a beneficiary of the injury glut that has hit Matt O'Connor's squad with Luke Fitzgerald, Dave Kearney, Fergus McFadden, and until recently Zane Kirchner all adding to the space available for Fanning's solo run to European rugby.
Two tries against Wasps at the weekend and almost a third has eased that burden of want and with the injury profile in Leinster, his place as a physical presence on the wing seems secure for the weekend.
‘Better and better’
“Darragh does what he does,” said O’Connor enigmatically. “He works incredibly hard on his game. He has played every minute for us this season and he doesn’t put in a bad performance.
“You can’t ask any more from a guy who has only been in the environment 12 months . . . and a 28-year old getting better and better.”
Fanning has always spoken openly about his swift rise above the ranks of All Ireland league and is riding his fortune. His ability to get stuck into rucks and knock back players coming at him as well as with the ball going forward brings a lot to the table.
“I’m probably not your conventional . . . [Christian] Wade is probably the polar opposite to me,” he says. “But I think I offer a lot to the team.” There are a lot of great players to come back, like Fergus [McFadden] and Luke [Fitzgerald]).
“Dave [Kearney] is pretty close as well. I just want to work to get myself in position to be a genuine option when these guys come back in. I got myself into that position at the end of last season and then broke my arm.”
Decent furrow
He’s now seven games in a row and counting and is drilling a decent furrow for himself down the touchline. Fitzgerald was in the squad on Sunday but not used. His threat is looming and Kearney too.
But Fanning’s confidence and comfort playing at this level is building. The returning players may not turn up with ready-made assumptions about reclaiming their shirts.
“I don’t want to be a guy who when these guys aren’t about gets picked,” he explains. “I want to be competition for them and competition drives a squad . . . it pushes me.
“I feel fresh. They’ll monitor me and they’ll know on Tuesday morning whether I’m tired but I’m happy to be playing, like most guys I want to be on that pitch as much as I can.”
But the St Mary's man is not getting ahead of himself even though Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has had some encouraging words to say to him.
“I spoke to Joe a couple of weeks back at the Terenure – Mary’s match,” says Fanning. “Unfortunately he was wearing a Terenure tie.”
Despite Fanning’s fine last seven weeks, maybe that just goes to show that everything can’t always fall your way.
