It's been a remarkable 12 months for Rory O'Loughlin, propelling him from a valued squad member to a player who accumulated 21 caps for Leinster in his debut season, scoring 10 tries.
The year also culminated in a first appearance for Joe Schmidt’s Ireland on the summer tour to the USA and Japan.
Entrusted with a starting place in a number of Leinster’s Champions Cup matches, he rewarded that faith with tries in each of the back-to-back matches against the Northampton Saints. Ostensibly a centre at school and in the academy, the ease with which he switched to wing on occasions, underlines his versatility and footballing ability.
The 23-year-old had modest goals at the beginning of last season but had to re-evaluate based on his experiences. Last weekend he started in the number 13 jersey in Leinster’s opening competitive fixture of the season against the Dragons, a tenure that should continue on Friday night against the Cardiff Blues at the RDS (7.35).
Injuries to Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, Noel Reid and Tom Daly meant that a new midfield partnership has had to be forged and for the moment, it's captain, Isa Nacewa and O'Loughlin. It was road-tested in Rodney Parade and will get a second outing at the RDS.
O’Loughlin admitted: “He’s [Nacewa] definitely an easy player to play with, he helped me massively last year when I was playing on the wing and he was at fullback. He talks through games, he sees defensive pictures very quickly and communicates them out.
“I think that moving into the centre he gets to bring his physical edge a bit more, which you saw very early on with his first carry. He puts in hits and carries the ball; it’s very nice for a 13 because defenders very quickly have to respect him, so it gives you more space out wide.
“With him mainly carrying the ball at the moment it kind of gives me a role organising out the back of plays and trying to get the ball wide, which probably wasn’t as good as it could have been on the weekend but it takes a bit of getting used to from playing with different 12s I have in the past.
“I enjoyed it. Maybe in the first half I was a bit rusty, but as the game went on I think we got a bit more comfortable and when we train this week hopefully we’ll get more and more used to playing with each other.
Own misfortune
O’Loughlin has had his own misfortune with injury in the past so for him the focus now is to develop as a player, trying to improve rather than becoming fixated on the players with whom he is disputing a jersey. Last season’s experiences ensure that he is less nervous in the big matches focusing on “how I can exploit defences and impose my games on teams, rather than just trying to hold my own”.
His exposure to the national squad training during the summer tour was hugely beneficial if a little daunting at first.
“The first few days of camp is a bit of a reality check, there is a lot thrown at you and you’re expected to know it straight away. The first day or two, it’s all about learning the plays, watching the videos and that, but there was a good few of us in the same boat, there was eight uncapped players.
“All the lads and the coaches were very helpful. There are resources everywhere in camp so you just have to go looking and ask, nothing is really given to you, you’re expected to show up to training knowing the plays and having corrected what you did wrong the day before.
“I really enjoyed it, to get my first cap was obviously great, it’s been a goal of mine since I was eight or nine, and being introduced to the system gave me an indication of how I need to improve and what areas I need to be better at to be in there on a more permanent basis, and push for the Test side.
“I got great feedback off the coaches on what I need to do this season and what to improve on, so overall it was a great experience for me.”
For now though it’s all about hanging onto the blue jersey and making it tough when the treatment room clears.
