HEINEKEN CUP LEINSTER v LONDON IRISH:THE SUMMER of the Lions may be tired now, but the influence of the tour to South Africa on Leinster wing Luke Fitzgerald continues to wash over him. Being handed the plane ticket as a 21-year-old seemed like a natural progression for a back on the up, a player pushing for recognition beside and against some of the biggest names.
Fitzgerald, however, returned this season to Leinster with his eyes wide open and his attitude readjusted. While he was selected for the second Test against the Springboks, the combined effect of the tour as a whole was that the talent that got him into Ian McGeechan’s squad wasn’t enough to satisfy his own ambitions. The player, who seemed to have it all and who is expected to line out on the wing tomorrow against London Irish, discovered that all he had fell short on the main stage.
Fitzgerald chose to take that gentle slap by the Scottish coach as a kindly reminder. “It was very disappointing not to get selected for the first and the third Tests,” he says. “There were a number of reasons for that. It was probably down to performance. That’s what all these things come down to. Some come down to the coach’s perception of you as a player but it’s up to you to try and change that with your performances on the pitch.
“I didn’t get another opportunity in SA but I still learned a lot. In a sense it’s whatever doesn’t break you will make you. If you don’t grow from the lows in your career you will never reach the heights to which you really aspire to get to. That’s one of the things I learned, to go back to the drawing board, really assess my game and see where I was going. I think I’ve done that. I think I still have a lot of improving to do but I think I’m on the right track too. It’s important to be self-analytical if you are going to be the player that you want to be.”
For Leinster, Fitzgerald has carried on where he left off last season. The runs from deep, the spinning out of tackles, the have-a-go nature of his play and the willingness to get involved in all aspects of the physical side have been a feature of his contributions. An encouraging aside to the summer is that he feels there is more to come, expects there is more to come.”To be honest with you, it (Lions) was probably a bit of a reality check,” he explains.
“If I’m being honest with myself I probably didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. The comforting thing, I suppose, is that I was there and I was playing with the top guys.
“What I’m getting at is that I still feel that there is huge scope for improvement in my game. I still think there is a massive way for me to go. It’s comforting because there’s still a lot of things I have to work on and improve and that has motivated me this year to try and get better.”
That kind of thinking might also be a comfort to Michael Cheikatomorrow night. Complacency won’t stalk the old wooden stands at the RDS when the Australian is in charge.
The Leinster reaction to Munster’s 30-0 capitulation in the Magners League reinforces that. Never lean on your last good result is something Fitzgerald also cautions against.
“The breaks went our way and I guess the scoreline was a little bit flattering,” he says of last week. “But we are looking to put in the same level of performance and intensity. That is something we should be targeting, something we should be trying to do in every game. I don’t think there is any danger that complacency can set in. If we don’t bring that same mentality, that same physicality to London Irish there is no chance we are going to come out on the right side of the result.”
For now a result will do against Bob Casey’s troop. With that the season may start to open up with possibilities.
