When it’s brought up yet again Felix Jones’s eyebrows rise, presumably feigning interest, and he gives a neutral smile.
It comes with the territory now. He knows this. Getting the latest internal tear repaired. And then having to talk about it.
Knees, shoulders, biceps, foot, ankle and most worrying of all neck, you name it, Jones has torn, ruptured or dislocated it. Fifteen weeks on the mend this time. Serious injury number six in his professional career. A double dose: torn labrum and bicep.
He played through the pain last season, even touring North America in June despite the ripping of muscle off bone.
He played well when winning his fifth cap in Toronto. The usual really; solid, reliable. Injured.
Carrying such wounds must have played on his mind leading up to that epic day at The Stoop or down in Montpelier or on tour.
“No. I understand the question but when I go out to train or play I am either all into it or not at all.”
That’s part of the problem. Now 26 already, imagine the type of player he could become if that body of his would stop shredding up?
“Felix has all the tools to become a fantastic fullback,” wrote Geordan Murphy in his autobiography after the eleventh hour reprieve before the 2011 World Cup came when Jones broke his foot against France in the penultimate warm-up match.
"I saw him play for Ireland under-20s in 2007," Murphy continued. "Luke Fitzgerald got called up to the national squad, so Felix got his chance against Wales and took it."
Grand slam
By "took it" Murphy was alluding to Jones' two tries as Ireland reversed a 15-0 deficit to win 17-15 en route to a Grand Slam.
Munster team-mates this afternoon in Murrayfield, Ian Keatley and Keith Earls, were also part of Eric Elwood's squad. Tommy O'Donnell, injured himself at present, came off the bench for Seán O'Brien, while Darren Cave, Paul O'Donohoe and Jamie Hagan also featured.
But it was Jones’ late arrival after Fitzgerald was whisked up the pecking order that was the most interesting story.
He’s a product of Seapoint RFC (where his Dad, Alfie, is a former president) and St Andrew’s College of all places. Not exactly a rugby bastion, yet David Jones, his former coach in school, feels his background suits the Munster environs better than his home province.
“The move from Leinster was probably the best thing he did. It was difficult for him at that time. He was coming from a minor club and minor school. We play section B in the league and our cup experiences aren’t anything to write home about.
"Being from a junior club makes it difficult to stick out. He probably wasn't getting the opportunities at Leinster that he possibly deserved. The move to Munster was good for him. I think he fits in well, nothing against Leinster, but the psyche in Munster at the time when he signed. The Munster machine was in full effect."
Scale back
Not that he sought to move south. Rob Kearney and Isa Nacewa, with the Fitzgerald option thrown in, was too great a mountain to scale back in 2008.
Michael Cheika supposedly blew his top on hearing of Jones’ defection, but he made a name for himself playing for Ireland under-20s. He was in demand.
“Felix also showed well for Leinster against Leicester in a pre-season friendly,” Murphy continued. “The club were looking for a fullback and I suggested him . . . if Munster hadn’t signed him up, he could have been the guy to come over and probably eventually replace me.”
Murphy knows all about injuries too. In an eerily similar situation to Jones, but on the eve of the 2003 World Cup, the bones in his lower leg snapped in the wrong direction. Also, a foot injury in January 2011 was compared by the surgeon to something he had seen in motorcycle accidents. Usually with fatalities.
Murphy always looked far too light to be a rugby player. A unique skill set got over a decade out of him. For a long time Jones had the same problem. Six foot, rangy and labelled as a man with brittle bones. No greater insult can be flung at a rugby player.
The man who sat before us in Limerick this week didn’t fit that description.
“He seems to have caught up on guys who were bigger than him leaving school,” said David Jones. “He was back for our awards, talking to the students, and he is a big lad now – 90 to 100 kilos, I’d say.”
That’s about right, 90 kilograms and counting.
"We got him in first year at under-13. Straight away he put himself about on the pitch and never gave any less than 100 per cent.
Every game
"Being light of frame at the time, he inevitably took a knock in every game because he tackles like an openside but was built more like a ten or winger. But he always came through it.
“He wanted to run the whole thing. You’d find him at outhalf then looping the centre and finishing in the corner. And hitting rucks. All sorts of things. He stood out in his year; just a very, very hard-working kid.”
It’s put to Felix that maybe he needed to get bigger and stronger to cope with the professional game.
“I dunno,” he replied. “Maybe it took me a bit longer to condition professionally. You look at certain guys when they come out of school and you’d say, ‘Jesus, here’s a guy 18, 19 and he is ready to play professional rugby straight away.’”
Exhibit A being Robbie Henshaw.
“I probably wasn’t as developed.” He checks himself. “Having said that, that wasn’t the case with me. When I came out of the academy and turned professional I was ready to go. I don’t know. It could be luck. It could be anything really.”
The smile seems genuine when he’s asked about Edinburgh’s predicted South Africa -style kicking game under Alan Solomons.
"Yeah, I love to get the ball. I'm not going to say 'Jesus, bring it on' or antagonise anyone by saying that. If the ball comes my way it is great. The more ball I get the better."
Unearth space
He's part of a Munster backline that really should start sparkling soon enough. Any team that plays the Canterbury way or, eh, the Munster way, should be able to unearth space for fliers like Keith Earls and Simon Zebo.
“I don’t think it is new to us anymore,” he said of Rob Penney’s system.
This will forever be used as the stick to beat Penney by those who look at bottom lines rather than the process.
“Anyone in the squad who says it is new would want to be a new player coming in. Guys who have been around for the last year have a firm grasp of it. We are trying to get away from saying it is a new thing.”
Just like Felix Jones is trying to get away from being a former Leinster player. He is the Munster fullback. And right now he is fit.
