The headline read: "Ireland calls once again for returning Luke Fitzgerald. " That was January 28th, 2014 yet here we are again. But he's back and, hopefully, the fear of an early end has passed.
The string of injuries, the latest being a crippling abductor problem to sit alongside ACL tears and a serious neck issue, was so bad that Fitzgerald recently moved into the Santry Sports Surgery clinic.
But he’s back. Again. Really though it’s been five years since we’ve consistently seen that irresistible full flow. The starting Lions winger on the 2009 tour of South Africa, the career threatening problems began at Croke Park the following November when he badly ruptured knee ligaments against Australia.
Dip in form
There even followed a dip in form when transferred to fullback for the 2011 Six Nations which contributed to him missing the World Cup squad.
He was also, surprising, overlooked for the 2007 tournament.
Repeated injury, intermingled with all too brief glimpses of his incredible ability, led to contractual problems that saw him cut off the national rota. Leinster remained loyal but his own belief system dipped enough to consider retirement at just 27.
“There absolutely was, yeah. I think what was great was the support in [Leinster] never wavered. Guys were very patient in here with me because there was definitely times when I lost a bit of hope.
“I just thought I am doing three months of rehab here and I’m getting nowhere. I’m in a worse position than when I actually started. It’s been a rough journey.”
Matt O’Connor, the embattled Leinster head coach, is the only man he name checks. To such a degree that Fitzgerald shifts the point of focus from himself to laud O’Connor.
“Matty has been fantastic. It has been a tricky time for him with injuries and he has been really really patient with me because there was a time I just said: ‘Listen, I can’t come back in here. I’m banging my head against the wall in here and I’m going nowhere.’ And he was just fantastic, really, really good. I was delighted with that.”
Leinster’s dipping performances of late are being blamed on O’Connor but Fitzgerald refutes this outright.
"I just think he's a class act. I just think he has been very unlucky. You look at Nacewa gone, Leo Cullen gone, Drico, Sexton. Mainstays. No Seán O'Brien, Cian Healy. And we won the league last year and lost to Toulon.
“I just know from working every day with the guy, my own feeling is that he is really knowledgeable, a really, really good coach, very organised and I’m always very impressed with him,” Fitzgerald continued. “I thought I played my best rugby under him last season.”
Criticism, specifically, is directed at the inability of Leinster to produce the style of rugby RDS season ticket holders have grown to expect every week.
"Everyone is talking about these guys calling plays [but] great teams never have to call the plays. There is a reason that Leinster's back play looked so good the last 10 years – Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy, Denis Hickie, Shane Horgan, any of those guys, get good information into [the halfbacks and forwards]. Those guys shouldn't have too much thinking to do, just get the ball, they know the call and then they are looking for which is the right pass.
‘Lot of flak’
“Jimmy (Gopperth) has taken an awful lot of flak, probably from guys not helping him out enough.”
Take all the injuries away and both Leinster and Ireland would already have a ready-made solution to O'Driscoll's retirement. They still might. Robbie Henshaw and Fitzgerald would be an interesting combination in Rome on February 8th.
“I feel like physically that’s an area where it suits me in there. I like the contact. I like tackling. I feel like defensively I’m a strong player in that aspect and I feel carrying the ball is a good part of my game. My footwork is probably a strength as well.
“The creative side is definitely the part I wish I had a little bit more time off-season to work on a couple of things in my game I feel I could improve. Going forward, it is great for me to play in that slot.”
Going forward, hopefully, another singeing of his wings might be too much to take.
