51 / 64
49
could get the team across the line. So,
whether your team does well or badly I
think you feel equally frustrated, which
is probably just more of an incentive to
get back from injury sooner rather than
later.
Boosted by ‘the boss’!
Seeing Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey
was fantastic, it was amazing and it was
shortly after that he announced his dates
to come to Ireland so tickets are bought,
that was another positive moment during
my ‘rehab’ process! I also moved into a new
house, adopted a new dog. I got a dog the
last time I had my hip injury - so I got another
one this time! Let’s just hope I don’t get
injured again as I don’t think I could cope with
a third one!
Inter-pro rivals, and a summer tour!
Connacht has been fantastic this year and I
really don’t expect their form to ‘dip’ between
now and the end of the season – except against
us of course! Leinster have had a few games
where they haven’t played to their full potential
so they will be looking to finish out the season the
way we want to finish ours, with a good run of wins.
Both of them will be competing for the title and all
the players will be looking to, as they always do,
impress Joe Schmidt before he selects the squad
for the summer tour. There’s a lot of anticipation after
such a long season about what Ireland are going to
be like on the tour in South Africa, so obviously spots
are ‘up for grabs’. We have seen Connacht boys get
their first ‘caps’ throughout the Six Nations so they will
want to put their hands up even further so they will have
come back from the Six Nations and given Connacht
a massive boost. These games will be some of the
toughest of the season and we have to get our mind-set
right and have our heads completely screwed on – not
just for the two home games – but for the rest of the
games in this campaign.
The target for this next month?
I don’t think it’s too early to have what you want in your mind,
I think everyone in the squad wants to finish first or second,
I actually think everyone wants to finish first! But first or
second to get that home ‘semi’ would be massive, to have
everyone here at Kingspan Stadium for our play-off would
be awesome, as we know it’s going to be a tough game,
whoever it is. It would be fantastic to finish out these last four
games to guarantee us a home semi-final in front of the very
special supporters we have at Kingspan Stadium.
That really would line us up perfectly for the final!