THE WEEKLY SUNDAY trip to the supermarché in Oyonnax can be a minefield for Eamonn Sheridan.
In a town of just over 20,000 people – virtually all of them rugby mad – there is no hope of Oyonnax’s players nipping out for groceries without being noticed. As with the vast majority of French fans, USO’s supporters are quick to offer an opinion.
“They’re fanatical about their rugby here,” says the 26-year-old Irish centre, who joined Oyonnax last summer. ”When it’s going well it’s great but when it’s not going so well, they will let you know about it.
“You’ll always hear about it the Sunday after the match, as the shops are only open until 12pm. Everyone is there at the same time, so you’re very close to the supporters and they push you on. On game day it’s amazing, they’re just so passionate.”
Having finished a remarkable sixth in the Top 14 last season, Oyonnax are having a more difficult time of it in the current campaign and find themselves in the relegation zone after 12 league games.
The knowledgable locals are only too happy to pick up on the players’ errors after defeats, but wins like last weekend’s superb 32-14 triumph against Toulouse in the Champions Cup earn Sheridan a ‘bien joué‘ or two.
The former Leinster midfielder has been in excellent form all season, nailing down the 12 shirt instantly after arriving in France from London Irish. His performance last time out against Toulouse earned him a spot in Midi Olympique’s team of the week.
Like anyone moving to to France, Sheridan took his time to settle culturally but has grown a fondness for the town of Oyonnax, which is nestled in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the Rhône-Alpes region.
Sheridan laughs knowingly as the phone connection cuts up during our conversation; “We’re fairly tucked away in the mountains here.”
Snow hammered down at Stade Charles Mathon as they beat Toulouse last Saturday. Such is life in Oyonnax, a place Sheridan says is not actually too dissimilar to his childhood hometown of Navan.
A product of Navan RFC who came through the Youths system with Leinster and Ireland, Sheridan’s imposing physicality meant he always looked likely to advance into the professional game.
Junior World Championship campaigns with the Ireland U20s in 2008 and 2009 only furthered Sheridan’s strong reputation as he also advanced into the Leinster academy.
The former St. Patrick’s Classical School student ended up making three senior appearances for Leinster in the 2010/11 campaign, including Pro12 starts against Cardiff and Treviso, but his time with the province was severely hindered by extensive injury issues.
Osteitis pubis, a fracture ankle and a ruptured ACL – serious injury after serious injury left Sheridan questioning whether he would even continue to pursue a rugby career.
“I just wasn’t getting much luck at all,” says the 6’4″ centre.
Coming towards the end of the 2011/12 season, Sheridan knew Leinster wouldn’t be renewing his contract and pondered focusing on his education. With two years of a Business Management degree in DIT already completed, it was a strong option.
However, Rotherham Titans of the English Championship came in with an offer, then Leinster coach Joe Schmidt encouraged the Birmingham native to take the leap and Sheridan signed a one-year deal.
I said to myself, ‘I’ll give it one season and see how it goes,” explains Sheridan, “If I get picked up great, but if I don’t then I’d probably take rugby a little bit less seriously and do something else profession-wise.’ If it hadn’t worked out in Rotherham I would have thought very seriously about [quitting professional rugby], so I was quite close to it.”
20 games later and after a season joyously free of serious injuries in the Championship, Sheridan was signed by London Irish on a two-year deal.
“It pushes you forward as a player in terms getting a lot of game time,” says Sheridan of his time with Rotherham. “That’s what I found, that I progressed from actually playing games.
“When I was in the Leinster academy, it was all mostly on the training park and you play with your AIL side. The Championship is a step up from that, so I found that was really good for me, learning by actually being on the pitch in game situations.”
By now enjoying the kind of injury luck he had never experienced, Sheridan made an instant impact in the Premiership with London Irish, gaining a stranglehold on the 12 shirt that barely let up [he did play a handful of games at 13 too].
Last season saw Sheridan garner even more Premiership and and Challenge Cup game time, with a total of 48 appearances across his two years in London. Living in the leafy suburb of Richmond was enjoyable too and Sheridan reflects only positively on his time with the Exiles.
There were discussions with the English club about extending his contract beyond last summer, but “we couldn’t come to terms”. Olivier Azam – then the head coach of Oyonnax but since replaced by Johann Authier – got in touch with Sheridan’s agent and there was an instantly reciprocated interest.
“Going to France sounded like a great opportunity to me, playing against the best teams in Europe every week,” says Sheridan. “People might say I’m quite young to go to France, but I felt I might not have another opportunity to go and do this.”
The 108kg midfielder travelled to meet the club’s president, Jean-Marc Manducher, and the coaching staff. The first impression was strong.
“It’s a community feel to the club,” says Sheridan, “they were very much saying ‘We’re not a Toulon or Toulouse’ and then it was about seeing if I fit the club as much as the club fitting me.
They tried to get a squad of players that they thought would continue on with what the club has been doing, making the most of what they’ve got. We don’t have the big names, say, but especially last year they were so competitive and Champions Cup rugby was very appealing to me.”
A calf tear in late November saw Sheridan sidelined for four weeks, but that spell aside he has been an instrumental part of the Oyonnax XV, leading the defence in the 12 shirt and impressing with his direct running, offloading ability and ever-improving passing game.
Having spent three years in the structure-heavy English leagues, Sheridan says there was an adaptation period to the jouez approach in France. He is now thriving in that freedom and looks hugely comfortable with the French style of rugby.
“In London Irish, it was a very structured game I found, so it was quite set-piece dominated and you’d have your plays planned out for four or five phases after the set-piece.
“You’re not given as much freedom as you’re given over here in France. It’s more ‘play what you see’ here and it wouldn’t be quite as structured in defence and attack.
“Here in France, it is a hugely physical league but it’s not just physical. It’s all about the contact skills and the offloading game, and flooding through. That’s something I think I’ve really improved and also getting ball to the width when there is space.
“The thing with French teams is that, even if it’s a slow game, if they get behind you they just go up the gears instantly. I think it’s that change in pace in the game where there might not have been much happening but then there’s one offload and you’re in behind, playing from that. It’s huge over here.”
The demands have improved Sheridan’s attacking palate as he appreciates more intuitively how to control and adapt to the pace and shape of a game. Meanwhile, his defensive decision making has grown immensely.
“When I was in London Irish, it was more of a choke tackle team, so that suited me really well I thought,” says the powerful centre. “I got quite a lot of turnovers from that.
Since coming here I’m working on my tackle selection a fair bit, because there are some huge boys over here that if you go high on, they’re going to steamroll you or run through and offload.
“There’s a bit more of a chop focus here and it’s something I’ve worked on and improved, being able to choose between a chop and a choke tackle, or chopping and getting back to my feet.”
Sheridan had a chance to show his quality against Irish opposition two weekends ago when Ulster visited Stade Charles Mathon. The hosts shocked Les Kiss’ men by racing into a 23-0 lead, before the Irish province manufactured a huge comeback win.
Stuart McCloskey was “a handful to play against,” says Sheridan, who enjoyed meeting up with former London Irish teammate Ian Humphreys for a coffee the night before the game.
Sheridan and the rest of the Oyonnax frontliners have been rested [the Irishman is on the bench] for the return fixture at Kingspan Stadium today [KO 1pm, Sky Sports], but he hopes the Top 14 side can prevent the widely expected bonus-point win for Ulster.
“We put on a pretty decent performance when we played them two weeks ago, I think we probably surprised a few people from Ulster,” says Sheridan. “Maybe people who were watching the game saw that on our day we can run the best teams pretty close.”
The clear priority for Oyonnax now is closing the six-point gap to Pau in 12th position in the Top 14 and rising up the table in the second half of the campaign. With Racing 92 away, Toulon at home, Clermont away and Bordeaux away in the coming weeks, their task will be hugely demanding.
Sheridan is in his first season of a two-year deal with the French club and will be doing his utmost to ensure 2016/17 is another Top 14 campaign for Oyonnax. By the time his current contract ends, Sheridan will only just have turned 28.
“I’m enjoying it here, but after that who knows?” says Sheridan. “I haven’t planned beyond that. Ireland is always going to be there, it’s always going to be home and it’s going to be where I end up, whether that’s playing rugby or living long-term afterwards.
“If something was to come up in Ireland I’d obviously have to take it quite seriously and have a serious look at things.”
