FERGUS MCFADDEN IS more abrasive than your average winger.
The Leinster man often takes it upon himself to be an enforcer of sorts, a role usually left to grizzled old second rows, finding the right moments to niggle and distract opponents or just simply inject a big does of physicality.
Before half-time in Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Bath, he did just that; coming up hard out of the line to flatten Anthony Watson with a ferocious hit.
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“Hitting a bit higher, you’re trying to stop the ball getting away,” McFadden explained today at the launch of Bank of Ireland’s Leinster Rugby summer camps.
“It did get the crowd going and we had a lot of momentum after that play. So half-time in a roundabout way came at a bad time for us because the lads fed off that, we had a few good hits afterwards – the main thing was keeping them out until half-time, keeping that 10 point advantage.
“As for the tackling technique, guys are getting more physical, stronger, collisions are bigger. So of course the crowd wants to see those hits. That’s why they’re paying to see the matches.”
Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, the second half involved another crunching collision, and this time the result was not the approving roar of the crowd, but a knock-out blow which, in theory, should give him an automatic fail in rugby’s pitch-side head injury assessment.
Looking back on it, you could maybe say I was a bit high. I know Kyle Eastmond is a bit small, but I didn’t exactly duck in to the contact.
“I changed angle and his shoulder caught me flush on the jaw. Technique-wise for me, I don’t know what I could have done differently. It was a bit innocuous to be honest. In fairness to him, he came up to me straight afterwards. There was no malice in it, I know that.
“It just got caught so flush on the jaw going at full pace. Thankfully I got up and was able to walk off the field. I came to in the next 10-15 minutes - disappointing not to play the full game,” explains the winger looking back on a painful patched-up memory.
“Each incident is different from the next, I suppose. That was a bad wallop I got. I remembered all the first half.”
He adds: “I remember everything now. Directly after the incident there are some things I was hazy on. I remember everything that happened now and I’m going through all the protocols, the guys are taking care of me and guys are making sure I’m ticking all the boxes.”
Rob Kearney, Fergus McFadden and Ian Madigan helped launch the Bank of Ireland Leinster Rugby Summer Camps in Dublin this morning. The camps will take place in 22 locations all across the province this summer. Head to LeinsterRugby.ie/camps for more information.
