LUKE MCGRATH WILL captain Leinster for the second time in his career this evening and while he admits it’s a huge honour, the scrum-half is just looking forward to getting back on the pitch.
McGrath was part of Joe Schmidt’s extended 40-player panel for the first two games of the Six Nations campaign but was deemed surplus to requirements when the final cut was made with Connacht’s Kieran Marmion preferred as the backup to Conor Murray.
The 24-year-old spent a couple of weeks in camp at Carton House before being released to Leinster for last week’s win in Treviso and he will tonight start on a night of opportunity at the RDS.
Having established himself as the province’s first-choice nine, McGrath’s performances in blue during the first half of the season were putting him in a position to add to his one international cap from the November Test win over Canada.
But he dipped below those standards during Leinster’s Champions Cup draw with Castres at the end of last month and it was a display which could very well have tipped the balance in Marmion’s favour.
“Obviously, it was a disappointing team performance over in Castres,” he said at yesterday’s pre-match press conference.
“We were all off the pace if we were honest with ourselves that day.”
“That was a difficult game for us. For myself, I talked to Joe [Schmidt] and he let me know things that well in the game and what I need to improve on that didn’t go well in that game.”
Despite that setback in Castres and the disappointment of not being involved in Ireland’s trips to Murrayfield and the Stadio Olimpico, this season has been a real coming of age for McGrath.
The former St Michael’s College man has made excellent progress and even at this stage of the campaign he has already made more starts for the province than in any other season.
His return to the starting XV is one of eight changes head coach Leo Cullen has made to his side for the visit of the Scottish side and McGrath is fully aware of what’s at stake, both for the team and on a personal level.
“I suppose it’s just about focusing on the next game, and all I can do is to prove to him [Schmidt] that I’m improving on those skills that he wants and hopefully it puts me in the shop window for selection for the next game,” he continued.
“I definitely feel I’m more and more confident with the more game time I get. But obviously I haven’t had too much game time over the last few weeks so I think it’s just about getting out there and enjoying the game I’ve been playing my whole life and seeing where that takes me.
“This is a massive opportunity for the guys not involved in the Irish camp, this is a young squad and the competition is massive.”
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