THERE’S A GREATER spring in Andrew Porter’s step every time he walks into the room, and not without good reason. Leinster’s UCD headquarters is a good place to be at the moment, that winning energy contagious and running throughout the organisation.
The 22-year-old isn’t long out of the team review of last Saturday’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat of Scarlets when he sits down in front of the cameras, the smile on his face saying it all as Leinster’s unrelenting pursuit of a fourth star gathers pace.
“It’s great to be there,” Porter says of reaching Bilbao, “but we’ve another job to do this week.”
That’s the thing with this new wave in blue; consummate, driven and ruthless winners.
“We’ve all worked really hard this year and to come away with a bit of silverware would be the cherry on the cake,” the tighthead continues.
“We’ve put in a serious amount of work and using 53 players really shows our strength in depth in that sense.”
For all the talk of the Leavys and Ryans, Porter’s emergence this season has been just as pronounced, his rapid rise underlined by the fact he started the year simply hoping to get on the pitch whenever he could.
In this, his maiden season on a senior contract at Leinster, the former St Andrew’s College man has made 18 appearances for the province, including the final quarters against Saracens and Scarlets in the Champions Cup knockout stages.
And then there was the small matter of the Grand Slam-winning campaign and huge contributions against Italy, Wales, Scotland and England, all of this coming just a handful of months after he was one of seven uncapped players on last summer’s tour to USA and Japan.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself a bit, coming this far in a short amount of time,” he admits.
Not to get carried away, Porter retains a narrow focus, concentrating solely on Saturday’s Guinness Pro14 inter-pro against Connacht. Every game is an opportunity to impress and stake a claim, regardless of the occasion.
“If I’m playing consistently, week-in, week-out, a game is a game for me really, it doesn’t matter what the stakes are,” he continues. “I need to be pushing the guys ahead of me, like Tadhg [Furlong]. Any game I get the opportunity in, I need to put my best foot forward.
“It’s unbelievable for me how quickly it has happened but I don’t really get much time to sit back and look at it. You’re expected to bring a performance and a level week in, week out so that’s what I have to keep going.
“When you’re around the best players in the world it keeps you motivated to get to their level and keep going further.”
After the highs of last weekend and the chilling, five-try evisceration of the Scarlets, Leo Cullen’s side turn their attention to securing another home semi-final, with a single point against Connacht enough for them to achieve that on the final weekend of regular season fixtures.
With Bilbao and a mouthwatering meeting with Racing around the corner, Porter knows a big performance at the Sportsground will put him firmly in the selection picture to add another remarkable chapter to this, his breakthrough season.
“It’s a massive opportunity for us to secure that home semi-final and that would be great because our home games mean so much to us,” he adds. “You saw that with the games in the Aviva, how much the games mean to the home fans and it means a lot to us as well.
“Winning is the culture we’re starting to build, especially among the younger lads. The older lads have obviously experienced Champions Cup glory before so we’re all hungry to finish with silverware in the Champions Cup and Pro14. That fourth star keeps everyone hungry.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
