A RELENTLESS RUGBY schedule rumbles along. You might be still digesting what happened across the November internationals, but there’s a Champions Cup opening round to look forward to at the end of the week and before all that, there’s the small matter of the pool draw for the 2027 Rugby World Cup taking place this morning.
A pool draw which Dan Sheehan was blissfully unaware of when he sat to chat with the media on Monday afternoon.
“I wouldn’t even have known it was on,” he admits. “My dad would probably… But I can’t look that far ahead.”
To be fair, the Leinster hooker has enough on his plate at the moment. Sheehan was able to rest up as Leinster took on the Dragons in the URC last weekend but he’ll be right back in the thick of the action as the province host Harlequins in their opening Champions Cup pool game on Saturday [KO 5.30]. Sheehan is framing it as a refreshing new challenge after a disappointing November with Ireland.
But before he looks ahead, there’s a little time to look back at Ireland’s November loss to South Africa.
“I’m always disappointed to lose in an Irish jersey. It was a bit weird after the South African game. Some people were complimenting the effort and stuff, but it’s hard to get over the disappointment of losing.”
And as tough as that day proved to be for the Irish scrum, the 27-year-old insists he isn’t concerned about any long-term issue.
“No, not at all. It wouldn’t worry me in the slightest. I think we have a powerful scrum at Leinster. The scrummaging performance we put in against Munster before we left (for Ireland camp) showed the quality we have in the group.
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The Irish pack had a tough day against South Africa. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
“Sometimes you just get it wrong and that’s what happens in Test Rugby especially. We’ll be looking to use our scrum as a weapon now over the next couple of weeks. We don’t sort of feel like we need to hide behind it at all or come up with solutions to deal with it. We need to just bounce back and use it as a weapon again and attack it. You know, just dust yourself off and get on with it is the sort of mindset, that wouldn’t worry me in the slightest.”
Back in Leinster blue, there’s a busy run of games ahead as Champions Cup rolls into Christmas interpros before another bite at Europe in January. And before we know it, we’ll be looking at an Ireland Six Nations squad again.
“It’s probably one of the most important blocks for us in Leinster, if not the most important,” Sheehan continues.
“We’ve got massive Interpro games, we’ve got massive European games all stacked up around a busy Christmas period. You can really change the swing of the momentum of the start of the season which hasn’t been great.
“It’s been up and down, now, it hasn’t been awful, but I feel like going into Europe now, a new competition to focus on, you can really sort of start the season again. You can feel that the energy in the group is that we have a chance to really state our claim in this competition and show what we’re about because we know we have the talent in the room.”
Sheehan will be back in Leinster blue for Saturday's meeting with Harlequins. Grace Halton / INPHO
Grace Halton / INPHO / INPHO
A new competition, but familiar pressures. It’s moving into seven years since Leinster last won the Champions Cup, and climbing that mountain again isn’t looking any easier. After a series of narrow and gut-wrenching final defeats, last year Leinster came up short in the semi-final stages at home to a resurgent Northampton Saints.
Leinster are used to dealing with expectation but the longer their European trophy drought continues, the more the pressure rises, and the louder the outside noise gets.
“I don’t care what people think, or the outside noise. If everyone loved us it would be kind of weird. There is that sort of hatred towards us.”
‘Hate’ is a strong word, but if that’s the perception some Leinster players, maybe it can be channelled in a good way. Sheehan certainly sees it as another source of motivation.
It’s brilliant. It’s sport. Get on with it. Just play. I love coming in here now, in a big week, backs against the wall, need to prove a point.
“Everything in the past has happened. It’s a new season, new group. Let’s just rip.”
Listening to Sheehan’s forthright views on the challenge ahead, you can see why he’s become an increasingly important figure for both club and country, captaining both over the last year.
He’s spoken about how he’s slowly grown into a leadership role, and while it’s still a work in progress, he feels comfortable doing things his way.
“You don’t have to throw a big speech at things,” he says.
“You don’t have to glitter up anything fancy. Just be yourself. Go out perform. Say the basics. Don’t gloss over anything, but at the same time, you don’t need to overcomplicate it.
“I try to simplify things to the bare minimum nearly and just focus on maybe a few things in the week that we’ve been focusing on, because you come across these big leaders when you’re coming up, obviously, like Johnny (Sexton), then we had, Paul O’Connell, Pete (O’Mahony), Church (Cian Healy), like all these lads who do it their way.
“They can come out with these massive motivational speeches. You see them in the documentaries and everything, and you’re like, ‘Jeez, I don’t know if I’d be able to do that’, but you don’t need to. You can do it your own way. And I think I’ve been good at sticking to my own way, and just get that out the way you want to do it.”
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Dan Sheehan using 'hatred' of Leinster as fuel for the fire
A RELENTLESS RUGBY schedule rumbles along. You might be still digesting what happened across the November internationals, but there’s a Champions Cup opening round to look forward to at the end of the week and before all that, there’s the small matter of the pool draw for the 2027 Rugby World Cup taking place this morning.
A pool draw which Dan Sheehan was blissfully unaware of when he sat to chat with the media on Monday afternoon.
“I wouldn’t even have known it was on,” he admits. “My dad would probably… But I can’t look that far ahead.”
To be fair, the Leinster hooker has enough on his plate at the moment. Sheehan was able to rest up as Leinster took on the Dragons in the URC last weekend but he’ll be right back in the thick of the action as the province host Harlequins in their opening Champions Cup pool game on Saturday [KO 5.30]. Sheehan is framing it as a refreshing new challenge after a disappointing November with Ireland.
But before he looks ahead, there’s a little time to look back at Ireland’s November loss to South Africa.
“I’m always disappointed to lose in an Irish jersey. It was a bit weird after the South African game. Some people were complimenting the effort and stuff, but it’s hard to get over the disappointment of losing.”
And as tough as that day proved to be for the Irish scrum, the 27-year-old insists he isn’t concerned about any long-term issue.
“No, not at all. It wouldn’t worry me in the slightest. I think we have a powerful scrum at Leinster. The scrummaging performance we put in against Munster before we left (for Ireland camp) showed the quality we have in the group.
“Sometimes you just get it wrong and that’s what happens in Test Rugby especially. We’ll be looking to use our scrum as a weapon now over the next couple of weeks. We don’t sort of feel like we need to hide behind it at all or come up with solutions to deal with it. We need to just bounce back and use it as a weapon again and attack it. You know, just dust yourself off and get on with it is the sort of mindset, that wouldn’t worry me in the slightest.”
Back in Leinster blue, there’s a busy run of games ahead as Champions Cup rolls into Christmas interpros before another bite at Europe in January. And before we know it, we’ll be looking at an Ireland Six Nations squad again.
“It’s probably one of the most important blocks for us in Leinster, if not the most important,” Sheehan continues.
“We’ve got massive Interpro games, we’ve got massive European games all stacked up around a busy Christmas period. You can really change the swing of the momentum of the start of the season which hasn’t been great.
“It’s been up and down, now, it hasn’t been awful, but I feel like going into Europe now, a new competition to focus on, you can really sort of start the season again. You can feel that the energy in the group is that we have a chance to really state our claim in this competition and show what we’re about because we know we have the talent in the room.”
A new competition, but familiar pressures. It’s moving into seven years since Leinster last won the Champions Cup, and climbing that mountain again isn’t looking any easier. After a series of narrow and gut-wrenching final defeats, last year Leinster came up short in the semi-final stages at home to a resurgent Northampton Saints.
Leinster are used to dealing with expectation but the longer their European trophy drought continues, the more the pressure rises, and the louder the outside noise gets.
“I don’t care what people think, or the outside noise. If everyone loved us it would be kind of weird. There is that sort of hatred towards us.”
‘Hate’ is a strong word, but if that’s the perception some Leinster players, maybe it can be channelled in a good way. Sheehan certainly sees it as another source of motivation.
“Everything in the past has happened. It’s a new season, new group. Let’s just rip.”
Listening to Sheehan’s forthright views on the challenge ahead, you can see why he’s become an increasingly important figure for both club and country, captaining both over the last year.
He’s spoken about how he’s slowly grown into a leadership role, and while it’s still a work in progress, he feels comfortable doing things his way.
“You don’t have to throw a big speech at things,” he says.
“You don’t have to glitter up anything fancy. Just be yourself. Go out perform. Say the basics. Don’t gloss over anything, but at the same time, you don’t need to overcomplicate it.
“I try to simplify things to the bare minimum nearly and just focus on maybe a few things in the week that we’ve been focusing on, because you come across these big leaders when you’re coming up, obviously, like Johnny (Sexton), then we had, Paul O’Connell, Pete (O’Mahony), Church (Cian Healy), like all these lads who do it their way.
“They can come out with these massive motivational speeches. You see them in the documentaries and everything, and you’re like, ‘Jeez, I don’t know if I’d be able to do that’, but you don’t need to. You can do it your own way. And I think I’ve been good at sticking to my own way, and just get that out the way you want to do it.”
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Dan Sheehan Leinster point to prove Rugby