JACK CONAN RAISES a smile when asked if he’s still hopeful of hearing his name called out during next Thursday’s Lions squad announcement.
“Should I not be hopeful?”
Fair question, but it’s hard to know where exactly Conan stands. He’s been excellent again this year, playing some superb rugby – notably as an impact player for Ireland in the Six Nations, where three of his five caps came as a substitute.
That’s the role he’ll again hold against Northampton today as Max Deegan wins the vote to start alongside Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris in the Leinster back row. Having started 12 of 18 for club and country this season, the player himself admits the decision comes with some frustration, before falling into the expected line that he’s focused on doing what’s best for the team.
That said, he’d rather hold a more central role on the last weekend of Lions auditions. Conan loved the 2021 Lions tour, which is no surprise given he started all three Tests. He was an established international in his late 20s at that stage but the experience still left a lasting impression.
“It was not something I ever saw myself doing really,” Conan says.
It gave me a lot of confidence, a lot of self-belief. It kind of make you feel ‘I’m good enough and able to do these things’. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I doubted myself a little bit.
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“I think we all do at times, whether you’re a professional athlete or not. You always have that nugget of doubt at times but when you do something like that and you get selected among some of the best players over the four countries it’s pretty special.
“So I think it just validates your own perception of you and you’re thinking: ‘Well, I’m good enough to do that then I’m good enough to do a lot of things.’ But it’s an incredibly special thing to have gone on a Lions tour and to go on two would be unbelievably memorable and special. But if it happens, brilliant, and if it doesn’t, life goes on and I’ll have to get on with it and play next week or the week after.”
He’d rather be starting these big Leinster games but he’s also got credit in the bank. He’s delivered for Andy Farrell countless times and has that previous Lions experience on his CV. Touring this summer has entered his mind, naturally, but less than a week out from the squad announcement he feels the best approach is to pause such thoughts.
Conan started all three Tests for the Lions in 2021. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“I think you’ve got to block it out. I think you’ve got to completely park it because it’s not something you can obsess over too much. It is a distraction, because you don’t want to take your eye off the ball. We’re playing against good teams, we’ve got to perform.
“There’s competition day-in and day-out in Leinster. If lads are sitting there and worrying about May 8th and the Lions you take your off the ball and you trip over the stone right in front of your foot.
“It’s going to be probably a bit of a strange day next Thursday because obviously a lot of lads are very hopeful of getting selected. How many are going to go? Who knows, but we’ll have to mentally park all that for the lads that do or don’t go, and we’ll have another game and then it will be life as normal. I don’t think you can be too obsessed with these things.”
Today it’s Northampton, who come to Dublin for a Champions Cup semi-final knowing Leinster are a different beast to the one they faced in the same stage at Croke Park last year. The province are sizzling in attack and ferocious without the ball – niling both Harlequins and Glasgow in their previous two knockout games. The Jacques Nienaber effect appears to be in full force and Conan says the South African comes to the fore in weeks like these.
“He’s brilliant. He simplifies messages. Obviously we do a lot of detail. We look at Northampton or any opposition a lot but come the tail end of the week, you boil it down and you hang your hat on a few things. It’s all about us and what we want to do. Even looking back at the semi-final last year, where we started really well and faded during the game. I feel we’ve come a long way since then, especially defensively.
Conan speaking to the media yesterday. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“We were still embedding a defence system that we weren’t used to. I think it has now become habitual to us. We’re comfortable with it. Everyone understands their role, whereas previously, maybe 90% of the lads did but even if you have 10% of the lads who don’t – or who aren’t 100% certain in one aspect or one moment of the game, it leads to problems. I think we’ve come a long way defensively in the space of a year and I think that just gives everyone confidence, you know?
“It’s so black and white, what you are doing when you’re doing it and it’s such a great system to be in because it gives you so much confidence because you know what everyone around you is going to do. It leads to us getting the ball back more often than not. It’s a joy to play in and the messaging from Jacques and all the coaches throughout the week is spot-on and allows us to do it.”
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'Maybe I doubted myself a little bit. Becoming a Lion gave me a lot of self-belief'
JACK CONAN RAISES a smile when asked if he’s still hopeful of hearing his name called out during next Thursday’s Lions squad announcement.
“Should I not be hopeful?”
Fair question, but it’s hard to know where exactly Conan stands. He’s been excellent again this year, playing some superb rugby – notably as an impact player for Ireland in the Six Nations, where three of his five caps came as a substitute.
That’s the role he’ll again hold against Northampton today as Max Deegan wins the vote to start alongside Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris in the Leinster back row. Having started 12 of 18 for club and country this season, the player himself admits the decision comes with some frustration, before falling into the expected line that he’s focused on doing what’s best for the team.
That said, he’d rather hold a more central role on the last weekend of Lions auditions. Conan loved the 2021 Lions tour, which is no surprise given he started all three Tests. He was an established international in his late 20s at that stage but the experience still left a lasting impression.
“It was not something I ever saw myself doing really,” Conan says.
“I think we all do at times, whether you’re a professional athlete or not. You always have that nugget of doubt at times but when you do something like that and you get selected among some of the best players over the four countries it’s pretty special.
“So I think it just validates your own perception of you and you’re thinking: ‘Well, I’m good enough to do that then I’m good enough to do a lot of things.’ But it’s an incredibly special thing to have gone on a Lions tour and to go on two would be unbelievably memorable and special. But if it happens, brilliant, and if it doesn’t, life goes on and I’ll have to get on with it and play next week or the week after.”
He’d rather be starting these big Leinster games but he’s also got credit in the bank. He’s delivered for Andy Farrell countless times and has that previous Lions experience on his CV. Touring this summer has entered his mind, naturally, but less than a week out from the squad announcement he feels the best approach is to pause such thoughts.
“I think you’ve got to block it out. I think you’ve got to completely park it because it’s not something you can obsess over too much. It is a distraction, because you don’t want to take your eye off the ball. We’re playing against good teams, we’ve got to perform.
“There’s competition day-in and day-out in Leinster. If lads are sitting there and worrying about May 8th and the Lions you take your off the ball and you trip over the stone right in front of your foot.
“It’s going to be probably a bit of a strange day next Thursday because obviously a lot of lads are very hopeful of getting selected. How many are going to go? Who knows, but we’ll have to mentally park all that for the lads that do or don’t go, and we’ll have another game and then it will be life as normal. I don’t think you can be too obsessed with these things.”
Today it’s Northampton, who come to Dublin for a Champions Cup semi-final knowing Leinster are a different beast to the one they faced in the same stage at Croke Park last year. The province are sizzling in attack and ferocious without the ball – niling both Harlequins and Glasgow in their previous two knockout games. The Jacques Nienaber effect appears to be in full force and Conan says the South African comes to the fore in weeks like these.
“He’s brilliant. He simplifies messages. Obviously we do a lot of detail. We look at Northampton or any opposition a lot but come the tail end of the week, you boil it down and you hang your hat on a few things. It’s all about us and what we want to do. Even looking back at the semi-final last year, where we started really well and faded during the game. I feel we’ve come a long way since then, especially defensively.
“We were still embedding a defence system that we weren’t used to. I think it has now become habitual to us. We’re comfortable with it. Everyone understands their role, whereas previously, maybe 90% of the lads did but even if you have 10% of the lads who don’t – or who aren’t 100% certain in one aspect or one moment of the game, it leads to problems. I think we’ve come a long way defensively in the space of a year and I think that just gives everyone confidence, you know?
“It’s so black and white, what you are doing when you’re doing it and it’s such a great system to be in because it gives you so much confidence because you know what everyone around you is going to do. It leads to us getting the ball back more often than not. It’s a joy to play in and the messaging from Jacques and all the coaches throughout the week is spot-on and allows us to do it.”
Leinster, and Conan, are as hungry as ever.
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Jack Conan Rugby Leinster