SHORTLY AFTER HE had marked his international debut with Ireland’s eighth and final try against Canada, James Tracy picked his family out in the crowd and shared the moment with them.
The Leinster hooker was one of eight new caps during the November Test at the Aviva Stadium having been rewarded for a fine start to the season at club level.
It has been a long journey to this point for the 25-year-old. Having played for Ireland U20s and earned a contract with the eastern province, Tracy found opportunities hard to come by and fell down the pecking order during Matt O’Connor’s reign.
A switch from loose-head prop to hooker gave Tracy’s career fresh impetus and he worked his way into the reckoning under Leo Cullen.
The positional switch came about after a conversation with the then Leinster coach Joe Schmidt, who convinced the Kildare native that his future was at hooker.
So it was perhaps fitting that Schmidt would hand Tracy his first cap, and the ultimate reward, yesterday evening in Dublin — an achievement the former Newbridge College student wasn’t expecting just yet.
“I won’t say it has come too quick but I didn’t expect it,” he said afterwards.
“You always want it but I definitely didn’t expect it. When I got the email I sat down and this is where I wanted to be but it can’t be too quick if that’s what you want but I definitely didn’t expect it.”
Tracy replaced Sean Cronin with 20 minutes remaining against the Canadians and fittingly ended the night’s work by barreling over the line from close range.
“It wasn’t perfect but there’s such good players around you and it really gives you every opportunity to do well,” he said of his debut performance.
“I thought the team performed, okay we weren’t as disciplined as we wanted to be but overall we performed.
“It’s such a good group at the moment, it’s a great place to be and I’m absolutely delighted. I’ve only been in a week but just delighted to be part of that, it’s something special going on. If you’re playing well, Joe will have a look at you. There’s a lot of experience there as well so you have to respect that.
“I gave away a penalty and I think that drove me over a little bit more. As I said it wasn’t a perfect performance by me but nice to get a try. The guys did a good job of running them around so there wasn’t too many guys left.”
Once the whistle went, he picked out his parents, Sile and Jim, in the crowd.
“That’s special because it’s been a long journey to get to this point and from picking me up and dropping me. The highs and the lows so it was nice to share that moment with them.
“I’ll sit down and definitely take learnings from it.”
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