LAST WEEK, STUART Lancaster was asked his opinion on Jimmy O’Brien’s best position. “15″, came the quick reply, although Lancaster also provided a detailed run-through of the versatile Leinster back’s ability to play at 10, 12, 13 or on the wing.
One week later, O’Brien was in the hotseat to offer his own thoughts.
“Probably the one that comes most naturally to me I’d say is 15,” O’Brien says.
“But I don’t really mind playing on the wing or even in the centre. On the wing playing with Hugo (Keenan), we’d swap and stuff because I’m left footed. So there is a lot of time where we swap and interchange. But I’d say that 15 is the one that comes most naturally but I’ve played pretty much all of them so I’m not too worried.
“I’m still pretty happy to fill in. I think I’ve done pretty well in every position I’ve played in, I think I’ve adapted well so I’m happy to play anywhere.
“Maybe if I played a position really bad, I’d stop playing there. But actually it was like that at the end of last season, I was playing left wing and there was two games where I felt I was terrible and I was like ‘Don’t play me there again’ but I’ve played there this season and I was delighted. They can play me wherever they want at this stage.”
That versatility has the potential to be a burden, robbing a player of the opportunity to nail down one position and become a mainstay in a team. For the moment, O’Brien appears to be managing the workload just fine. His last start on the wing saw him run in four tries in January’s Champions Cup defeat of Bath.
He’s featured seven times for Leinster this season – starting four times at fullback and twice on the wing – and spent last week training away with Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad after receiving his first official call-up.
“It was class,” O’Brien continues, explaining how he found the step up to training with an international squad surprisingly comfortable.
“It was just more the thinking, trying to learn all the calls. The one thing is everything does move a bit quicker and you have to think a bit faster. After the first day of training when I knew the calls, I got a bit better but hopefully I go back in soon.
“They’re pretty similar [Leinster and Ireland training sessions]. They’re both very quick and a lot of game focus. So like two teams, 15 that are very quick and get you thinking and under stress, when you’re fatigued and stuff, so they are similar on that. There are subtle differences but they are similar.
“I was chatting to all the coaches individually and they said they’re glad to have me in, they were (saying) ‘Don’t do anything different, just do what you’re doing’ and they’re very encouraging and great to talk to.”
O’Brien was released back to Leinster ahead of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship meeting with Benetton, but his brief exposure to Ireland camp has left him wanting more.
I have to play at a high level every time. If you want to get picked (for Ireland), you have to perform week in, week out and perform very well. That’s my biggest thing, I want to be consistent and perform at a very high level and get picked.
“Not like specific things like a, b, c, d but things like… I really want to get back in there and to get back in there, I have to definitely be playing in the Champions Cup here in Leinster, perform well… At Leinster I want to be one of the top performers here. That’s my main thing, I want to get back in there.”
It helped having a few familiar faces around the place, with O’Brien surrounded by plenty of Leinster teammates as well as a fellow Kildare man in Tadhg Beirne, who also hails from the village of Eadestown.
“My parents know his parents well enough and there is nothing is Eadestown really, there is a church at the main crossroads and he’s about 300 metres one side of the church and I’m 300 metres the other side.
“I didn’t know him too well (growing up), he is five years older obviously but there is a few lads, Rowan Osborne as well, I would have grown up with him, we were in junior infants together and grew up the whole way, played GAA. And another lad Diarmuid Kilgallen, he’s in Connacht and he just got a senior contract and he’s literally between me and Tadhg.
“Yeah, we mentioned it to each other and had a quick laugh about it. Funny that a small village can produce a few professional rugby players.”
Comedian Michael Fry is our special guest on this week’s episode of The Front Row, in partnership with Guinness. Joining host Seán Burke, Eimear Considine and Murray Kinsella, he chats about his family’s rugby background and his short-lived playing days, before using his musical ear to rank the anthems of each Guinness Six Nations team. Click here to subscribe or listen below:
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