‘MARTY M IS in the lobby’.
Such is the glamour of the rugby beat these days, a virtual press conference with a virtual lobby and nothing out of the ordinary when players speak from the comfort of their own home.
Ulster’s press duty this week, which doubled as a launch for Kingspan’s #StandUpTogether initiative, took place a day before news of the positive Covid-19 tests in the province’s academy filtered out.
Tests that indicate that the hum, echo and the grace-saving mute function of Microsoft Teams and Zoom will be a mainstay of the rugby rhythm for quite a while yet.
But back to Marty M, who seems set to grace the Aviva Stadium again this weekend. As a younger man, Moore could call the back pitch home with Lansdowne and then he quickly earned Ireland recognition so that the big arena – full to capacity in those days – was home too.
Moore was part of some momentous days across just 10 caps that encompassed Joe Schmidt’s first two title-winning Six Nations. The first remains the sweetest.
“I didn’t play a massive part,” he says of his 2014 Test debut in the win over Scotland.
“I maybe played 25 or 30 minutes, but we won the game and it was part of a successful campaign for the team at the time.
“It is a big day in any young player’s career so that’s probably the fondest of them.”
It goes without saying that Moore is keen to play his way back onto that stage. The coming November window will be a taxing time for all Irish players and Andy Farrell will likely have to call on a few faces new or renewed to the international scene. But the 29-year-old Ulster tighthead has been around the Pro14 and Premiership long enough to know saying so isn’t enough.
“Especially at the moment, the way the last six to nine months has been, it’s a thing that sits in the back of the mind more so than at the forefront as a driver.
“It’s never an average game to be played at Lansdowne Road or The Aviva, so it’s something you do cherish, going there to play.
“I don’t give a whole lot of thought to the international stuff really because it’s not something I can focus on.
“It’s more of a long term thing and it’s based off results with my club. I have to fight for the chance to play for my club and then do it well before I consider it as a possibility.”
Sunday was a poor return from that perspective, a poor return all-round for an Ulster side bidding to compete in two tournaments in the coming weeks. Connacht punished them for a sluggish restart to the season. Whatever teams Ulster and Leinster field second time out, the northern province will be desperate to see something to build their semi-final hopes around.
“All the players know there’s no time really for easing our way into it, so that was probably why it was so disappointing because we had that earmarked as a potential hurdle and we didn’t quite live up to what we had preached leading up to the game.
“I think it takes a game or two before you’re back to normal. To be at your best definitely it’s not going to happen in the first game.”
