IN THE SEVEN years that had elapsed between Marty Moore’s last call-up to the Ireland squad for the 2015 Six Nations and being included in the panel for last month’s Ireland ‘A’ clash with an All Blacks XV, his enthusiasm for the international squad had waned somewhat.
While never closing the door completely on a return to the national roster, the 31-year-old knew his prospects of becoming a full-time member of the Ireland team again were still remote, particularly when he nailed down the starting jersey with Ulster, keeping out Ireland call-up Tom O’Toole, but still never received the call down to Carton House.
Understandably, he poured his attentions into performing for Ulster instead, where he has been the cornerstone of their front row ever since his return from Wasps in 2018 and continued to turn in consistently impressive performances over the course of the past four-and-a-half years.
But even though he knew he was playing well, and external voices such as The42‘s own contributor Bernard Jackman were calling on him to be restored to the international set-up, to get the call to join the ‘A’ squad was a little bit of surprise.
“I suppose it shows that you’re in the back of the mind when it comes to selection to an extent, so it does drive you a bit, but I think it’s been so many years now that it’s not the driving factor when it comes to how I play or whether I play good or bad week in week out,” says Moore.
“If it was, I think I’d be playing pretty bad after these years.”
Even though he’s had that taste of senior international rugby again, albeit on what was a rather damaging night at the RDS Arena for the ‘A’ team as they were beaten 47-19, it’s still not something that has adjusted how he approaches his weekly duties at Kingspan Stadium.
There have been no conversations with Andy Farrell about potentially working his way into contention for the Six Nations squad, nor were there much discussions about what went on in the week he spent down at Carton House. For Moore, he’s just back to the week-to-week grind with Ulster.
“I’ve a point to prove, but not so much to Irish coaches and selection, more for my team-mates here and to the coaches that I deserve to play for this club and start games,” retorts the prop, who is likely to end his career with just the 10 caps to his name.
His time in a green jersey might have come and gone, but that does not mean Moore is dissatisfied with his lot. Rather, he is intent on driving Ulster to success having already tasted silverware during his four years with Leinster, something which has eluded the province to this point.
Although in the short term the focus is not on trophies but simply keeping their winning momentum going. After losing three games in-a-row to Leinster, Sale Sharks and Stade Rochelais – all in different but equally harrowing ways – their victory over Connacht last week was more than well received.
They did it the hard way, though, racing into a 22-8 lead but then conceding two late tries to give Jack Carty a conversion to earn a draw for the hosts, but the fly-half’s kick sailed wide to hand Dan McFarland’s side a reprieve and four points that was badly needed.
“A little bit mixed,” is Moore’s reflection on that evening at the Sportsground. “An away win at Christmas time is a massive bonus and you take that every time. There was happiness there but it was probably the last minutes of the game a few of us were a little dejected at the way we finished it out but to get the result was what was important.
“Reflecting on it after the game we were a bit more positive than the final few minutes suggested.
“Even in the La Rochelle game just getting our confidence back in the second half of that game to score whatever it was, 26 or 29 points against the reigning champions and enforce our game on them.
“It was building on that, and we were better in a lot of areas. Discipline was definitely better than the previous couple of weeks, so it gives us a boost now going into the New Year and the next block of games.”
First up in that block of games are Munster for the first match of 2023, the southern province the visitors to Belfast on New Year’s Day, and even though the likes of Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony and Joey Carbery have been held in reserve, Moore is expecting a tough test.
The last time the two sides met Ulster picked up a rare win at Thomond Park, holding on in the second half for their first victory at the Limerick venue since 2014, but the prop anticipates an even closer duel this time around in their festive inter-pro.
“They’ve been on the up in the last few weeks so I think it will be a bigger challenge than what we faced in Thomond Park. But, if we’re being honest, we’ve probably improved ourselves, though recent results mightn’t suggest it, it’s just the standard of opposition and a few issues for ourselves have caused disruption,” he states.
“I think both teams are in a better place and it should be a pretty interesting battle on New Year’s Day.
“The biggest thing with Munster is that it’s always a battle, same as every other week, but more so a battle at the breakdown and set-piece, but especially the breakdown and securing clean ball. I think it’s something we did in parts against Connacht but it could have been a little bit cleaner in periods of the game.”
ULSTER (15-9): Stewart Moore; Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney; (1-8) Rory Sutherland, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore; Kieran Treadwell, Iain Henderson (captain); Greg Jones, Sean Reffell, Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: John Andrew, Eric O’Sullivan, Gareth Milasinovich, Sam Carter, Jordi Murphy, Nathan Doak, Jake Flannery, Ethan McIlroy.
MUNSTER: (15-9) Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Antoine Frisch, Malakai Fekitoa, Keith Earls; Jack Crowley, Paddy Patterson; (1-8) Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Roman Salanoa; Jean Kleyn, Kiran McDonald; Jack O’Donoghue (captain), Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Scott Buckley, Josh Wycherley, Stephen Archer, Cian Hurley, Jack O’Sullivan, Conor Murray, Ben Healy, Patrick Campbell.
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU).
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