NIALL MORRIS’S MOTHER has a picture hanging in her home which captures a moment in a Heineken Cup game between Leicester Tigers and Ulster.
While there’s nothing particularly remarkable about the shot of her son tackling an opponent, in time it would become quite a poignant image.
Ten months after he duelled for possession with Niall Morris on the Welford Road turf, Nevin Spence was killed in a farming accident at the age of 22.
“A terrible tragedy like that really puts your own situation in perspective. That’s not the reason my mum put that picture up at home,” Morris explains. “It was just something that touched her at the time. But it absolutely does remind you of the bigger picture in life.”
When Niall Morris celebrated his 30th birthday in August, over three years had already passed since he sustained the injury that ended his career. Nowadays his profession is in the banking sector, while a connection to rugby is maintained via his role as an assistant coach with Blackrock College’s AIL side.
“It was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. I could hear the crunch,” he says, recalling the tackle which damaged his ankle to an extent that it never fully healed.
The Premiership semi-final between Bath and Leicester was held up for several minutes as Morris — visibly distressed — received medical attention on the pitch. His mind was already being diverted to the long journey of recovery on which he was about to embark.
As he was stretchered off to a respectful ovation from both sets of supporters, he didn’t countenance the possibility of this being his last act as a competitive rugby player. Nevertheless, it transpired to mark the beginning of the end of a career that began in the Leinster academy.
A few weeks after he turned 21, Morris graduated to a senior debut in a Magners League defeat to Scarlets in September 2009. The following season — Joe Schmidt’s first as Leinster head coach — Morris scored three tries in his six appearances.
The Dubliner showed glimpses of his potential when given the opportunity to do so. With his ability to operate on the wing and at full-back, his versatility was a significant attribute.
However, as Leinster prepared to enter the 2011-12 season as European champions, Morris took a pragmatic approach to assessing his prospects of career progression with his home province. An embarrassment of riches in the back division didn’t bode well.
Isa Nacewa, Shane Horgan and Luke Fitzgerald formed the back three in the Heineken Cup final win over Northampton Saints. Fergus McFadden was among the replacements. Rob Kearney was still to return from injury. Andrew Conway, Dave Kearney and Fionn Carr were also knocking at the door.
With a view to kickstarting his professional career, Morris moved to England and began a five-year spell with Leicester Tigers. The club’s latest Irish import immediately endeared himself to the locals by scoring two tries on his debut against Exeter Chiefs.
“I actually wasn’t even supposed to start that game,” he says. “I should have been on the bench but someone [Matthew Tait] had to pull out in the warm-up so I was straight in for my debut.
“I think I ended up starting the first six games. It was a great way to get going with a new club because it allowed me to hit the ground running. I didn’t have to wait around for an opportunity. I was pretty much injury-free for those first two years so I was able to make a really good run at it.
“Overall I absolutely loved my time at Leicester. It was such a good opportunity and a great experience for me, having gone over when I was only 22. I was still living at home at that stage so I was in a comfort zone. I went over into a new culture with new people from all over the world and lived on my own. It really helped me to grow up.”
Morris’s second season at Leicester culminated with a game that marked the pinnacle of his career. In front of a crowd of over 80,000 at Twickenham, his try after eight minutes sent the Tigers on their way to victory over Northampton in the 2013 Premiership final.
“For me to have a memory like that is huge,” he says. “It’s something I’d obviously love to be able to do again, but at the same time I’m extremely fortunate that I had the opportunity to do it even once. To score in a game of that importance is the type of thing you dream of.
“I had played most of that season — over 25 games, I think — so it was something that came about after a lot of hard work. When you put so much effort into something and it all comes to fruition at the end, it’s really pleasing. It’s a really nice thing to be able to look back on.”
A fortnight later, Morris — who represented his country’s U20 side at the 2008 Junior World Championship — was in Georgia with the Emerging Ireland side for a three-match Tbilisi Cup campaign, to which he contributed a couple of tries. By then, his form was registering on the radar of the newly-appointed Irish head coach.
Having succeeded Declan Kidney, Joe Schmidt named a 42-man squad for his first training camp as Ireland boss in September 2013. It included just two players not plying their trade domestically: one was Johnny Sexton of Racing Metro, the other was Leicester’s Niall Morris.
“Obviously I played under Joe at Leinster and I learned so much from him then,” Morris says. “It was clear from early on that he was pretty exceptional. It was just his knowledge of the game, and the way he could challenge players but also put them under pressure to perform.
“He has a great ability to get everyone buying into what he’s doing. His attention to detail was ridiculous, which you can see now from the kind of set-piece plays he comes up with on a weekly basis. No stone is unturned with him, and he expects that from his players as well. If you’re not prepared, he’ll let you know.”
He adds: “After one game he pulled me up for not chasing kicks hard enough. It was something that always stuck with me afterwards. Any time a ball was kicked I was chasing it down. I got a few bollockings but it was all stuff that stuck with me, and stuff that I try to pass on to the players I’m coaching now.”
Despite being involved at the outset of the Schmidt era, a senior Ireland cap ultimately didn’t materialise for Morris. While it’s likely that he was hampered by not being on the books of one of the provinces, he viewed it as a catch-22 situation.
“As soon as I realised that I wanted to be a professional rugby player, playing for Ireland was a goal,” he says. “It’s something I never did. It does kind of irk, but it is what it is. That’s something I can’t change now. But I would have loved it.
“Being away at Leicester, I don’t know how accurate it would be to say that it was something that held me back. If I didn’t go away, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten the kind of game-time I needed to get me into contention for Ireland in the first place. The fact that I didn’t get a cap, yeah, it hurts. That’s just something I have to deal with.”
In May 2015, Morris made his 75th appearance for Leicester as they went to Bath in search of a place in another Premiership decider. Three minutes of the second half had been played when the incident that ended his career occurred.
En route to a 47-10 defeat, the visitors were trailing by 11 points when Morris came down awkwardly on his ankle following a tackle from Ross Batty. Although he spent another year at the club, that was the last time he played for Leicester Tigers.
“I knew right away that it wasn’t good, and that I was going to be in for a long summer,” he says. “I couldn’t have done anything differently and it was nobody’s fault. It was just a freak accident. I was carrying the ball and I was tackled. That’s the game.”
Morris was sidelined for the entirety of the 2015-16 season, as he gradually dealt with an injury that didn’t initially suggest he’d be facing a complicated recovery process. However, the signs grew more ominous when he went under the knife.
“The x-ray revealed that there were a few fractures in my fibula but I was assured it should be okay after surgery. But when the surgery happened, it showed that the bone was dislocated and the ligaments were done as well. That obviously wasn’t good news.”
By the time Morris felt close to making a return to the pitch, his contract with Leicester had expired. In the summer of 2016, the offer of a chance to keep his career alive came from a fellow former Blackrock College, Leicester Tigers and Leinster player.
Leo Cullen, head coach at Leinster, gave Morris a short-term contract and a chance to prove his fitness. After 15 months out of the game, he played the first half of a pre-season encounter against Ulster. A week later, he was in from the start again and managed to come through 53 minutes of a friendly against Gloucester.
To the naked eye, his comeback was going according to plan. In actuality, he had reached the end of the line. Due to the debilitating effects of the injury that continued to linger, Morris returned to the UK to seek the opinion of a specialist. The recommendation wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
Morris: “I struggled a lot through that pre-season with Leinster. I was in a lot of discomfort. After the Gloucester game I went over to see the surgeon. His advice was that I should retire.
“At that stage I was starting to make peace with the possibility that it might be all over. I had done everything that was in my power. It just wasn’t enough. So while it didn’t take me by surprise, it was still hard. Not being able to go out on your own terms is tough to process.”
In an attempt to clear his head and map out the future, Morris departed for a 10-week holiday to South America. The Business and Law degree he began at UCD during his time in the Leinster academy was going to be put into practice sooner than he had anticipated.
His premature exit from rugby was eased somewhat by a swift transition to a new career. For the past 18 months, Morris has been working for AIB’s Leveraged Finance team. From the office entrance on Merrion Road he could kick a ball into the RDS, where he scored his first try in professional rugby in a win against Connacht on New Year’s Day in 2011.
He says: “For a while I had no idea what I was going to do next, so I was very lucky that I was able to move into ‘the real world’, as they say, quite quickly in terms of work.
“It was still a difficult time, and probably even more so now as I watch guys who I played with — who are older than me in a lot of cases — and they’re still playing. That can be a hard one to get your head around when it’s something I’d still love to be doing.
“I’m keeping my hand in a little bit with coaching, which is enjoyable. I try to get involved with the lads a little bit, even though I’m way off the pace.
“I can’t actually run, which is really frustrating. It’s a simple thing, to be able to go for a run, and it’s something I’d love to be able to do, but unfortunately it’s not possible. I still go to the gym and I play a bit of golf, but not being able to run is quite annoying.
“I’m delighted to see Irish rugby where it is now, where Ireland are not far off being the number one team in the world and Leinster are incredible every week. I have massive respect for Leinster, particularly Leo Cullen, who gave me an opportunity to come back and try to get fit.
“Would I love to be part of that? Of course. That’s disappointing, but it doesn’t stop me from being happy for everyone involved in the success.”
For Niall Morris, coping without rugby has been a psychological game of tug-of-war: between the frustration of having his playing career cut short, and the appreciation of the achievements he can justifiably feel proud of. Viewing life with the benefit of perspective has ensured that the latter usually gains the upper hand.
“I played six or seven years of professional rugby, which I feel very lucky to have done,” he says. “There will always be a part of me that will feel that I should have had a few more. I played my last competitive match at 26. It hurts that I had to stop early and that it wasn’t on my own terms.
“But it’s important to remember that I was lucky to have the chance at all. I’m fortunate to have had some great experiences in the game. All I can do now is be grateful for them instead of wondering what I might have missed out on. What other choice have I got?”
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